Port Authority Green Pass program

Oh Dear Tom, Please say you didn't involve a third agency in the process of obtaining a Green Pass!
I haven't found anything about the MTA offering a discounted Green Pass, and the way I understand it they don't offer one. The Green Pass is only issued by two agency's: The NYS Thruway Authority and the Port Authority of NY and NJ. They are TWO DIFFRENT Green Passes! One will not work in place of the other.
In other words you'd need both the B.A. and T.A. authority pass for discounts on the Bridges/Tunnels and then the Thruway. Neither pass (T.A. or B.A. is combined with any other type of discount plan-s.
I wish you the best of luck in obtaining your Green Pass, our Prius now has two passes, one Green, one White; what ever one is not being used has to be kept in a special bag that will come with the Green Pass.

Who is my E-ZPass account with?
To help determine where your E-ZPass account is based, please note the following:

If your E-ZPass tag starts with 005, your account is with the Port Authority.

If your E-ZPass tag starts with 004, your account is with the NYS Thruway Authority.

If your E-ZPass tag starts with 008, your account is with the MTA Bridges & Tunnels.

If your E-ZPass tag starts with 022, your account is with the New Jersey E-ZPass.

If your E-ZPass tag starts with a different number, please call the number on the front of your tag.


Of course none of this is to be confused with the Clean Pass, which is another headache altogether! :yield:

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All I want is the Port Authority Green Pass. I just hope they don't deny me one on the grounds that my current white EZPass is technically MTA issued, and not PA issued.

But I'm not optimistic. I think they're gonna make me jump through the hoop of first getting a PA issued white EZPass before applying for and getting the PA Green Pass. Then I'll have three EZPasses (MTA white, PA white and PA green) but only one car.

These guys are like credit card companies. I remember going to a Yankees spring training game, and there were credit card companies there offering a free t-shirt if you applied for their credit card. Sounded enticing to me. But I turned them down after trying to figure out which of these things I needed less -- another t-shirt or another credit card.

 

Oh, are you a Yankees fan? Sorry! Having been born in Flushing, guess who I'm a fan of?

Now I maybe wrong (it happened once before, but I was mistaken) you'll have to establish a P.A. account before they will issue a P.A. Green Pass to you.
Again, if I'm not mistaken from what I've researched, you'll only need the Green Pass from the P.A. That is unless youhave some other type of plan on the MTA pass. In that case you can transfer some of the plans to the P.A. pass. (IE Thruway discounts, except Green Pass) The Green Pass is only going to save you a few bucks during off peak hours.
" The cash toll is $8 for passenger vehicles.
The toll for passenger vehicles using E-ZPass is $6 for off-peak travel and $8 in peak hours, providing a greater discount for off-peak use.
Qualified low-emission vehicles are eligible to receive a Port Authority (PA) Green Pass discount of $4 during off-peak hours. Click here for more info on the Green Pass.
The Port Authority's Carpool Plan toll is $2. This plan provides a discount for non-commercial vehicles with three or more occupants. Customers with pre-registered E-ZPass accounts can take advantage of this discount plan at all hours by using a staffed “E-ZPass/Cash†lane and coming to a complete stop so the toll collector can confirm the number of occupants in the vehicle. To enroll in the Carpool Plan, please call or visit either the New York or New Jersey E-ZPass Customer Service Center. Click here for contact information. "


"9. Q: Is the Port Authority Green Pass valid everywhere E-ZPass is accepted?
A: The Port Authority Green Pass is an E-ZPass that may be used at any crossing or road that accepts E-ZPass as a form of toll payment. However, unlike the white "regular" E-ZPass tag, Port Authority Green Pass users pay only $4 when they use their tag at Port Authority crossings during off-peak hours. The Port Authority Green Pass is accepted at all crossings and roads that accept E-ZPass, however, the Port Authority Green Pass discount only applies to Port Authority crossings.
Port Authority E-ZPass account holders who drive qualifying vehicles can request that the Green Pass Discount Plan be added to their account.... "

 

Clean pass stickers are on the way to me..
I'll let you all know about them when they arrive.

 

Lol I think I'm the one that should be feeling sorry for you ... the greatest collapse in Major League Baseball history. :violin:

BTW, I went to a 1969 World Series game (the game where Ron Swoboda made a great diving catch) with my two brothers, one of whom is a Mutts fan and who now lives in ... Newburgh.

Yeah, I know. I just think it's rediculous that I already have a white EZPass, but nonetheless have to now apply for two P.A. EZPasses in order to get the one EZPass (the P.A. Green Pass) that I want. To me, that's a waste of effort and taxpayer monies. Not to mention that it leaves an unnecessary carbon footprint in order to get, ironically, a Green Pass.

 

The downfall of the '07 Mets may have been the greatest collapse in Major League Baseball history, but the Yankees loss to the Red Sox in the '04 ALCS after being up 3-0 was the greatest choke in professional sports history!

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Now getting back on topic...

The Clean Pass Program is a pilot program which allows qualifying hybrids registered in New York State to drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes of the Long Island Expressway in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Since these Clean Pass stickers are issued free of charge and all it takes to sign up for the program is a toll-free call to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, I encourage everyone who owns a qualifying hybrid (2001-2008 Toyota Prius, 2003-2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, and the 2000-2004 Honda Insight) registered in New York State to call 1-800-697-0558 and apply!

You don't have to put the stickers on your car unless you plan on driving in the HOV lanes of the L.I.E. with only one person!

Besides, when have you heard of any government agency offering anything to the driving public for free?

As for the Green Pass Program, that's another story! I was told by someone who works in the legal department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that the only reason the Green Pass Program was created was to make recent toll increases more palatable to the public.

They deliberately make it as difficult as possible for hybrid owners to obtain these Green Passes because they really don't want people getting them. Remember, we're dealing with the Port Authority here... This is the same powerful organization that was allowed to circumvent the NYC Building Codes when the World Trade Center was built in the late '60s and early '70s. They are a law unto themselves, and they basically do whatever they want to.

As I said in a prior post, I have applied for a Port Authority issued Green Pass. If my application is rejected, or if they try to give me the run around, I will write letters to the Chairman of the Port Authority as well as to the Governor of the State of New York.

 

Boy, those Clean Passes (and other states' HOV stickers) are ugly. Talk about clashing with the looks of the Gen II Prius (but I don't think they clash with the Gen I). But I think I'll get them anyway to keep inside my car. And then I'll just pull them out and stick them on the bumpers on an as needed basis, using gaffers tape or ordinary double sided tape.
:focus:

 

Tom, funny you mentioned it. I saw a white Prius today in Poughkeepise with the California HOV stickers on it. I am in total, 100% agreement that they are ugly as a $1 hooker! You'd think with all the tree hugging Calli folks they could come up with a better looking sticker! These horrendous things are also huge, and take up a good part of the back bumper. (Before some starts in on, it's that way for the enforcement agencies to see, BLA BLA BLA, yeah no kidding!) Damned things almost make New York's look pretty, but they are a sight better looking. I haven't received mine yet, so I don't know how big they are.

OFF TOPIC: METS, RED SOX, Orioles, any them (with the added exception of the TEXASS teams) is better than being a Scankees fan!

 

Lol, where would I find one? The parking lot at Shea?

 

Yeah, they'll be easy to spot, they have Yankee caps on!

 

I have had an E-Zpass since the started issuing them. A couple of weeks ago I applied to E-Zpass headquarters on Staten Island for an additional transponder for my Prius. I just got a reply back denying my request because my E-Zpass was registered with MTA rather than E-Zpass directly, or NYTA, or NYNJPA. I either have to get another account or apply for 2 passes (a regular one and a green one) and then cancel my existing pass when the new ones arrive. Talk about bureaucracy! All of the transponders are processed thru the same location.

 

+1

That's right. Way back in the beginning, all we had done was apply for an EZPass, and that's what they gave us. We didn't (and I think, couldn't) ask for a pass issued by any particular agency. But now we're forced to apply for 2 more passes to get the one single pass that we want, and to send our applications to the same office on Staten Island where we had sent our very first application for a pass many years ago.:frusty:

 

Someone in New York found the biggest roll of red tape they can wrap the Hybrid owner up in and they intend to use every inch of it! All the E-Z pass requests are handled by the Staten Island office. I'll take a wild guess and say that there is no communication between the numerous different agency's. It's evident no one who works for E-Z pass is smart enough to look up what accounts you do have and send you the appropriate Green Pass. Instead 'they' let you waste you time and efforts only to send you a rejection notice!
In a proper world, New York State would have set up one and only one Green Pass program. The Green Pass would then be used to discount all travel through all of New York's and New Jersey's tolls.
The waste of a large percentage of drivers having to use two issued passes defeats any savings the state may have had by developing this program.

Take a trip from Albany (the states Capital) to New York City. You travel down the NYS Thruway with your Thruway Green Pass, you then travel down the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey (same green pass), cross the George Washington Bridge (PA different green pass, during off peak hours) cross either the Triborough or Whitestone Bridges (MTA change pass?) then travel out to Montague (LIE Clean Pass), come back up on the east side of the Hudson River and cross the Rip Van Winkle Bridge (Commuter white pass) to return to Albany.
You've changed your E-Z pass three or four times and had to place stickers all over your car. (to use the LIE HOV lane by yourself)!
You could always just keep one "white" E-Z pass and forget about any savings! Seems like this is New York's plan all along!

 

I can't believe it, in three days my Clean Pass Vehicle stickers have arrived! Four light blue stickers on a sheet of reflective material about 7 1/2" by 10". Large stickers are aprx. 7" by 2 3/4" at the widest sections. Small stickers are aprx. 2" by 5" again at the widest sections. They are numbered but have no relation to my VIN or Plate number. Mine are in the mid 5000's.

New York State wants you to adhere () these stickers to the following locations: Large stickers are to be attached to the right side of both front and rear bumpers. Small stickers are to be attached to the rear quarter panels, one on each side.

Well, I'll be keeping mine in my car, not on it. If the need ever comes up that I need them, I'll worry about sticking them on at that time, but not until. :mmph:

 

...and that's just UTTERLY RIDICULOUS, isn't it?

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Speaking about the Skankees:

Did you hear that story about the construction worker who buried a David Ortiz Red Sox jersey in the concrete at the new Yankee Stadium?

I believe that this story is a hoax!

The whole tale of a construction worker (who just happened to be a Red Sox fan) burying a David Ortiz jersey in concrete in order to curse the Yankees and then having it dug up in a media circus sounds like it was engineered by the Yankee organization to deflect attention away from the way that their team has been playing so far this season and to grab some headlines for the team and for the new stadium!

In this day and age, I doubt that anybody could get away with stuffing a foreign object into freshly poured concrete. Anybody who has ever worked in the construction industry knows that not only are there are inspectors monitoring the pour, but there are many other workers around. Somebody would have definitely seen this guy stuffing a baseball jersey into the freshly poured concrete! Do you think that anybody (especially contruction workers who were Yankee fans) would remain silent if another worker was seen stuffing a Red Sox jersey into the concrete? I don't think so!

If the Yankee organization was not involved with this "curse" from the beginning, the workers (yes - WORKERS, as in more than one person was involved in burying the jersey in concrete) who did it were afraid that they had inadvertently hexed the Yankees, so if this story is true, it was done by Yankee fans trying to hex the Red Sox, not the other way around!

 

I think that hybrid owners are finally realizing the truth about these EZ Pass Green Pass programs... They're nothing but a tremendous scam!

 

I just happened to come across the Green Pass program when I was checking the ezpassny.com site to check what the new tolls were. Luckily that was only a couple of days after they started accepting applications so I did not lose much time. I live in New Jersey and sent a copy of my NJ auto registration and a request letter to the Staten Island address and had my Green Pass in about a week to 10 days. I can't imagine why they would reject your application. Maybe they liked that I sent a color copy of my registration. I thought it was a bit of a pain having to write a letter rather than apply online, but was pleasantly surprised that I got it as quickly as I did.

 

I'm hoping for the same result, but am not optimistic since my existing white EZPass was technically issued by MTA and not the Port Authority. Was your existing white EZPass a Port Authority issued pass?

 

My tag# begins with 005 so apparently mine was issued by the Port Authority. I guess I might have similar problems if I tried to get the MTA Green Pass.

 

Any updates, Boo? KWP99? Bababooey?