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[lstone19]

Back in the 1970s, when Thruway toll tickets were full-sized IBM punch cards, I remember that tickets issued at major entrances used colored card stock. This let the toll collector know the entry point as soon as he or she saw the ticket and sped up toll collection.

The ones I remember (from when Spring Valley was the end of the ticket section)
14 - Spring Valley - pink
15 - Suffern - buff (very light brown)
16 - Harriman - light blue (or do I have 14 and 16's colors reversed?)
24 - Albany-Northway - light green
B1-B3 - White with a dark blue stripe on one edge
Less popular entrances had a white ticket. Pretty sure 23 - Albany-Downtown (which we occasionally used) was white.

After the end of the ticket section moved to the current Woodbury plaza, I believe Spring Valley's color moved to Woodbury. I have no idea if 16-Harriman (entering northbound only) retained its color but as most traffic entering went south, it would have lost its value (as I recall, the major reason for moving the end of the ticket section to Woodbury was to get the Harriman - Spring Valley traffic out of the ticket system which caused massive Sunday evening backups at Spring Valley).

Anyone remember any other colors? As a teenager, most of our Thruway travel was 15 (less commonly 14A) to 24 with no reason to venture west of 24 so I have no idea what colors may have been used out there.

[Sam]

I remember 24 being green as well. I vaguely remember Lackawanna being blue.

[neilbert]

The Mass Pike used a similar system. I still have a few tickets from days when they waived tolls for traffic reasons.
(9) Sturbridge/I-84 was pink
(11A) Wetborough/I-495 was somewhere between mauve and taupe.
(12) Framingham was grey

[Flyer78]

I seem to recall either 36 (I-81) or 39 (I-690) had a color as well, but can't recall it.

Also during the thermal-printed era, they had a stripe for color-coding as well, which seemed to be expanded but, that was E-Z pass era for me...

[retrocartogeek]

Necro followup on the NY Thruway toll ticket colors from the IBM punchcard era (up to late 90s):

B1 -- Hudson-Rensselaer -- manila with purple stripe
B2 -- Taconic Pkwy -- manila with purple stripe
B3 -- Canaan (Mass Line) -- manila with purple stripe
15 -- Woodbury -- all red
23 -- Albany (Downtown) -- manila with blue stripe
24 -- Albany (Northway) -- all green
25 -- Schenectady (East) -- all blue
25A -- Schenectady (I-88) -- manila with green stripe
46 -- Rochester (I-390) -- all manila
49 -- Depew -- all manila
50 -- Williamsville (Buffalo) -- manila with red stripe
55 -- Lackawanna -- all blue
61 -- Ripley -- all red
(ALL OTHERS on I-90 and 22 on I-87 were plain manila.  16-21 -- presumably manila)

3 of the above tickets (B2, 50 and 61) are from my memory, but I recall them clearly (lived 3 miles North of the Williamsville barrier; frequently went through 61 commuting to school).  All others listed above are per actual existing tickets from the late 80's - 90's.

I distinctly remember that all other toll plazas on the I-90 (exits 24-50 inclusive), and that of Selkirk (exit 22 on I-87) were plain manila.  Yes, I specifically got off at each exit to check at one point in the 90s.  I did not verify the other toll exits on I-87 (16-21).

[lstone19]

Thanks for that list. Interesting that 25 was blue as I remember back when Spring Valley was the south end of the ticket section so 16 was just a normal interchange that 16 was blue. I’m assuming they redeployed blue after moving the south end of the ticket section to between the ramps at 16 as there was not enough traffic at 16 to/from the north to merit a special color.


iPad

[D-Dey65]

Wow, I'm even more sorry I was never on the Thruway that often.