Island Dispatch, 1993-10-29

              ISLAND DISPATCH Inside This Week: jp~^ Hfj_f Election Day Facsimile Ballot, Page 8  ffWT G/ School's "Bridge," Center Pa£e* __}[ r¥¥¥,».i Proposed Town Budget, Page 13 JTk SERVING THE GRAND ISLAND COMMUNITY SINCE 1944 With The GRAND ISLAND NEWS GRAND ISLAND, NY (716)773-7676 44 PAGES VOL. 50 • NO. 30 OCT. 29, 1993 Happy Halloween From The Donovan Family On Whitehaven Road, Who Put Together This Display, & All The Staff At The Dispatch. Photo by Mary Stewart Thruway Turns Down Isle Bid For Toll Books THE E-ZPASS toll collection system that was put into operation Tuesday will soon be the only way to cross the bridge to Grand Island or pay 50£ per trip for the "privilege." Supervisor James H. Pax Wednesday was informed by the office of Thruway Authority Chairman Peter Tufu that his request to have the sale of commuter books continue to be available for Island residents cannot be met. Petitions for the books, sponsored by the Golden Age Center and Pax also are meeting deaf ears in Albany. Pax contacted Tufu several times before receiving the negative answer to his plea for having the commuter books available as an option, citing the fact (hat "there is no alternate route on or off the Island without using the Thruway." This (commuter book) would be a fair option rather than charging our residents the 50tf toll if they do not wish to participate in the electronic toll system," Pax informedTufu. After receiving the letter of rejection. Pax said, "We are not going to give up. We will continue to Fight," noting that petitions are still being circulated for presentation to the Authority. Tufu's office claims "Electronic toll collection systems such as E-Z Pass can dramatically improve traffic flow through a toll plaza thus relieving plaza congestion, reducing toll customers' trip times and minimizing environmental discharges." "The days of being able to build our way out of overcrowding are gone," it claims. "Many facilities ■have expansion potential, the ive environmental impacts are compelling and the money to build is not available." Contending that "retaining computer books in parallel with EZPass is not practical for several reasons, the communication to Pax continues to explain in detail the merits of E-ZPass versus commuter book sales. "Processing commuter books in a toll lane is much slower than processing a toll transaction with E- Z Pass. Even the most diligent collector cannot match the speed of electronic toll collection. "We cannot spare lanes for both E-Z Pass and commuter books and still have left over lane capacity for cash transactions. We would not be able to offer a dedicated lane for E- Z Pass users and give them the full benefit of that technology. "The sale of commuter books in toll lanes slows traffic considerably. "Retention of commuter books would negate any advances made by E-ZPass. "As traffic continues to increase, the ability of the plazas to handle the additional load will be compromised by the continued use of an outmoded method of toll collection." But many residents here have little or no use for the E-Z Pass toll collection method because they are infrequent bridge users. But they will either have to establish the debit accounts in compliance with the new system or contribute 50<t per trip to the Stale's coffers instead of the nine plus cents in Halloween 4- Trick Or  Treat Hours OFFICIAL TRICK or treat hours for the Town of Grand Island have been established as follows: Time Ends Sunday CLOCKS WILL be set back one hour Saturday night as daylight savings time comes to an end. While all will enjoy the extra hour of sleep, most of us will miss the that hour of daylight at the end of the workday.