It's been awhile since I've had to drive in New York, and after a visit to Manhattan next week, we are driving up to Vermont. I'm having a hard time remembering what to do about paying tolls. Do we need lots of quarters? Are there other ways to pay tolls these days? Thanks!

If you have an EasyPass, you just go into specific EasyPass lanes and drive through.

I think the cash booths have people collecting tolls. But I could be wrong. I'm an EasyPass user, and don't really pay attention to that.

Without EasyPass you will be in cash lanes which, for the most part, are staffed. But, you will also be waiting in line.

If you don't have an EZPass, bring lots of cash, singles and quarters, to pay for your travels.

If you take the NY State Thruway (I=87) north to Vermont, you will receive a toll ticket at Harriman (Exit 16) and will pay at the tollbooth in Albany (Exit 24). The cash toll is $4.40.

At that point, I-87 becomes the Northway, and is not a toll road.

Agree that EZPsss is the way to go if you have time to get one. Cash toll lanes are manned and change available, but as mentioned, a longer wait. I think sometimes you get a discount using EZPass. Others may know for sure.

www.e-zpassny.com

Should be EZPass. Sheesh.

You do not need exact change for the cash lanes. The toll collector will make change for you.

Watch out on the Northway. I got a speeding ticket on my way to Vt. They hide with radar guns!

Are you renting a car by any chance? The last few times I've rented a car in the New York area my car has had an EZpass in it for me to use for a small additional fee. I think this was through Avis.

Quarters won;t do you any good all the tolls are way more than that.

Agree it's much better if you have an EZ Pass - otherwise you can find yourself in a horrendously long line for the one booth with a live toll-taker.

Which highways/bridges are you planning on using? (The Hudson crossings are $8 now I think and even the parkways and smaller bridges are a couple of dollars.)

Hudson river crossings are $8, but only East bound. Westbound is toll free.

From Manhattan north to Albany you'll pay $1.00 at the Yonkers toll booth, then pick up a ticket at Harriman as gb stated.

There are usually several speed traps on the Thruway on the way to Albany, not just the Northway beyond Albany. Speed limit is 65, although the flow of traffic is usually 70mph.

Cash toll booths at Exit 24 Albany seem to move pretty quickly, and they have a lot of lanes.

Wow, you guys are fast - go away for a few minutes and get all these responses!

I haven't worked out the way we are going just yet. We are going to Stratton Mountain and these are the directions I got from the Stratton Mountain website:

From New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia
1. Take I-87 NORTH to Albany, to Exit 23 for I-787
2. Follow I-787 to Route 7 EAST
3. Follow NY Route 7 to Route 279 at Vermont border.
4. Take 279 to VT Route 7 In Bennington, take the exit for Route 7 North, Manchester
5. In Manchester Center, get off Route 7 at Exit 4
6. Turn RIGHT onto Route 11 / Route 30
7. Continue about 7 miles until Route 30 splits to the RIGHT
8. Turn RIGHT onto Route 30 SOUTH
9. Continue about 7 miles into Bondville
10. Directly after the 7-Eleven, Turn RIGHT onto Stratton Mountain Road.
11. Stratton Resort is 4 miles up.
12. When arriving in Bondville from Rt. 30, Stratton Mountain access road is the next street south of the local 7-Eleven

I haven't sat down to look at the maps yet, and we are going from JFK where we pick up our rental car.

Thanks Katie_H for telling me your rental car had an EZPass. I'll make sure we ask if we can have an EZPass included.

Thanks for the tip on the radar guns centralparkgirl, we'll be on the lookout.

GB944, appreciate the info on the tolls - if we go the way mentioned above, I guess I'll know my totals for the tolls.

thanks everyone else too - I love this forum!

Julie

You can take the Taconic Pkwy instead of I-87. It's more scenic and you'll save the Thruway toll.

It looks like you've got things covered. But I just wanted to point out that if you live in a state that uses something other than EZPass (like IPASS in IL, for example), it'll work too. We rented a van to drive out to MA for our daughter's graduation in May (we had to cart all of her stuff home). We went onto the website and added the rental license plate number to our IPASS. We took it along and had no problem using it in IN, NY and MA.

I agree with the poster on the Taconic. Very scenic.

Also, you can zoom through some tolls at 55mph with an EZPass. Not for this particular route though.

I was going to suugest the Taconic. It is a very scenic ride and I used to take it about 1/2 the time when I had a house in Vermont.

But, the Taconic ends well south of route 7. You will have to have good directions and be comfortable navigating several road changes to link from where the Taconic ends to catch Route 7 just to the west of the Vermont/NY border.

You could take the Taconic to the end point, which is the NY State Thruway/Mass Turnpike extention (I-90) and then head back West towards the NYS Thruway 87 portion. But, that makes little sense as you'd be heading far west, then north, to come right back towards the east.

Again, I like the Taconic and it is a nice ride. But, make sure you have a good map as you'll be on at least 4 different roads at various points to head effectively due north to connect with Route 7.

If you are traveling on the NY Thruway they hand you a card when you get on and calculate how much you owe when you get off - that's if you don't have an easy pass. Where are you traveling to in VT? If you want some ideas, I have a travel blog about VT - http://www.mysecretvermont.com

thanks all, and mysecretvermont, I already found your website - we are going to be in stratton mountain, so I copied your Bennington, Manchester, etc. drive. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion of the Taconic. I finally got home and got out my map and looked at everything. I have one more question. Ryan, et. al, do you think it would be better to take the taconic or follow my friend's advice below? (Personally, I'd much rather have a scenic drive than just get there as fast as possible!)

I have a friend who lives in Connecticut and she has suggested us taking 87 to 287 over to White Plains, and then taking 684 up to where we can get on the 22 all the way up until it intersects with 7. What do you think of that?

CAPH52, we live in California and have fastrak, which is a bay area thing. I wonder if this would work also in place of EZpass. I did just call up our car rental company and sign up to get an EZpass, it just seems simpler. But they do charge $2.50 for each day that you actually use it, with a maximum of $10 per week. I believe this is with Hertz.

Julie

Fastrak will not work with the EZPass system.

For your trip, the Thruway is a well maintained interstate highway, typically the safest and the fastest choice.

The Taconic Parkway is much narrower, and, although there are no semis allowed, is much more challenging driving due to the curvy nature of the road.

Route 22 is rural, two lane mostly, carrying slowish traffic through small towns, which drop the speed limit to about 30 mph, and have frequent traffic lights. It can be a real pain to be caught behind a schoolbus or oil delivery truck with no place to pass.

The route--684 to 22 to 55 east to 7 in CT--I've driven it many times to a friend's house in Kent, CT. Be aware that 22 can be scenic, but it also goes through towns and past a good number of newish shopping centers and has some traffic lights. Route 7 above 55 is very scenic. I've driven all the way to Rutland--a nice drive through beautiful New England towns. This route is not about very fast driving.

I've also driven the full length of 22 to where it merges with 7 just below the MA border. I found 7 more attractive than 22, though it might be a bit slower.