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Published:

19.06.09 / 10pm

Fast Lane Reader

E-ZPass is an electronic toll collection system used on most tolled roads, bridges, and tunnels in the northeastern United States. Currently, there are 25 agencies spread across 14 states that make up the E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG). All member agencies use the same technology, allowing travelers to use the same E-ZPass transponder throughout the IAG network. Various independent systems that use the same technology have been integrated into the E-ZPass system. These include Fast Lane in Massachusetts, I-Pass in Illinois, i-Zoom in Indiana, and the defunct M-Tag in Maryland and Smart Tag in Virginia.

Functionality

Within the IAG, each member agency has its own billing and customer service center; all customer service centers are connected by a secure network (the "reciprocity network"). The agencies also set their own customer account policies. Areas of variation include the refundable deposit or nonrefundable charge for a tag, periodic maintenance fees, paper statement fees, the low account threshold, and replenishment amounts. E-ZPass is usually offered as a debit account: tolls are deducted from prepayments made by the users. Users may opt to have prepayments automatically deposited when their account is low, or they may submit prepayments manually. For commercial accounts, some agencies allow postpaid plans with a security deposit (which effectively renders them much like prepaid accounts with a different replenishment policy).

Several agencies offer discounted tolls to E-ZPass customers. The details vary widely, and can include general discounts for all E-ZPass users, variable pricing discounts for off-peak hours, commuter plans with minimum usage levels, flat rate plans offering unlimited use for a period of time, carpool plans for high-occupancy vehicles, and resident plans for those living near particular toll facilities. Many of these plans are only available to customers whose tags are issued by the agency that owns the toll facility in question. (Reciprocity only applies to tag acceptance, not to discounts.) Three authorities in New England (Maine, the Massachusetts Turnpike, and New Hampshire) restrict even their general discounts to their own respective tagholders.

E-ZPass tags are battery powered RFID transponders, made exclusively by Mark IV Industries Corp - IVHS Division. They communicate with reader equipment built into lane-based or open road toll collection lanes. The most common type of tag is mounted on the inside of the vehicle's windshield behind the rear-view mirror, usually with 3M's DualLock brand of hook and lock strips to allow easy removal. Some vehicles have windshields that block RFID signals. For those vehicles (or customers who have aesthetic concerns or historical vehicles), an externally-mountable tag is offered, typically designed to attach to the vehicle's front or rear license plate mounting points. Some third-party vendors offer alternative means of attaching a transponder pack without using locking tape, though the locking tape is the only method toll agencies endorse for attaching a tag to the windshield.

Although a tag can be used with a motorcycle also, there are usually no official instructions given for mounting due to the numerous variations between bike designs and the small area of a motorcycle windshield which could prove a hindrance if the transponder is attached following automobile instructions.

Most E-ZPass lanes are converted manual toll lanes and must have fairly low speed limits for safety reasons (5 and 15 mph are typical). In some areas, however (typically recently built or retrofitted facilities), there is no need to slow down, as E-ZPass users utilize dedicated traffic lanes ("Express E-ZPass") outside the toll booth (examples include Delaware Route 1, Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, the express lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway and Garden State Parkway, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Warrendale and Mid-County (I-476) Toll Plazas). In October 2006, Illinois completed its open road tolling for IPass/E-ZPass users. Pennsylvania is planning on using open-road tolling when they convert Interstate 80 into a toll road.

Each E-ZPass tag is specifically programmed for a particular class of vehicle, and while any valid, working tag will be read and accepted in any E-ZPass toll lane, the wrong toll amount will be charged if the tag's programmed vehicle class does not match the vehicle. This will result in a violation and possible large fine assessed to the tag holder, especially if a lower-class (e.g., passenger car) tag is being used in a higher-class vehicle such as a bus or truck. In an attempt to avoid this, E-ZPass tags for commercial vehicles are blue in color, contrasting with the white tags assigned to standard passenger vehicles. The blue E-ZPass is also used in government employee vehicles. In New York, an orange E-ZPass tag is issued to emergency vehicles as well as MTA, PANYNJ, and Thruway Authority employees.

Some agencies have imposed periodic account maintenance fees on their subscribers. After New Jersey began losing money with the E-ZPass system, a monthly account fee of $1.00 was implemented on July 15 , 2002 and is still in effect. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also charges a monthly account fee of $1.00. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority imposed a monthly account fee starting on July 1 , 2005 claiming to defray the administrative costs. However, as such a fee was considered to threaten the efficiency of moving traffic faster with lower tolls, New York State Republican Senator Michael Balboni sponsored Bill S06331 to prohibit administrative service fees on E-ZPass accounts. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority repealed the monthly account fee on June 1 , 2006 . On July 1, 2009, the Maryland Transportation Authority will begin charging $1.50/month fees to accountholders.

Some agencies, instead of charging periodic account fees, charge a one-time fee between $20.00 and $30.00 for each new transponder, including the Delaware Department of Transportation and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. One agency, the Delaware River and Bay Authority, is now charging multiple fees. In a press release dated July 17 , 2007 , the DRBA stated: "Beginning January 1, 2008, all DRBA E-ZPass account holders will be charged an account management fee of $1.50 per month. The transponder cost will also be passed on to E-ZPass customers for each new transponder."

Some agencies that do not charge a monthly account fee or an initial fee for the transponder include the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. The Illinois I-PASS system does charge a $10 deposit for each transponder. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission charges an annual account fee of $3.00. However, PTC transponders are free and there are no other fees. E-ZPass users are not required to maintain their account with an agency in their home state. Subscribers can open an E-ZPass account with any member of the IAG regardless of residency. This means that users have the option of choosing an agency based on the fees that it charges, effectively allowing them to circumvent transponder and account maintenance fees.

E-ZPass On-The-Go

E-ZPass On-The-Go is a packaged E-ZPass transponder loaded with $25 in toll funds sold over-the-counter at a retail setting (such as a supermarket or pharmacy service desk) that are valid immediately. The first $15 is available instantly; customers can access their remaining $10 when they register their transponders with the issuing E-ZPass agency within several days of first using their tags.

On-The-Go tags are available at retail locations. The On-The-Go package is unavailable in both Indiana and Illinois as both states require activation before use of their transponders.

History

The notion of electronic tolling had been considered as early as the 1980s, particularly in the New York metropolitan area. The tolling agencies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—which constitute two-thirds of the United States' $3 billion a year toll industry—sought to create a compatible electronic tolling technology that could be used on the toll roads and bridges of the three states, in an effort to reduce congestion on some of the busiest roadways and toll plazas in the United States. In 1991, the E-ZPass IAG was created to develop an interoperable system, and involved the participation and cooperation of seven independent toll agencies—The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, The New Jersey Highway Authority (operator of the Garden State Parkway at the time), the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York State Thruway Authority, and the South Jersey Transportation Authority (operator of the Atlantic City Expressway).

Under the direction of Peter Tufo, the Chairman of the New York State Thruway from 1989-1996, E-ZPass was first deployed on the Thruway at the Spring Valley toll plaza on