TRENTON – Should ambulances have to pay tolls? Some local legislators are planning on introducing a bill that would prohibit the South Jersey Transportation Authority from charging tolls to similar vehicles from Ocean County
The Authority operates the Atlantic City Expressway. According to a press release from the 9th District legislators (Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove), they don’t charge emergency vehicles from the following counties: Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem.
“In yet another example of bureaucratic regulations working against the public good, our delegation recently learned that a volunteer emergency services organization from our legislative district was charged a toll while transporting a patient on the Atlantic City Expressway. After several appeals by the first aid squad, the SJTA reluctantly waived the administration fee for failure to pay the toll, as though that would somehow address the core issue of charging tolls to emergency vehicles,” the press release stated.
“In response, we will introduce legislation to prohibit the SJTA from charging tolls to emergency vehicles from any county in the New Jersey. Emergency service personnel don’t have the time to deal with nonsensical red tape, which is why we must work to eliminate it.”
