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Port Authority Green Pass program

Discussion in 'Local Prius Club Main Forum' started by Nick the Reporter, Feb 15, 2008.

  1. Yankees251

    Yankees251 Black Touring HI Package

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    Yes I can confirm I have both plans on one E-ZPass, when shipped the packing slip indicated so. I have also just added another tag to my account, not another green one, a standard white one for my wife's CR-V and I had no problems. She of course does not get the discounts.
     
  2. SparrowHawk60

    SparrowHawk60 Happy to be green!

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    Thank you, now I have a few phone calls to make. :mad:
    I want to see if I can find intelligent life at the EZ Pass office. :eek: Someone there who might have a clue as to how about get all the discounts on one Green Pass. :bounce:

    By the way, I hope your a New England Yankee and not a Yankee's ball club fan! :eek:
     
  3. Enorris

    Enorris Junior Member

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    As soon as I get my registration in the Mail I will be going through the process. How do you know which agency already has my current EZ Pass account?? Is it listed on the actual EZ Pass? I looked on my account online and found nothing.

    If you have a MTA EZ Pass what happens to that account? do you send back the Tags and close it out?

    Who thought that it could be so painful!
     
  4. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    I suggest that you do exactly as Yankees251 did, namely:

    1. Fill out a new EZPass application (you can get the application online either in a PDF printout, or fill it out online and then print that out):

    2. Check off/fill out both the Port Authority Green Pass discount and the Thruway Green Pass discount (along with any other discounts you might want).

    3. Send in your application, together with a copy of your Registration.

    4. If all goes according to the apparent plan, you will receive one pretty green tag that has all the discounts you applied for linked into it.

    Then, return your existing white tag if you want to.
     
  5. Enorris

    Enorris Junior Member

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  6. Bababooey

    Bababooey Horse Toothed Jackass

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    Good News (for me at least)! :rockon:

    After my initial rejection for a Port Authority Green Pass by the nitwits at the EZ Pass "Service" Center in Staten Island, I wrote a letter expressing my displeasure to Anthony Coscia, who is the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

    Last Friday, I received a reply from Stephen Sigmund, who is the Chief of the Public and Government Affairs Department at the Port Authority, apologizing for the "confusion" in the Green Pass program, and promising me that I would receive the Green Pass which I am clearly eligible for.

    Today in the mail, I received my Green EZ Pass from the EZ Pass "Service" Center, and I just attached it to my windshield!

    I will now send a letter to the nitwits at the EZ Pass "Service" Center asking them to link my Port Authority Green Pass to the New York State Thruway Authority's Green Pass Program so I can also get the hybrid vehicle discount on the New York State Thruway.

    I will see if this Green Pass works as advertised when I visit my father for Father's Day.

    If your application for a Port Authority Green Pass is rejected, don't bother wasting your time with the nitwits at the EZ Pass "Service" Center! Do as I have done and write a letter directly to the Chief of the Public and Government Affairs Department at the Port Authority at the following address:

    Stephen Sigmund
    Chief, Public and Government Affairs
    Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
    225 Park Avenue South - 18th Floor
    New York, NY 10003-1604
     
  7. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Bababooey,

    Since you applied for both Green Passes, wouldn't the green EZPass tag that they finally sent you after you wrote to the PA Big Shot contain both the PA and Thruway Green Passes (like Yankees251)?
     
  8. Enorris

    Enorris Junior Member

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    So I was out running around today and decided to stop at the Yonkers EZ Pass Center. I haven't gotten my Permanent registration as of yet so I decided to try using my Temporary Registration. NO GO.... Wouldn't do it. They said I must wait for the "real" registration.
     
  9. r2d2rd

    r2d2rd New Member

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    I live in Jersey and got a NY green ez pass. No problems.:)
     
  10. Bababooey

    Bababooey Horse Toothed Jackass

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    The first Green EZ Pass I applied for was the one issued through the Port Authority. After I didn't hear back from them for a couple of weeks, I submitted another application for the New York State Thruway Authority issued Green Pass. I was rejected for both Green Passes by the EZ Pass New York Service Center because they said that I already had a White EZ Pass issued through MTA Bridges & Tunnels for my license plate. I did have a MTA Bridges & Tunnels EZ Pass at one time, but I turned that one in when I moved from Queens to Upstate New York in 2003. Luckily, I keep good records, and I still had a receipt that I was given at the EZ Pass Office in College Point when I turned in my old white EZ Pass.

    They told me that you can only have one Green EZ Pass per hybrid vehicle, so once I was issued a Port Authority Green Pass, I was not allowed to obtain a second Green Pass for the same vehicle.

    After I received my Port Authority Green Pass, I wrote a letter to the EZ Pass Service Center on Staten Island asking them to link my Port Authority Green Pass to the NYS Thruway Authority Green Pass Plan. I haven't used my Green Pass on the Thruway yet, so I'm not sure if they ever bothered to link the two Green Pass Plans on my account. I will find out on Father's Day Weekend when I have to take the Thruway down the city! I'll keep you posted!
     
  11. robertm

    robertm Junior Member

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    I don't think it is related to where you live. It is dependent upon the issuing authority of your EZ Pass tag. Mine was issued by NJ and they have no discount plan. If your tag was issued the the Port Authority then they will give you a green tag.

    Please let us know if you have a NJ tag or not. I am hoping one day NJ tag holders will not be second class PA citizens.

    Rob
     
  12. SparrowHawk60

    SparrowHawk60 Happy to be green!

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    We need an update to this post! What's the story with linking the Green Pass programs together? Has anyone managed to get this done and have it work correctly? :eek:
     
  13. Bababooey

    Bababooey Horse Toothed Jackass

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    When I cross any of the PANYNJ bridges or tunnels during off-peak hours, I am charged $4.00 for the toll instead of $6.00. :thumb:

    The only negative of having an EZPass issued through the Port Authority is the fact that, unlike the NYS Thruway Authority and MTA Bridges & Tunnels, they charge a $1.00 per month "administrative fee". :mad2:

    I recently traveled on the New York State Thruway from Albany to Harriman, and after I received my EZPass statement, I noticed that I was charged the regular toll. Previously, I was told by the brain dead nit-wits at the EZPass Service Center that my Green Pass account would be linked so I would get the 10% discount on the NYS Thuway, but I guess that I was lied to! :mad:

    I have recently moved back to the NYC Metropolitan Area after living upstate for 5 years, so at least I can drive in the HOV lane on the Long Island Expressway during rush hour! :D

    Fortunately, I won't be traveling on the facilities of the NYS Thruway Authority very often, so the fact that my Green Pass was never linked is no longer an issue! :)
     
  14. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Holy cow, I never knew that. Don't remember ever seeing that $1 monthly charge mentioned on the websites or applications. In any event, it's not right. I too am angry about it.
     
  15. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Baba,

    I just remembered my PIN so I saw my EZPass statement for my PA Green Pass Tag for the first time. Yup. Had $1 a month charged to it for "Account Service Fee".

    Did some research on the net. Turns out that the PA may have been one of the first of the EZPass issuing agencies to charge this $1 a month fee. But I hear other agencies (maybe all of them?) have followed suit. I found this 2005 article in the NY Times saying that the MTA was going to start imposing the same fee:

    Metro Briefing | New York: M.T.A. To Charge E-ZPass Service Fee - New York Times

    Then I checked one of my old MTA EZPass statements from 2005-2006, and sure enough, it had the $1 a month Account Service Fee too.

    Still think the whole thing stinks. Not necessarily because of the fee itself. But more because of the lack of notice and the switch and bait aspect of it all.
     
  16. fordan

    fordan Junior Member

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    Anyone use their Green Passes for the Delaware River Port Authority (Philadelphia) bridges, or the discount on the NJ Turnpike & Parkway? Info on the DRPA discount is here, info on the NJ Turnpike/Parkway discount is here. Both say they require a NJ EZPass; I'm curious how much the various Green Pass programs are sharing data if at all.

    (thread necromancy is fun. It seems appropriate since it's about the topic of Green Passes)
     
  17. MEATHEAD

    MEATHEAD New Member

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    I ahve my green e-z pass very easy to switch I went to newark Ez pass customer care center they ran my resistration I got my pass immediately and exchanged my old one right then and there. I was told that I couldnt use my green pass for 24 hrs until it activated. No big deal i wasn't going anywhere

    Pleasenet experience and happy with discounts I drive parkway everyday


    ALso told my friend who also has a prius and she got the green passs as well


    Also i heard rumors to be confirmed that we wil nto have to pay the mthyl maintence fee of a dolllar or the electronic feee which i think is also a dollar as well
     
  18. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    I have the Port Authority Green Pass and they take out $1 dollar a month, just like they did with my old, ordinary, white MTA Bridges and Tunnel pass.

    In the good old days, they didn't charge that $1 monthly fee.
     
  19. xypeter

    xypeter New Member

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    I have the answer to this. I have a NYSTA green pass from the New York State Thruway Authority. NYSTA green passes give you both Port Authority and NYSTA discounts, but the Port Authority ones give you only the Port Authority discounts. So just make sure you get NYSTA. My beef is with New Jersey (where I live) ... NYTP and DRBA give NJ greenpass holders a discount, but not me with my NY one. Why all these agencies can't coordinate their greenpass tolls, I have no idea.
     
  20. osiris12

    osiris12 Owner of 3, yes three priuses

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    HELP. My wife is trying to fill out the EX Pass application for NY to travel over the Newburg-Beacon bridge. We're trying to figure out what PLAN CODE to put in. She has a 2001 Prius. So I'm figuring on using the NYSB code. But what do I put in the REQUIRED PREPAYMENT box next to it. It has a $ sign. According to your quote above, it cuts the price in half if we use more than 17 trips; and she does.

    So do we take 50% off of the aplication fee of $25.00 or just pay the $25. It's soooooooo confusing....