E-ZPass

[MickinMD ★]

If you seldom use toll roads, do you use E-ZPass or whatever equivalent works in your state for automatically paying tolls?

It may cost you more in the future to pay tolls than if you have the device.

Two Maryland toll roads are going, in October, to automated-only, full-speed toll areas using the Maryland version of E-ZPass (with a 25% toll discount) or your license plate will be used to send you a bill at 150% of the toll! The system is sure to spread to other toll roads, which will both relieve congestion and terminate paying toll booth collectors.

I seldom use toll roads, but now it looks like I need an E-ZPass, which works on most toll roads from NC to Maine and west through Kentucky to Illinois, or it will cost me more in the long run.  Their website is confusing, so I called and spoke to one of their customer service reps to get the details.

I'm getting one tomorrow or I'll forget about it until I need it.  They can be picked up at the customer service desks of a couple supermarkets near me and you initially load in $25 and when it falls below $10 it reloads via your credit card to $25. There are no fees for Maryland residents and no expiration date on the amount you load.

So they're always sitting on $10 to $25 of your money, but the toll discount and avoidance of 50% in extra charges should offset that - plus the convenience of not have to stop at tolls that still do have collectors.

 

 

[maddmaxx ★]

Is 50% charge all there is.  On the couple of trips I've made to JFK or New Hampshire through Mass I've been billed by the company that the state hires to send out the bills.  They of course get to charge a fee for mailing you the charge.

I think of it as the same mentality that no longer lets you use coins in the Casino.  If it's all magic money then you think it's painless.

[JerrySTL ★]

There's a new toll bridge in P8's neck of the woods from near Louisville to Indiana over the Ohio River. The first time that I took it, I was looking for a toll booth but there wasn't one. Instead a few weeks later I got a bill for about $5 if I remember. Not too bad. I was somewhat surprised as I don't live in either Kentucky or Indiana yet they were able to track down my license plate. If I got through that area during rush hour, then I'll take the toll road as it will save me a lot of time. Otherwise I'll drive through the city.

I wish that you could buy a week's worth of things like E-ZPass. I use to drive though Oklahoma quite a bit to visit my daughter and there were a lot of toll booths. It would have been nice to be able to bypass them but it didn't make economic sense to buy a month's worth for just a couple of days 3 times a year.

[Kzoo]

In the Chicago area I drive through the booths and they allow you up to 7 (or is it 10) days to go online and pay.  They have your license number and the booth number.  All you have to remember is the booth numbers you went through.  After my trip I go online and pay.  The fee is the same as the cash fee at the booth.

Even with the vision restricting bike rack they have my number.

 

 

[Kirby]

I rarely drive where there are tolls, but I've had an EZ Pass for years. Even before they went "all automated" on most of the tolls here, the difference in the length of the lines was well worth the effort. The main tolls I use are on the bridges, and the traffic there is bad enough without adding another 10 minutes or more to the drive.

[Rattlecan ★]

The truck I drove up until  2005 was so festooned with toll transponders it's a wonder I could still see out the windshield. When Illinois first went to open road tolling, we had to have an I Pass transponder, (they started accepting EZ Pass at some point since. Of course, I had EZ Pass, A transponder for the 407 ETR here in Ontario, an rf tag for US customs, and I think I'm forgetting one more.

It was nice to be able to bypass the lineups going around Chicago.

[TrentonMakes]

I've had an EZ-Pass account for over 20 years.  Even with a $1/month service fee I'm a happy account holder.  We can use it from Maryland to Maine.

They are replacing the highway bridge across the Delaware River near our house - as of now it's the only non-tolled expressway crossing of the river, but only for a few more months.  This will be a license-plate reader setup like Maxx described, and EZP will save some money.

We're not looking forward to those tolls though.  Sometimes we go over and back on that bridge three times in a day.

[Razors Edge ★]

I've had E-ZPass a LONG time, and while I hate those EFFERS and the whole TOLL EVERYTHING regressive spineless azzclowns too lazy to do their jobs, the one good thing has been never needing to stop to pay tolls.  

They recently introduced a new way to muddy and screw the traffic crowd - HOT vs HOV selection on some E-ZPasses.  The MAIN road going into DC from VA is I-66, but any rational human would never drive it during rush hour.  If you do, you are essentially required to have the Flex, but to have the Flex (without getting charged extra) you need to use it every so often, so it's not like you can just have a Flex in the off chance you need to get into the city during rush hour once a year or so.  Total BS.

E-ZPass Flex has an “HOV On” switchable feature to allow you to obtain toll-free travel on High Occupancy Toll and Express Lanes (64, 66, 95/495) when you have the qualifying number of people in your vehicle. The Flex Transponder has minimum HOV usage requirements.

[2Far ★]

I have a Peach Pass.

It doesn't work in South Carolina.

go figure.

[Airehead]

i live in NY and want to be in MAryland so yes I have and use EZ-pass

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

I just picked up an EZPass here in VA last week. Wo7 and I drove up to MA on Friday and back today. The E-ZPASS saved us time and money. Toll discounts and no waiting is the bomb. Here are the tolls on the drive up: Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, Susquehanna river bridge (one way northbound now), JFK highway in DE, DE Memorial bridge, NJTP, Garden State Parkway, Tappan Zee bridge. On the way home we paid to cross the GW bridge from NY to NJ and all the other tolls  south of there.

[Scrapr ★]

We don't have a single toll road on Oregon. When we were on Chicago last summer i held up the lane as i could mot figure out the toll thing. And i did not have change. I was about to throw my CC in the basket before WoScrapr caught me

[jdc2000]

No toll roads in my area.  I don't use them or an EZ-Pass even when areas that have them.

 

[maddmaxx ★]

CT is the only state in the area without tolls.  There is a move afoot to create them but the folks who live in south west Connecticut have a very powerful lobby against them.  Meanwhile while we pay tolls to go anywhere in other states, the traffic flows (slowly) through CT for free and the roads cost more and more to repair.

[Prophet Zacharia]

I got an EZ Pass years ago, specifically for the stretch of highway 168 at the VA/NC border. We vacation annually at the Outer Banks, and having the EZ Pass saved about an hour in toll booth lines. 

Now, it saves me money on the PA Turnpike. 

[team scooter]

When we worked in Illinois, we were paying $38 in tolls every week! It would have been double that amount if we didn't have the IPass/EZPasses. We still have the two transponders but we just use them on trips or the once in a Blue Moon ride down into Illinois. But we'll hold it up on the windshield as we pass the toll booths because we just cant bring ourselves to stick it onto the little car's windshield. 

[Parr8hed]

17 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

There's a new toll bridge in P8's neck of the woods from near Louisville to Indiana over the Ohio River. The first time that I took it, I was looking for a toll booth but there wasn't one. Instead a few weeks later I got a bill for about $5 if I remember. Not too bad. I was somewhat surprised as I don't live in either Kentucky or Indiana yet they were able to track down my license plate. If I got through that area during rush hour, then I'll take the toll road as it will save me a lot of time. Otherwise I'll drive through the city.

I wish that you could buy a week's worth of things like E-ZPass. I use to drive though Oklahoma quite a bit to visit my daughter and there were a lot of toll booths. It would have been nice to be able to bypass them but it didn't make economic sense to buy a month's worth for just a couple of days 3 times a year.

You should go to riverlink.com

 set up an account.  If you add money to your account you can get cheaper rates.  If you get a transponder to put in your vehicle it's cheaper yet.  It only costs me 2 dollars to cross. 

[ChrisL]

We have a couple of toll roads but I rarely need to take them.  None of them are staffed any longer and from what I understand you can drive them with no transponders and go online and pay within a certain number of days without penalty.

What I don’t like are the toll lanes on many of our freeways.  Want to get to work/home faster? Pay the toll and you can.  Otherwise suck it and wait in traffic.  Some of the tolls are steep during peak drive times too, $10-$12 for the entire route.

[Razors Edge ★]

32 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

What I don’t like are the toll lanes on many of our freeways.  Want to get to work/home faster? Pay the toll and you can.  Otherwise suck it and wait in traffic.  Some of the tolls are steep during peak drive times too, $10-$12 for the entire route.

"Lexus lanes"?  Those are the future!  Or, the present and future

When you have normal HOV restrictions, what some folks do is just ignore the HOV restriction and risk the fines, since 1) it is unlikely they will get caught, and 2) it is just a fine and they would rather pay it once in a while and get where they are going faster.  In other words, non-HOV folks - usually of "means" - would blatantly disregard any HOV restrictions knowing it would benefit them and that the "punishment" was negligible at worst.  

So..... we invented "HOT" lanes - ie if you are HOV (2 or 3 people minimum), you are still "free" to use the lanes. If you are by yourself, you are HOT (ie a Toll user) and can pay a premium to use the HOV only lane(s).  Brilliant!  Having the toll option allows the government to "farm out the work" to FOR PROFIT groups.  It  lessens traffic elsewhere (perhaps but usually unproven or proven false) and allows the people of "means" to again get better service than the rest of the taxpaying public and no longer be risking 1) a ticket, or 2) a delay from being stopped. 

#WINNING!

[groupw]

I have brothers in Chicago and Denver. I should probably get an EZ Pass. I went through an EZ Pass on ramp near Aurora, IL. I got the bill in the mail and it was pretty reasonable. 

Shortly after they introduced the toll road in Denver, we went out for my niece’s wedding. We got forced to the toll road because a couple azzhats wouldn’t allow us a lane change. At the time, data reception was a bit sketchy so we pulled off a couple times to get GPS info. We were billed for 4 entry/exits at an inflated rate!

[MickinMD ★]

21 hours ago, Kirby said:

I rarely drive where there are tolls, but I've had an EZ Pass for years. Even before they went "all automated" on most of the tolls here, the difference in the length of the lines was well worth the effort. The main tolls I use are on the bridges, and the traffic there is bad enough without adding another 10 minutes or more to the drive.

There have been occasions where I'd ride with my sister and enjoyed not stopping to pay the toll.

The new, all-automated tolls in Maryland let you go through the toll area at full speed.  I'm sure that's going to be the way of the future.

It used to be that you had to use the money you had placed in your Maryland E-ZPass account by a certain time or lose it, but that's not the case anymore.

Since the device is free and there's no expiration date on your money, I'm going to get the device when I go grocery shopping today since you can get it at one of the stores I'm stopping at.

[Tizeye]

I have E-Pass that works with SunPass (two competing systems in FL recognize each other) as well as in GA and one other. Absolutely saves money compared to cash payers but I try to minimize the toll roads as much as possible, but as a Realtor and owning a photography business, there is a solid record of tolls with E-Pass that is tax deductible in addition to other deduction such as depreciation or mileage rate. I just don't go overboard on use.

A good example was Saturday. I live 1/4 mile from the toll road and can take it to airport with two toll payments (4 round trip). This time I rented a car and returned it the next day which had the toll plate in it.  While Hertz would charge the actual electronic toll added to you bill, there was a $5.95 convenience fee for each day used. I took non-toll roads home and on the return. Incidentally, that experiment worked well.  Since only a week and a few dollars cheaper than the $89 for 1 week off site parking, will become significant when several weeks. At those rates already took a taxi round trip ($120 with tips) rather than long term parking for 3 week trips, but uncomfortable with taxi driver knowing the house was vacant. Essentially, I spend $2 for bus trip to airport, returning car next day, and reversing the process on return. Got a VW Jetta for $36 and splurged on a $42 SUV for a total of $82, including bus. Better yet, they upgraded the Chevy Equinox to a Mercedes SUV, and with rental parking on the airport property, there is no shuttle involved, just walk across the street to ticketing or from baggage claim.  Nor was there a line to stand in with preferred membership, name on board which car assigned and parking slot. Only thing that threw me on original pickup - and I stayed with the same class rented - was open choice any car in the "Gold" section. Wasn't certain if the same rate originally rented applied for all cars in the Gold Section or if was adjusted based on your choice when everything was finalized, not at the desk, but at the exit checkpoint.

[Tizeye]

The weirdest electronic toll I had was the license plate recorded toll in England (and now on some roads in FL where they didn't want to staff or construct a toll booth.) In England, there were signs telling you to log onto a web site to pay the toll within a week or so. Failure to within the timeframe automatically created a significant fine. I believe in FL a bill is mailed, but is immaterial as I use E-Pass, and rental cars for tourist have adapted to use E-Pass.

[maddmaxx ★]

3 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

I have E-Pass that works with SunPass (two competing systems in FL recognize each other) as well as in GA and one other. Absolutely saves money compared to cash payers but I try to minimize the toll roads as much as possible, but as a Realtor and owning a photography business, there is a solid record of tolls with E-Pass that is tax deductible in addition to other deduction such as depreciation or mileage rate. I just don't go overboard on use.

A good example was Saturday. I live 1/4 mile from the toll road and can take it to airport with two toll payments (4 round trip). This time I rented a car and returned it the next day which had the toll plate in it.  While Hertz would charge the actual electronic toll added to you bill, there was a $5.95 convenience fee for each day used. I took non-toll roads home and on the return. Incidentally, that experiment worked well.  Since only a week and a few dollars cheaper than the $89 for 1 week off site parking, will become significant when several weeks. At those rates already took a taxi round trip ($120 with tips) rather than long term parking for 3 week trips, but uncomfortable with taxi driver knowing the house was vacant. Essentially, I spend $2 for bus trip to airport, returning car next day, and reversing the process on return. Got a VW Jetta for $36 and splurged on a $42 SUV for a total of $82, including bus. Better yet, they upgraded the Chevy Equinox to a Mercedes SUV, and with rental parking on the airport property, there is no shuttle involved, just walk across the street to ticketing or from baggage claim.  Nor was there a line to stand in with preferred membership, name on board which car assigned and parking slot. Only thing that threw me on original pickup - and I stayed with the same class rented - was open choice any car in the "Gold" section. Wasn't certain if the same rate originally rented applied for all cars in the Gold Section or if was adjusted based on your choice when everything was finalized, not at the desk, but at the exit checkpoint.

I noticed that everything in Orlando has changed since my year there (20 years ago).  Hertz is no longer on Semoran Blvd.  I used to just take the toll road across town from the airport to get to the Orange Blossom Trail and work cause the company refunded toll money.  It was worth not having to do the traffic all the way to or from Altemonte Springs on Semoran.

[Tizeye]

15 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I noticed that everything in Orlando has changed since my year there (20 years ago).  Hertz is no longer on Semoran Blvd.  I used to just take the toll road across town from the airport to get to the Orange Blossom Trail and work cause the company refunded toll money.  It was worth not having to do the traffic all the way to or from Altemonte Springs on Semoran.

From OBT would be difficult, but I have taken back roads from there when close to rush hour and knew I4 and the 408 would be parking lots. Yes all the major rentals are in the airport parking garage (in airport counters on Level 1 for those without reservations) and car prep in huge lots bordering the parking garage. At least I live on the same side of town off University Blvd, so 417/528 toll roads direct to airport. Low roads take Semoran, but wife was confused when turned on Colonial when returning home. Pointed out that the red light didn't impact the turn lane, and I avoided two additional lights by going up to Goldenrod to cut over to University.

[12string]

On 5/20/2019 at 2:09 PM, maddmaxx said:

I think of it as the same mentality that no longer lets you use coins in the Casino.  If it's all magic money then you think it's painless.

is having an EZ Pass going to change how often you go through tolls?

No monthly fee, but there are discounts.  When my daughter was crossing the bridge every day, the whole family got the discount rate.

And now with all the high speed tolls, a HUGE advantage.  Especially when towing.  Makes me crazy when I'm travelling with people in other vehicles and I have to wait for them to get through the cash lanes.

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, 12string said:

is having an EZ Pass going to change how often you go through tolls?

No monthly fee, but there are discounts.  When my daughter was crossing the bridge every day, the whole family got the discount rate.

And now with all the high speed tolls, a HUGE advantage.  Especially when towing.  Makes me crazy when I'm travelling with people in other vehicles and I have to wait for them to get through the cash lanes.

It changes the fact that you know & feel that you are paying tolls.  It used to be a BIG deal when I was a kid crossing the Ben Franklin(?)  bridge and paying a toll on the way to the beach each summer.  We (kids) loved it - throwing coins into the hopper and begging our dad to let us toss them in from the back window.  I think my parents hated tolls.  I remember too, when my dad would commute to and from work from the Shore to the Philly burbs in the summer, he was eventually able to get a barcode sticker or something like that which was a precursor to an E-ZPass.  Not sure what toll that was for.

Consider your "with all the high speed tolls" comment, and ponder how that actually makes it EASIER for Da Man to stick it to you! Sure, you go through a toll booth at 55mph,, but you are still going through a TOLL BOOTH that likely wasn't there a decade or two ago

[12string]

2 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

It changes the fact that you know & feel that you are paying tolls.  It used to be a BIG deal when I was a kid crossing the Ben Franklin(?)  bridge and paying a toll on the way to the beach each summer.  We (kids) loved it - throwing coins into the hopper and begging our dad to let us toss them in from the back window.  I think my parents hated tolls.  I remember too, when my dad would commute to and from work from the Shore to the Philly burbs in the summer, he was eventually able to get a barcode sticker or something like that which was a precursor to an E-ZPass.  Not sure what toll that was for.

Consider your "with all the high speed tolls" comment, and ponder how that actually makes it EASIER for Da Man to stick it to you! Sure, you go through a toll booth at 55mph,, but you are still going through a TOLL BOOTH that likely wasn't there a decade or two ago

Hmmm.  And I thought the reason we hadn't yet stormed the state house to protest tolls was because no one could figure out an appropriate hat to crochet.

I have no problem with tolls.  Use the road, pay for the road.  Makes sense

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, 12string said:

Hmmm.  And I thought the reason we hadn't yet stormed the state house to protest tolls was because no one could figure out an appropriate hat to crochet.

I have no problem with tolls.  Use the road, pay for the road.  Makes sense

Use the xyz, pay for the xyz.  Why am I paying for schools? Parks? Sewers? Stream rehabilitation? Libraries? College athletics?

[12string]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

Use the xyz, pay for the xyz.  Why am I paying for schools? Parks? Sewers? Stream rehabilitation? Libraries? College athletics?

So you don't live in a dump and support lazy uneducated kids and have nothing to watch on Saturday afternoons? 

People usually complain about paying for services they don't "use".  People usually complain about paying tolls.

People usually complain about paying taxes.

[Razors Edge ★]

9 minutes ago, 12string said:

So you don't live in a dump and support lazy uneducated kids and have nothing to watch on Saturday afternoons? 

People usually complain about paying for services they don't "use".  People usually complain about paying tolls.

People usually complain about paying taxes.

Huh???? Why are roads or bridges "pay as you go", but the other ones are NOT?  Consistency across the board is what I like.  

Roads and bridges are the same as schools and parks and libraries. Put it all in taxes and call it a day.  Keep the regressive stuff like tolls out.

[12string]

Living in NJ, where a huge amount of the traffic is just passing through, I LIKE tolls.