Drivers across the state can now pay with their credit cards at toll booths for travel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, writes Jason Laughlin for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

However, according to Carl DeFebo, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the use of plastic is far from encouraged, with cash and E-ZPass remaining the preferred methods of payment.

“It’s a backup if you pull up to a toll booth and you don’t have cash,” he said.

The turnpike’s toll collectors started receiving card-readers in mid-September to help cope with the realities of an increasingly cashless society.

“There are fewer people today that seem to be carrying cash,” said DeFebo.

With the new credit-card system, drivers can go through one of the cash lanes and use their credit card to cover the toll. First issued as a pilot program, the card-readers were made available across the state on Sept. 19.

But DeFebo made sure to re-emphasize the importance of carrying some cash for people without an E-ZPass.

“The credit card really is not a preferred payment method,” he said.

Read more about the change in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.
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Top photo credit: MPD01605 Welcome to the Pa Turnpike via photopin (license)