Tales from the George Washington Bridge

Everyday, when I drive home from work, I have to go through a tollbooth for the George Washington Bridge. The EZpass doesn’t give any discounts to commuters so in order to not pay the $8 each day to cross the bridge I fill my car with two other people. This allows me to go through the cash lane and say the secret password to get my toll down to $2. It’s not really a secret but when you sign up for EZpass you can add on the carpool option and when you go through the cash lane you say “carpool” and the toll collector presses a button that gives you the reduced toll.

Usually there is this cranky woman who pushes the button before I even have my window rolled down and when I say “carpool” she nods her head and that’s it. She isn’t the nicest but she does recognize me everyday. Yesterday, I pulled up to the tollbooth and there was a man I had never seen before. I told him “carpool” and he said “I got it!” then as I was about to drive away he said “stay beautiful!”. My face immediately turned beet red as I thanked him.

A discount toll and a free compliment, thanks New Jersey!

NJ is paying me to drive...

There is some new program that NJ has developed to provide incentive for people who live and work in NJ to carpool. I found out about this program called "Carpooling Makes sense" and signed up. While the website doesn't exactly tell me how long this promotion is going on.. I think that they will send me a gas card for $150 to carpool to work 24 days in two months. So far I have carpooled 3 out of the 4 days of December. I'm on my way to getting my gas card.

Although I'm not really sure how they can prove that you really had another person in the car with you, they told me they will be sending me a packet with information.

I never say no to free money in this craptastic economy so thanks for a little something extra NJ. Now do you think you could do something about the $8 toll on the GW bridge that i have to pay every freakin day?