Homestead Extension Goes "Cashless" This Month
MIAMI (CBS4) – The days of paying cash at toll booths on the Florida Turnpike in Miami-Dade are almost over. On February 19th, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will convert to a totally electronic system of levying and collecting tolls at all 37 toll plazas from the Broward County line to Florida City.
"It's going to make the road safer, it's going to make traffic flow better and it's going to be better for the environment," said FDOT spokesperson Sonyha Rodriguez-Miller.
Motorists will have the option of paying tolls electronically with SunPass as they zip along beneath overhead scanners, or through a "toll-by-plate" system that photographs the license plates of passing cars and sends a bill to their owners.
SunPass customers can link their accounts to a credit card, or make advance cash payments at retail outlets such as Publix, CVS Pharmacies, Sedano's Supermarkets, Navarro Pharmacies and all Turnpike service plazas.
The "toll-by-plate" option is considerably more expensive. Motorists will pay toll premiums ranging from 50 to 100 percent, depending on the toll location, as well as pay a monthly service charge of $2.50.
No toll plaza will accept cash under the new system. The manned toll booths and exact change baskets will be demolished.
At a Turnpike service plaza in Broward, motorist Anne Lackey welcomed the advent of totally cashless tolls.
"I think it's a good thing, to speed it up a little bit," Lackey said. "I didn't like stopping every five minutes to put a dollar in."
Many who drive the Turnpike are visitors from out of state, or tourists in rental cars.
The FDOT's Rodriguez-Miller said rental car companies will offer customers "toll packages" to cover their tolls. The tolls of rental customers who don't purchase the coverage and still use the turnpike will be billed to the rental companies, Rodriguez-Miller said.
As for drivers from out of state who use the turnpike, they will be billed by mail like other "toll-by-plate" users. The FDOT estimates at least 70 percent of out of state drivers who receive bills will pay up, and that only two percent of those who drive the Turnpike extension are from out of state.
Overall, the FDOT says it collects more than 95 percent of the tolls it bills for.
"The vast majority of our customers are very honest," Rodriguez-Miller said.
Demolishing the manned toll booths and lanes with change baskets and converting them to electronic tolling is expected to cost about $58 million.
The elimination of the toll booths will eliminate the jobs of 220 toll collectors.
Ana Maria Silva was 11 days away from unemployment Monday as she collected tolls and made change at the Northwest 41st street exit from the Turnpike.
"I don't know what I am going to do," She said.
The FDOT says the eventual goal is to make the entire Turnpike a cashless toll road.
More information on SunPass, Toll-By-Plate and the move to cash-free tolling can be had at www.floridasturnpike.com.
