JAMESTOWN — People who drive across the Claiborne Pell Bridge on a regular basis will soon have a new way of paying for those stunning views of Narragansett Bay.

Rather than drop tokens into a basket at the tollbooth, they will drive through with E-ZPass transponders attached to their windshields, triggering automatic deductions from their E-ZPass accounts.

Other states have had E-ZPass for years, but not until yesterday did the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority’s Board of Directors approve the system for the state’s lone tollbooths at the Pell Bridge.

“Everyone from Illinois east and Virginia north that has toll structures has E-ZPass,” David Darlington, the board’s chairman, said after the meeting. “We are the last to adopt.”

The new system, which will eliminate use of the tokens, is expected to be in place by mid-December and will essentially retain the fee structure that is in place.

Rhode Islanders who buy one of the new E-ZPass transponders will pay 83 cents each time they cross the bridge — matching the lowest rate now available to people who buy tokens in bulk.

Out-of-state motorists with a Rhode Island transponder will pay $1.75 per crossing, but the rate will drop to 91 cents — the rate now available with the purchase of 10 tokens — if they opt into a high-frequency program and cross the bridge more than 30 times a month, Darlington said.

The cash rate for crossing the bridge — $2 — will remain the same.

Motorists from in or out of state will be able to buy a first transponder for $10 and a second for $15. A third or a fourth — the maximum — will each cost $20.95. But the board, responding to concerns raised at a recent series of public meetings on the E-ZPass program, also approved guidelines that allow Rhode Island residents who had out-of-state transponders before yesterday’s meeting to be credited for their first two Rhode Island transponders.

To use E-ZPass, motorists will have to deposit $25 into an E-ZPass account, and they will have to replenish the balance each time it falls to $10.

Darlington said applications for E-ZPass will be available in November at the Bridge and Turnpike Authority office in Jamestown and a satellite office that will open in Newport. Motorists will also be able to order the transponders by phone and over the Internet, though people who want to show that they have an out-of-state transponder may have to order in person, he said.

The transponders attach to a car’s windshield and contain an electronic chip that holds information on the owner’s account. Each time the transponder passes through a toll facility that uses E-ZPass, the information is read and the account is debited.

Many of the 25-or-so people who gathered at Jamestown Town Hall yesterday morning for the board’s meeting had straightforward questions. What will the toll be? How will people get the transponders? How much will the transponders cost?

There was also a suggestion from Rep. Bruce Long, R-Middletown, that the board consider a lower toll fee for local residents, who tend to use the bridge more frequently than most Rhode Islanders.

And a couple of residents asked how the authority would handle the personal data it obtains to establish user accounts. Darlington did not get into particulars but said the company that is overseeing the project has handled it in other states.

Anita Girard, of Jamestown, stumped Darlington with one question, asking if locals will be able to allow people coming to Jamestown or Newport for a wedding to get a discount toll rate, the same way they can if someone sent them tokens.

“I do not have a solution to that,” Darlington said. “I would be willing to look into it.”

redgar@projo.com