In an effort to provide some financial relief for commuters, Senator Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano (all R-10) have introduced S-3552/A-5205 to appropriate $250 million to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and South Jersey Transportation Authority in the form of a toll relief program.

To provide some financial relief for commuters, Senator Holzapfel and Assemblymen McGuckin and Catalano have introduced a bill to appropriate $250 million to the NJTA and SJTA in the form of a toll relief program. (SenateNJ.com)

“Qualifying commuters have a unique opportunity to save big when they travel on toll roads across the state,” Senator Holzapfel stated. “Ocean County commuters make up a majority of the cars on our major highways each day and this legislation will make the average cost of the daily commute more affordable.”

This bill requires the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority to each create a toll relief program to provide a qualifying account that records 35 or more qualifying transactions per electronic toll collection system (E-ZPass) transponder for the calendar month with an account credit equal to 50 percent of the amount paid in that calendar month for the qualifying transactions per transponder.

“Many of our residents who travel along the Garden State Parkway rack up thousands of dollars each year on tolls,” added Assemblyman McGuckin. “Combine this with rising gas prices and inflation and commuting to work is a financial burden for many families. It only takes 35 or more E-ZPass transactions a month to qualify for this program and that’s an easy number to hit for most of our Ocean County commuters.”

The bill appropriates $250 million to the NJTA and $250 million to the SJTA from the General Fund to support the provision of account credits issued under the toll relief programs.

“This is an opportunity for the state to give back to its loyal commuters and thank them for their continued support of E-ZPass,” Assemblyman Catalano said. “The NJTA and SJTA should be proud to offer this cost savings for the thousands of New Jersey residents who rely on our major highways everyday to make a living.”