So Saturday I flew into Dulles, then had to drive home. I got on VA 267 heading toward I-495 (Capital Beltway). Not too long afterward–I’m not sure exactly where–I came upon a toll plaza. There were four lanes. Two had signs saying “Exact change only”, and two said “EZ-Pass only”. The toll was $1.
The problem was I didn’t have my EZ-Pass because I didn’t want it sitting in my car while it was parked there all week, and I didn’t have $1 in change. And there was no booth with a human in it, and no slot to change a dollar into quarters.
Sitting there staring at the 85¢ in my hand, I wondered what the crap I was supposed to do. There was no way to get the money to pay the toll, but I wasn’t going to run the booth and pay the (presumably extortionate) fine!
Luckily, the woman in the car behind me soon got pissed off, ran up, threw the change in the basket, and snapped at me: “There! Go!” Otherwise, I’d probably still be sitting at that booth.
Now my question: How is that legal–or even OK? Shouldn’t it be required that you give people some way to pay the toll? Is this a major money-maker for Virginia? Or is it just really that stupid? I mean, I live in Pennsylvania, the world capital of idiocy, and I was shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
So does anyone know what is up with this? Can you enlighten me?
Was this at an exit or across the entire road? I think you probably encountered the full-road toll plaza that appears on VA 267 just before you reach 495. There should be one or two EZ-Pass only lanes that don’t have gates. If your EZ-Pass is registered to your car’s license plate, you should be able to just drive through that. It will register a tentative violation, but then they will look at the photo of your license plate, match it to your valid EZ-Pass, and just charge the EZ-Pass.
They gave you two – EZ Pass or exact change. The cynical answer is, “Don’t get on a toll road unless you have the means to pay the toll.” If it’s the big toll plaza I’m thinking of, I thought they still had full service there, but most of the exits have been unmanned for years. And yeah, I was caught off guard by that once and had to skip a toll, but I never got a letter (out of state plates probably helped).
I think the thing to do is drive through the EZ-Pass lane. Your license plate will be captured and then should be linked to your EZ-Pass account. Check your account afterwards. You might not get a fine.
There are many toll plazas now, especially small exits, that only have EZPass, not even an exact change booth. If you want to exit, you better have one or you can’t get off there.
There’s an entire toll road around Austin that’s TX Tag only. I think that’s actually better, because they they can just have a sign that says “Don’t get on this road unless you have a TX Tag or you’ll be sorry.” Unfortunately, people can still miss that sign, like I did.
Well, it was about 11 p.m., and it was the first time I’ve driven that road, so if there were ungated lanes I didn’t notice them. And I didn’t see any warning signs that would have allowed me to, say, get off an exit earlier and get the change someplace, then get back on the road. They just sort of sprung it on me.
I don’t have a problem with an unmanned toll plaza, but I can’t understand why they wouldn’t have a bill changer, like at a car wash. I did have the money to pay the toll–several $1 bills–but no way to convert it into coins.
I guess next time I’ll just run the booth and hope the EZ-Pass thing works out.
I’m pretty sure they just take photos of your license plate and send you a bill, TxTag/EzTag/TollTag or not.
That’s what they’ve started doing up here in Dallas on the toll roads- they’re going away from the change-booths, and doing it all electronically. The Dallas North Tollway is completely booth-free now. AFAIK, they track when you get on/how many toll checkpoints you pass (you can get on from some non-toll freeways), and track when you get off (each exit has a transponder/camera), and charge you accordingly.
I suspect within a decade, they’ll stop the whole tag/account business, and just bill you for usage without any preregistration.
If they move to a system like that (billing the license plate number), they’ll need to work out a way of handling rental cars. From other threads, the rental car companies put a surcharge on a loaner EZ-Pass or equivalent.
The access road from Dulles airport to 495 is toll-free. Plus, the main toll plaza is $2.50 – only exits are $1.00 (and yes, some of the exits are unmanned late at night). So not only did you somehow get on the wrong road when you left the airport, you also managed to take an exit before getting to the main toll plaza (just before 495).
From the Dulles Toll Road website:
Q: I went through a ramp toll plaza location after hours and did not pay because no one was present to provide change - is that a toll violation? A: Yes–exact change and E-ZPass are accepted 24 hours. Due to low traffic volume late at night, it is not cost effective to have attendants in the ramp toll booths. **You should contact the Customer Service Center at 1 (877) 762-7824 to arrange payment of your toll. **
Sounds like they won’t penalize you if you call them to report what happened. But I concur with the advice that if you go through the EZ Pass lane, they will likely record your license plate and charge your EZ Pass account if you have one – but I don’t know that for a fact.
Don’t know about Virginia, but here in Texas they’ve been billing the license plate number for a good while. If you’re in a rental car, you get a bill in the mail.
I recall something similar in Illinois. They specifically say that if you find yourself in a situation where you would have to back out of a toolbooth to pay the right thing in the right way just go through and there’s a website you can go to report your fuck-up and pay. I think you even get a couple of freebees per year.
Around 2005, I was going from Meadville to Pittsburgh airport and came to an “exact change” only toll booth in a rental car. I threw what change I had in the hopper, which was less than the toll, and drove through it… with alarms blaring. This was in the middle of the day.
Well, I was driving not from the airport, but from a hotel located just off VA 606, so I entered 267 via VA 28. Not sure if that helps locate the plaza or not.
VA 28 is located east of the airport. It’s unlikely you would have been able to get on the free “access road” from there heading east, since it’s intended only to get you to the airport and back and the airport was west of you.
Ah! The “I flew into Dulles, then had to drive home” part did not make that clear.
I used to live out there, so I know exactly where you were: I think you’re talking about the toll you had to pay to get on 267.
(Generally, if you’re heading away from the airport you pay the exit fee to get on 267 and if you’re heading toward the airport you pay the exit fee when you get off 267 – in case you’re actually going to the airport, in which case you cut over to the access road at the first opportunity.)
Just before 495 you should have gone through the $2.50 main toll plaza, which would have been manned.
Hyperspaz never mentioned the access road; I only mentioned it because I thought he was driving from the airport.
Yeah, I didn’t phrase that as well as I could have. But yes, you are right about the $2.50 plaza.
Next time I go I’m going to take two rolls of quarters. That should probably just about cover it. I would take my EZ-Pass, but I don’t want it sitting in my car for a week, even in the trunk. I hope the license plate picture system mentioned earlier takes effect. It would sure make things easier.
