Rant/Question on EZ - Pass

[BigBoy99]

In an adjacent state, road construction/improvement has just been complete and signs have appeared stating that the road will become a toll road. There will be no toll booths and E-Z Pass is the accepted payment method. If you don't have E-Z Pass, they take a picture of your license plate and you get a bill in the mail for 4 times the E-Z Pass toll amount. (Processing and handling fee?)

I've looked on-line and there is an E-Z Pass system for each state. One would think that the DOT would require that a toll collection system be usable in all states, not each state having its own system. Also on roads which do have toll booths to accept cash, the cash amount payed is usually a lot more than the E-Z Pass fee.

It is totally ludicrous to have to plan your trip and contact each state to get an E-Z Pass for their state. Also, it sure kills the ability to take a spontaneous side trip to states not previously contacted.

I've see 18 wheelers zip through the E-Z Pass toll gates so there must be some system which would permit them to drive coast to coast without having to bother to stop at every toll booth or do they have some special arrangement with each state?

 

[Arik]

Each state has their own but they all work anywhere. I use my dad's when I have to and I'll drive through Pa, NJ, MD, DC, DE, VA... etc. It's still an EZ Pass. Just like you can get a Visa card in CA or in FL....It's still a Visa.

Think of it like a driver's license. Each state issues their own but they all work in any state

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[WTN1271]

Here in the Northeast, my E-Z pass is accepted in all the adjoining states. I resisted at first but after crossing NYC bridges a few times in pay lanes the advantage of E-Z pass quickly becomes apparent. A nationwide system does make sense but so does a lot of things that never seem to happen. Its been awhile but I think it worked all the way down the east coast on our last trip to Florida.

 

[Jinglebob]

My only experience with these so called “toll roads” came this past November. I visited my mom on Thanksgiving, she is in a nursing home in Dallas. I took the 635 expressway around town. That highway has recently been widened and redone.

Last week I got an invoice in the mail from the North Texas Tollway Authority saying that I owed them $3.25 for using their toll road.

I thought it was a scam, I saw no marking on the highway indication it was a toll road. I called my brother who lives in Dallas. He told me that there are certain lanes on the expressway that are now toll lanes but they are not marked, or marked poorly. The only information about them was published in the local newspaper and aired on local news stations when the expressway reopened.

I wonder how many people are caught in this “shakedown” each day.

 

[67tempest]

I live in Illinois and my IPASS is accepted in the neighboring states. I'm sure you can find a website that shows which states have reciprocity where toll passes are concerned. In Illinois if you use cash instead of the IPASS the toll cost is doubled.

 

[Krell1]

I don't have an ez-pass because I don't live in an area that has any toll roads. I recently took a cross country trip and failed to prepare for the cash tolls I'd have to pay. I ran out of cash quickly but ran into another problem as well. My NAV would tell me to keep left in a mile so I did. When I got to that point it was a toll barrier that I should have gone through on the right so I was unable to move over without killing myself in traffic. I ended up passing a few of the toll gates in the ez-pass lane without paying. This was a few months back and I have not received a single bill since. Maybe they'll have road blocks up for me on my next trip through. Or I'll be on the Illinois most wanted list. I'm quaking in my boots waiting for the toll police to show up at my door.

 

[carpriver]

I have always thought the interstate highways should be toll roads. leave the US highways open roads. I like some of the old US highways, they may not be direct but the scenery is better.

 

[The Big D]

Good everywhere...but read more...

EZ Pass transponders are good EVERYWHERE EZ Pass is usable.

Some states charge a fee; the great state of Maryland does not.
Do bear in mind that all of the states will require a credit card from which to load the device/debit your tolls.

Hope this is useful.

Be safe.

In an adjacent state, road construction/improvement has just been complete and signs have appeared stating that the road will become a toll road. There will be no toll booths and E-Z Pass is the accepted payment method. If you don't have E-Z Pass, they take a picture of your license plate and you get a bill in the mail for 4 times the E-Z Pass toll amount. (Processing and handling fee?)

I've looked on-line and there is an E-Z Pass system for each state. One would think that the DOT would require that a toll collection system be usable in all states, not each state having its own system. Also on roads which do have toll booths to accept cash, the cash amount payed is usually a lot more than the E-Z Pass fee.

It is totally ludicrous to have to plan your trip and contact each state to get an E-Z Pass for their state. Also, it sure kills the ability to take a spontaneous side trip to states not previously contacted.

I've see 18 wheelers zip through the E-Z Pass toll gates so there must be some system which would permit them to drive coast to coast without having to bother to stop at every toll booth or do they have some special arrangement with each state?

 

[Salty RI]

We use EZ Pass to go over the bridge to Newport, it costs less than a buck each way, without the pass, it's four bucks each way, we also use it when we go to Va to visit out son, you set up an account with a credit card, we don't use it often so we put 25 bucks in the account and when it's gone, 25 bucks comes off our card.

 

[Whitwabit]

I live in an area where there aren't any toll roads so no one has an e-z pass .. and when traveling I stay off all the toll roads that are marked and have never gotten an invoice in the mail from a state ..

 

[Muss Muggins]

I've see 18 wheelers zip through the E-Z Pass toll gates so there must be some system which would permit them to drive coast to coast without having to bother to stop at every toll booth or do they have some special arrangement with each state?

Trucking companies manage fuel, road, and toll taxes for each state for each rig. Keeps several employees for each company very busy . . .

 

[Squarebutt]

Massachusetts just demolished all the toll booths on I 90 and went to overhead scanners that will supposedly send out a bill to folks that don't have a transponder. Why do I expect the taxpayers will be making up the difference when nobody pays?
When MA first started the transponder system, it was called "Fast Lane", and didn't work in other states. Slowly the neighboring states joined in and it became a reciprocal system. Not every state joined right away, though, and when we pulled up to the Delaware tolls in a pickup with a box trailer, a big sign said Fast Lane transponders weren't valid. So we paid the $18 toll and drove away. Imagine my surprise when my Fast Lane bill came in the next month with an $18 charge from Delaware. And no, I couldn't find the $18 cash receipt.
Anyone who lives in a state without toll roads can obtain a free transponder for driving through toll road states. The MA site is here: E-ZPass MA

 

[Squarebutt]

Commercial trucks and busses get their own transponders (and higher charges). The cameras know if you're towing a trailer or using the unit from your car in a 6-wheel motorhome and charge accordingly.

 

[brigham33]

They built 2 new bridges here in Louisville over the last two years. Tolls start 30 December. Its well worth the $2 to avoid the old mess to cross the river.

They are on the EZPass system and you can buy a transponder ($15 or so) that works everywhere there is EZ Pass or just get a sticker (free) that works just for the local bridges. Either makes the tolls $2, no transponder/sticker and toll is $4. My figuring is that extra $2 is about the cost to track down and then collect the payment and process it.

Nice bridges and I don't mind the $2 toll. Of course I lived in NJ for a while and there are lots of toll roads back there. The "automated" toll collection is great compared to the hundreds of toll booths and traffic slow downs I gone through over the years. I also put a high value on my time, I'm old and don't have a lot left to spend in traffic jams or waiting at toll booths.

 

[leswad]

In Texas, if you get an invoice in the mail, make sure you pay it on time. A $3 bill can become thousands and the state will make you pay it in full.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

Twice I have gone through an Easypass lane by mistake when exiting the Pennsylvania turnpike. Don't have an EP account. Both times I received a bill in the mail with extra charges tacked onto the fare, about 5 times the actual toll. Both times I paid the full bill but also sent the original toll ticket with my check. In each case I was refunded the extra charges within a month.
I suppose it's time to set up an account, if only to save the hassle. Keeping $25 or so in it should see me through a year of toll road/bridge use.

John

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

I just got my "RiverLink" bundle the other day since the new Louisville bridges start tolling today. I don't cross the river that often, but the cost difference($2 vs. $4) makes opening an account a no-brainer even for someone like me who only goes to Indiana once or twice a month.

In any case, I opted to get one EZ-Pass for my main car and a free sticker for my other. The EZ-Pass box works in any EZ-Pass state(I think there are 15 or so of them).