NEWS |
165-00: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE , November 30, 2000
The Port Authority Board of Commissioners today approved a $29.9 million project to install E-ZPass in all 27 parking lots at John F. Kennedy International, Newark International and LaGuardia airports over the next two years. The new customer service, called E-ZPassPlus, will debut in about a year at Kennedy Airport.
When E-ZPassPlus is in place, motorists will see a sharp drop in the time it takes them to pay for parking and exit airport lots. E-ZPassPlus will be the first significant use of E-ZPass beyond the collection of tolls. The new service will be available to customers driving nearly 5 million vehicles with E-ZPass in the United States and Canada.
“This is an exciting new opportunity to expand E-ZPass service for our airport customers and for millions of motorists across the region,” said Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg. “The Port Authority is following through on the commitments of Governor Whitman and Governor Pataki to improve service at our airports. Expanding E-ZPass to include our airport parking lots will enable millions of new and existing customers to travel through our airports with much greater convenience.”
Port Authority Executive Director Robert E. Boyle said, “Improving access to and from Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia airports is an important part of the Port Authority’s $15 billion airport redevelopment program. Waiting in lines to exit parking areas is a problem that cries out for a solution. E-ZPassPlus will join a long line of Port Authority initiatives that are already under way to improve access at all three airports – including better roads, thousands of additional parking spaces, and AirTrain rail service at Kennedy and Newark airports.”
Surveys show that about 40 percent of airport parking customers at Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia airports already have E-ZPass accounts. Here’s how E-ZPassPlus will work at the airports:
-- All current E-ZPass customers who replenish their accounts with credit cards will be automatically enrolled in E-ZPassPlus.
-- New Yorkers can sign up for E-ZPass by calling 800 333-TOLL, or through the Web at www.ezpassny.com. New Jersey motorists can sign up for E-ZPass by calling 888 AUTO-TOL, or through the Web at www.ezpass.com.
-- E-ZPassPlus will use the same technology as E-ZPass. An electronic tag – a transponder the size of a garage-door opener – is attached inside a vehicle's windshield. As the vehicle reaches the payment booth and the driver inserts a parking ticket, an electronic reader communicates with the tag, calculates the parking fee and automatically charges the motorist's prepaid account. E-ZPassPlus users will see a 50-percent drop in parking-lot transaction times.
-- Existing E-ZPass customers will be able to use their same account and their same electronic tags to take advantage of E-ZPassPlus. Parking transactions will appear on customers’ monthly E-ZPass statements.
-- By the end of 2002, about 70 of the 109 exit lanes at Port Authority airport parking lots will be equipped with E-ZPassPlus technology.
To maintain security, all airport parking customers will continue to use the ticket system when they enter and leave the lots. Future enhancements of E-ZPassPlus could incorporate evolving state-of-the-art technology that would eliminate tickets for E-ZPassPlus customers and further improve transaction times.
More than 90 million passengers will use Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia airports this year; nearly 15 million vehicles will park in public lots at the airports.
E-ZPass use has risen steadily since the Port Authority launched the service at the bistate agency’s four bridges and two tunnels in 1997. Currently, 66 percent of morning rush-hour customers use E-ZPass at the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels – including 68 percent at the George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest bridge.
More than 2.5 million customers have signed up for E-ZPass accounts across the New York-New Jersey region. About 5 million E-ZPass tags are in circulation in the United States and Canada; that number is projected to rise to 9 million tags by 2002. E-ZPass toll-collection systems currently operate across seven Northeastern states.
In response to customer surveys, the Port Authority has launched a series of other service initiatives at the airports, including easy-to-read signs on airport roads and in terminals, new cleanliness standards for airport restrooms, and more than 250 red-jacketed Customer Service Representatives at the airports.
The successful redevelopment of Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia airports has been recognized in several recent surveys of passengers and aviation industry leaders.
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