Matty's Going Cashless [Ambassador Bridge to stop allowing cash payment]

[Sandhouse]

By sometime next year, the Ambassador Bridge will no longer collect tolls in cash. According to www.tollroadsnews.com [[the toll-road gossip web site), starting in September, 2012, trucks inbound to the U.S. will no longer pay cash tolls. Tolls will be billed to an established account, with passage recorded by radio transceivers reading an RFID sticker. Trucks without a sticker will be photographed, and a bill sent to the registered owner. The Bridge was an early user of RFID tolls, and it is reported that half of all Ambassador Bridge traffic already has the account stickers. Stickers will be given away for free at the Bridge's duty-free store.

Cashless tolls will be extended to trucks outbound to Canada in another month or so, with auto traffic in both directions to become cashless sometime in 2013.

Cashless road tolls are becoming the norm in the toll business.

It is not yet announced how the Detroit International Bridge Company intends to treat tolls billed by mail to license-plate holders. Some other toll-road operators heavily surcharge these "video tolls," either in the form of a higher toll, or with a hefty charge for the first or second passage, to cover the cost of opening an account. On the cashless toll freeway around Toronto, the first trip is free; the second one triggers an inquiry to the Secretary of State, and a bill of around ten bucks which, if not paid, is treated as an unanswered traffic violation on your Michigan driver record. Other toll operators absorb the cost of researching users' addresses, or do not bill users from states with high look-up charges. I'm still waiting for the $10 bill I ran up on the toll bypass of Denver a few years ago. Some addresses may be bought from private data bases of vehicle registration numbers, but these are far from complete.

It costs $7.00 for a private toll operator to discover a Michigan vehicle registrant's address, by filing a form with the Secretary of State. The current auto toll is $4.75. It will be interesting to see how the bridge company decides to recover this cost from auto users. It may absorb the cost on the expectation that users will eventually return. If it surcharges video tolls, it will forfeit auto traffic to the tunnel, unless the tunnel adopts a similar system.

[downtownguy]

On the cashless toll freeway around Toronto, the first trip is free; the second one triggers an inquiry to the Secretary of State, and a bill of around ten bucks which, if not paid, is treated as an unanswered traffic violation on your Michigan driver record.

I presume the only way that system would work here is if the bridge were owned by the government. I can't see a private bridge operator being able to get the Secretary of State to put a bill for a private transaction on a driver's record and treat it as a traffic violation.

[mikeg19]

I presume the only way that system would work here is if the bridge were owned by the government. I can't see a private bridge operator being able to get the Secretary of State to put a bill for a private transaction on a driver's record and treat it as a traffic violation.

Very good point. The concept is smart in my opinion, but it will surely raise the question by people of incorrect charges or overcharging. I'm curious to see what the impact on traffic will be.

[TKshreve]

Very good point. The concept is smart in my opinion, but it will surely raise the question by people of incorrect charges or overcharging. I'm curious to see what the impact on traffic will be.

I was driving through Chicago twice last week and the rental car provided an option to purchase the I-Zoom [[or whatever) which allows quick passage through the toll booths.

I couldn't help but think about how convenient it has been made to administer the toll. Don't get me wrong, I understand how a toll works and what it supposedly goes towards.....but I couldn't help but think of how nice n' easy the state/city has made it to further separate the average joe and his $$. Not to mention the fact that it's just another technological advancement putting people out of work.

[kenp]

There was a newer toll road in PA I was on this summer. It doesnt have an attendent, instead you put your own money in. Change is no problem but dollars are a real challenge. You put a dollar in and it spits it back out. Also you have to take off the seat belt, position your self just right and hope it goes in.
Damn things were every ten miles.

[DetroitPlanner]

This won't speed up traffic flow much at all. The issue on this bridge is customs/immigration, not too many cars for the capacity. Besides even if you could solve the customs issue, Huron Church gets a ton of traffic.

[JenniferL]

Fascists...

[cramerro]

This won't speed up traffic flow much at all. The issue on this bridge is customs/immigration, not too many cars for the capacity. Besides even if you could solve the customs issue, Huron Church gets a ton of traffic.

Yeah, I'm surprised how many people still don't understand this. All the talk of the traffic up or traffic down and more lanes needed on the Ambassador or a twin span... the truth is that it takes more time per vehicle to get through, because of security procedures. You could twin the Ambassador twice, but without more area for the processing and more staff to man it, it would just be a really expensive, suspended, queue lane or parking lot. The cashless tolls are to not have to pay an attendant to sit in the booth, period.

[ndavies]

I won't be using the bridge after this happens. Why would I want the Marouns to have my contact information? I can just see my mailbox filled with thier terrible propoganda. His TV adds are bad enough, god knows the dishonest political crap he'd try to jam through my Mailbox, Email and phone.