We ended up with a bad EZPass transponder and didn’t know. In New Jersey, if you went through an EZPass lane without a valid transponder, it would say “Go” instead of “Go EZPass”.
About four to six months after having this bum transponder, we started getting fine notices from the NJT authority. The bill was for the maximum possible toll, plus $60. The form did include a spot where you could explain why you shouldn’t be held responsible (like the car was stolen, or you had a bad transponder).
We didn’t have to pay any fines, but we did end up having to fill in about 30 of these forms.
. . . but worth every cent compared to the alternatives (IMHO). And it’s a terrific road, in pristine shape, easy to go way over the limit (at least where I go, i.e. between the 400 and 404 almost exclusively).
They make up for it with BS. While I was in Maryland, they claimed that I was parked at JFK (multiple Turnpike tolls, plus the McHenry Tunnel). But, to the EZPass folks, I was clearly parked at JFK for several days.
Upon protest, the told me to call the parking folks at JFK… their answer was “I just work the booth - I have nothing to do with EZPass.” After telling EZPass this, the response I got was “Dispute rejected.”
I’m a fan of EZPass as a concept, but getting billed over $300 for parking in a place 300 miles away is utter BS.
Read this. It is at the very top of the application in the link you provided:
Important Notice to EZPass Applicants outside of New York State and Canada : Thank you for considering enrolling in EZPass. We encourage you to join the millions of users who have benefited from the program. But, please enroll in the EZPass program where you intend to travel most. Customers who sign up for a Peace Bridge EZPass and don’t travel Peace Bridge for an extended period of time may have their accounts deactivated. We want you to enjoy all the benefits of EZPass, so enroll in the program that is close to home and where you travel the most.
I have never used the Peace Bridge and have no reason for doing so.
This might help, whenever something important is out of my wallet (credit card, driver’s license, etc), I keep my wallet in my hand as a reminder until the important item is back.
Bolding mine. This means that US applicants should use their closest E-Z Pass agency. As far as I can tell, Canadians have no choice but to use the Peace Bridge agency.
Hari Seldon, Massachusetts’s FastPass system is interchangeable with NewYork’s EZPass. I’m not sure about residency / mailing address requirements.
Sunspace, I’ve driven on the 407 in a car with Massachusetts plates many times, with and without a FastPass transponder. I’m happy to say I never saw any tickets or charges…
The policy is fairly lax in Illinois. Anytime you can’t pay a toll, you just take the I-pass lane and pay it online with a credit card (the amount of the toll, no fine or anything extra). You have 7 days to pay the toll–I forgot change when I took the toll road over xmas and put the $.60 fee on my credit card the next day. After the 7 days expire, they assign a per-occurrence fee with compounding late charges.
In my dumber years (well a couple years ago, so not that long–but significantly dumber), I racked up $1k in fees from 4 unpaid tolls. They settled with me for $600. I had changed my address but not kept it current with the state, so I didn’t even know they caught me. le sigh.
Well, around Dallas, the North Texas Tollway Authority now has no stop tollbooths for all. If you have a toll tag it debits from your account. If you don’t they photograph your plates and send you a bill at a higher rate. They don’t necessarily have access to all databases of out of state plates, so go ahead and go through - might not get a bill.
On the Oklahoma Turnpikes, I got pulled over recently for blowing through the EZPass lane on my way out of state. Turns out my tag was expired (family account). Got the tag confiscated and a long talking to by a state trooper who had been lurking and monitoring people who went through the EZPass lane looking for scofflaws. Got the statement in the mail recently, and they didn’t charge for the tollbooths I inadvertently skipped on my drive across half the state.
I’ve blown through the EZ Pass lane quite a few times on my motorcycle without the transponder registering. Each time it shows up on my statement, showing my license plate number, instead of the transponder tag, with no additional fee.
Yeah, that’s how the system is supposed to work if you have your license plate number registered with your transponder in the EZ-Pass system. If it can’t find a transponder it will try to match your license plate with a known transponder in the system and charge that.
In the Bay Area we have FasTrak, which is similar to EZ-Pass, and once in a while the transponder doesn’t work. So, just as in your case, on the statement it shows my license plate instead of the transponder tag, with no additional fee.
Of course that makes it very important to notify the DMV if your car is sold or stolen, because otherwise there’s a chance someone could drive your car across a toll bridge and have it charged to you.
Hari Seldon, in addition to the suggestions you have somewhat prematurely dismissed, the NJ Ezpass authority does not require either a credit card or a US address to enroll. (most of them probably don’t, frankly)
You can fill up an ez pass with cash. They’ll just take a tag deposit as security for the device.
You can also walk into most turnpike travel centers and buy an ez pass right then and there - there’s no indication that you have to supply a US address when enrolling the ez-pass-to-go tag. The one thing having a canadian address may limit is your ability to get additional passes for your account.
I beg to differ. I called the Peace Bridge Authority and was told in no uncertain terms that they would cancel the pass unless I used the Peace Bridge regularly. So I am basically screwed.
I live in Illinois, and have an I-Pass unit on my car but not my wife’s. One day, driving h er car, we unexpectedly went on some toll roads and only realized later that I did it in her car, without the I-Pass.
I made a phone call, explained and they simply added her car to my account, found the tolls I blew without paying, then deducted that amount from my account. No fines.
In PA, they take down your license and mail you a request for the fee plus $1 for handling. I’m sure if you don’t pay it there’s a late charge, but I can’t recall what it was. All in all, not bad at all.
Can a vehicle driver be photographed either while driving on the turnpike OR going through the toll booths OR can only the license plates be photographed?
How long are the images saved for and are they saved if there was NO violation? Do they keep pictures of all passing vehicles?:
IIRC- one of the “invasion of privacy” complaints was that even though EZpass (NY/NJ) was pre-pay, you HAD to provide an address, you could not pay cash. There was some speculation in the article on why this was necessary - police tracking, etc.
