PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsadio) — Thousands of drivers who use E-ZPass to cross the Delaware River bridges should be getting new transponders in the mail soon.
Last week, the first of more than 900,000 new E-ZPass transponders issued by New Jersey agencies started arriving in the mailboxes of tagholders. James White, the chief financial officer of the Delaware River Port Authority, says about 47,000 DRPA tagholders should be getting new ones to swap out between now and December.
It’s another round of replacements before their batteries fail. The battery life of an E-ZPass transponder is eight to 10 years. Users will get a prepaid envelope to send their old tags back.
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“This is a proactive approach by New Jersey E-ZPass and the customer service center to get ahead of the fact that some of these transponders may be close to failing,” White said.
This year’s swap affects about 16% of DRPA E-ZPass holders. About 70% of DRPA customers use E-ZPass to pay bridge tolls, and 30% pay cash.
DRPA CEO John Hanson says the authority plans to keep that structure for now, and is not introducing cashless toll-by-plate systems such as those on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other toll roads.
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“The electronic tolling schemes that have been put in place in some places don’t work for DRPA. The enforcement system and collection systems really are not at a place where they work well for us.”
Hanson says there is a “high level” of uncollected revenue with a cashless system — and the DRPA as a bistate authority can’t effectively go after out-of-state toll cheats.