NEW HOPE - The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission begins collecting its previously announced $1-a-month maintenance fee on E-ZPass accounts effective today.  The fee applies to account holders who subscribed to E-ZPass through the DRJTBC.

The $1 account fee was approved by Commissioners on December 22 as part of a new multi-faceted pricing policy for the DRJTBC E-ZPass program.  The changes bring the DRJTBC's E-ZPass program in line with the pricing policies of other regional transportation agencies that began imposing fees and eliminating discounts years ago.  The changes also will help offset revenue declines arising from the travel reductions triggered by last year's fuel increases and the ongoing national economic downturn.

The DRJTBC is the last agency in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey region to eliminate discounts for casual E-ZPass users and to charge an administrative fee to its E-ZPass customers.  However, it remains one of a very select group of toll agencies that still provides discounts to motorists who have a DRJTBC E-ZPass account or a DRJTBC E-ZPass companion account and use its toll bridges the most.

For these high-volume non-commercial customers, the Commission provides a 40 percent "commuter discount" for passenger vehicles that cross the agency's toll bridges 20 times or more in a 35 day period.  That discount reduces the 75-cent base toll to 45 cents per trip.

The implementation of the new $1 account fee will coincide with the transfer of the Commission's E-ZPass customer service operation to a new vendor on June 1, when it will switch from Affiliated Computer Systems (ACS) to Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp. (ETC).

Commission E-ZPass account holders who may have questions about the new $1 fee are urged to call the Commission's toll-free customer-support line at 1-800-363-0049.

More information on the DRJTBC's toll rates and E-Pass discounts is available at the Web page address -- www.drjtbc.org/default.aspx?pageid=102.  Information on the agency's E-ZPass program also may be accessed at www.ezpassdrjtbc.com.