Not so EZ-PASS

[drunkenwildmage]

Note: If you don't have one of those nifty 'EZ-Pass' plastic white boxes stuck to the windshield of your car, you CAN'T go through the 'EZ-Pass only' lane at the toll gates on the turnpike. Doing this really annoys the quickly growing line behind your happy ass.


On my trip from Ohio to Indiana last weekend, Getting on the turnpike and then getting off the turnpike on the same trip I got in the EZ-Pass only lane at the tollgate behind some idiot that didn't have an EZ-pass in their car, resulting in holding up traffic trying to figure out why the gate wouldn't go up.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I actually have the opposite problem sometimes. I take a toll road to get to work (it's the fastest, most convenient way to get there), but the EZ PASS Only lanes are only at the end of the toll road, not at the on-ramp booths. Most of the on-ramp booths typically have two lanes, both of which take EZ PASS. The left lane has the attendant, for if you don't have exact change, the right lane has the basket for those who do.

I typically take the right hand lane, but more than once I'll get stuck behind someone who has to then scrounge up their change to pay the toll. Invariably, this gets me irritated as hell, because in my Traffic Rage-state mind "WHO THE @#$% DOESN'T HAVE A TOLLTAG IN THIS DAY AND AGE?!"

I know, not everyone wants to spend the money on them, or they don't want the "gub'mint" tracking their movements with the toll tags, or they don't have a credit card, or... whatever reason they come up with in their heads.

Doesn't exactly assuage my irritation when I get stuck behind them at the toll booth, though.

[otakuneko]

We no longer have attendants and haven't had gates for even longer. Instead, a camera snaps a picture of your license plate while a reader checks for a tolltag. If there's no tolltag, the camera picture is sent to be processed, where the license plate is looked up and a bill mailed to the offender. They seem to wait a while before mailing the bill so that a balance can be built up if the offending car passes multiple toll gates.

Average speed on the toll road near me is ~80.

[wolfie]

Note: If you don't have one of those nifty 'EZ-Pass' plastic white boxes stuck to the windshield of your car, you CAN'T go through the 'EZ-Pass only' lane at the toll gates on the turnpike.

Couple of points:
1) Depending on the jurisdiction, sometimes you CAN go through (bad idea - you'll get a hefty ticket in the mail). Not all jurisdictions have a gate blocking the lane until it reads your transponder.

2) Not all EZ-Pass transponders are white. I've seen 3 colours: white (inside-mount for cars), blue (inside-mount for trucks), and black (bumper mount for trucks). The colour coding is so they can tell at a glance whether someone's trying to cheat by using a car transponder on a truck. The bumper mount transponders are for cases where an inside-mount won't read - I've only seen them on "portable parking lots", where the car on the "stinger" will block the signal from the overhead antenna to a transponder mounted to the windshield. I've heard of some cars having a metallized film inside the windshield for defrosting/defogging, and that inside transponders won't work for them, but I haven't seen an outside-mount car transponder.

[drunkenwildmage]

Couple of points:
1) Depending on the jurisdiction, sometimes you CAN go through (bad idea - you'll get a hefty ticket in the mail). Not all jurisdictions have a gate blocking the lane until it reads your transponder.

2) Not all EZ-Pass transponders are white. I've seen 3 colours: white (inside-mount for cars), blue (inside-mount for trucks), and black (bumper mount for trucks). The colour coding is so they can tell at a glance whether someone's trying to cheat by using a car transponder on a truck. The bumper mount transponders are for cases where an inside-mount won't read - I've only seen them on "portable parking lots", where the car on the "stinger" will block the signal from the overhead antenna to a transponder mounted to the windshield. I've heard of some cars having a metallized film inside the windshield for defrosting/defogging, and that inside transponders won't work for them, but I haven't seen an outside-mount car transponder.

1) I know.. the PA turnpike and the toll roads around Chicago you hardly slow down, but both turnpikes I was on did have the gates you needed to go through.

2)I've heard of an external unit you can mount on front of your vehicle, but I haven't seen them. I wasn't aware that they were color coded, but then again I don't make it a habit of looking inside of the cabs of trucks while I'm driving..

[MadMike]

I know, not everyone wants to spend the money on them, or they don't want the "gub'mint" tracking their movements with the toll tags, or they don't have a credit card, or... whatever reason they come up with in their heads.

In my case, it's because I only go through a toll booth once a year, when I come home from the beach. If I used them in a regular basis, I might consider getting one, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense to get one if I'd almost never use it.

[Crossbow]

In my case, it's because I only go through a toll booth once a year, when I come home from the beach. If I used them in a regular basis, I might consider getting one, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense to get one if I'd almost never use it.

Same here. We didn't get ours until recently because we didn't use toll roads enough. With various states jacking the cash rates up (or alternately, offering EZ-Pass discounts), it started to make sense. And with some of the additional trips we're making, we diecded it was time.

[Jay 2K Winger]

In my case, it's because I only go through a toll booth once a year, when I come home from the beach. If I used them in a regular basis, I might consider getting one, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense to get one if I'd almost never use it.

Same here. We didn't get ours until recently because we didn't use toll roads enough. With various states jacking the cash rates up (or alternately, offering EZ-Pass discounts), it started to make sense. And with some of the additional trips we're making, we diecded it was time.

Because it's You Guys, you get a pass (not an EZ-Pass, though) on it.

Like I said, I realize there are plenty of people for whom EZ-Pass toll-tags are just not feasible or they otherwise don't want to use them. Explaining that to my Traffic Rage persona-- which happens whenever I get into a car, because I want to get where I'm going as soon as possible-- when I get stuck behind them at the toll booths, however, is doomed to failure.

[Shalom]

My brother had a car with one of those windshields (a Pontiac Montana, if I remember correctly). He had to get the outside transponder; it mounts on the top two screws of the front license plate.

There's also a third tag color: orange. Public Safety and other official vehicles get these; they don't get charged for use of the highway, at least on the NYS Thruway.

Oh, and if you (generic you) don't want the gubmint tracking you, that's what the metallized plastic slipcase is for that they gave you with the tag and you probably threw away. Tin foil will probably work as well.

(There's an urban legend that one guy ordered a new tag, and they sent it to him minus the slipcase. He got charged for every tollgate the USPS truck went through...)

[Cia]

We don't have toll roads where I live \0/

[bbbr]

My fiances ex somehow got in an ez-pass lane instead of cash and opted to blow thru it instead of backing up on the mass pike on day. Then he did it again in New Jersey on purpose since the Pike never sent him a bill for the missing toll (they were on the eastern end out near Boston, not the western end which was free until recently). New Jersey cared enough to bill him $3 for toll and another 30 or so in fees/fines. He apparently wasn't all that amused...

The on ramp I use to get on the NY State Thruway when coming home from working on my families cabin has a very way odd way of working- there's no bar but there is an attendant who verifies your ez-pass is working. Once it reads "ok" he presses the button for the green light to turn on (never seen the red light on) so you can then enter the thruway. Gotta be one of the more ass-backwards setups I've seen; the whole point of ez-pass was to eliminate the wait and personal at the toll booths and they've managed to keep em both at that interchange.

[bbbr]

Oh, and if you (generic you) don't want the gubmint tracking you, that's what the metallized plastic slipcase is for that they gave you with the tag and you probably threw away. Tin foil will probably work as well.

Also- if you don't want your wife to find out you've been lying to her and cheating on her with a mistress in different state than you work in (totally wrong direction), hide your ez-pass in the foil bag as you travel the highway. It'll save you in the alimony fees when she rips you apart in divorce court... Happened to a guy I know, wasn't pretty.

[wolfie]

(There's an urban legend that one guy ordered a new tag, and they sent it to him minus the slipcase. He got charged for every tollgate the USPS truck went through...)

I heard it was someone's tag being exchanged (supposedly they have a limited life expectancy, and need to be replaced periodically). The new one was sent in the metalized bag, but he returned the old one without the bag.

I've also heard about a guy who used the 407 (toll road in Greater Toronto area - uses tag recognition if you don't have a transponder, and there have been cases of people being billed when someone with a non-Ontario plate having the same number drives on the 407) while hauling a trailer with a couple dual-purpose bikes (street legal dirt bikes). He got billed 4 times - the system recognized the plate on his pickup, the plate on his trailer, and the plates on each of the bikes.

[bhskittykatt]

I've also heard about a guy who used the 407 (toll road in Greater Toronto area - uses tag recognition if you don't have a transponder, and there have been cases of people being billed when someone with a non-Ontario plate having the same number drives on the 407) while hauling a trailer with a couple dual-purpose bikes (street legal dirt bikes). He got billed 4 times - the system recognized the plate on his pickup, the plate on his trailer, and the plates on each of the bikes.

Whoops.

That's good to know, though I don't plan on hauling anything in the near future. I don't have what we call here a "Good to Go" pass because we don't have very many toll roads up here. The rare times I head south and use one I usually just do the "Pay by Mail" lanes where it reads your tag and sends you the bill just like you described. It's usually only a buck or two more than pulling off the road to pay cash/credit and the last time I used it I was tired, vaguely lost, and in a hurry since I'd missed the ferry (though the toll and gas it took to take the long route actually came out cheaper than the ferry toll even with Pay by Mail, so that was a pleasant surprise).

[Shalom]

The on ramp I use to get on the NY State Thruway when coming home from working on my families cabin has a very way odd way of working- there's no bar but there is an attendant who verifies your ez-pass is working. Once it reads "ok" he presses the button for the green light to turn on (never seen the red light on) .

I have. I'd been switching my one tag between my two cars, and one day I couldn't find the tag, so I went to the office. Rather than telling them I'd lost it, which would cost me some bucks for the replacement, I just asked for a second tag for my second car. They handed me the tag at the office, but said it wouldn't be active for a day or two.

So that evening when I went to work, I left the new tag on, just to see what would happen, and went through the cash lane. Sure enough, the red light went on, and the guy told me the tag wasn't active yet. I told him I knew that, and handed him the $1.50.

(I found the other tag a week later, under some papers on the floor of one of the cars. So now I do have one tag in each car, just like I told them at the office...)