Since tollbooths can scan license plate numbers, why is it necessary to have an EZ Pass transponder?

I am sure the cost of scanning the plate is more than just giving them the money from the EZ pass.

My state uses EZ pass, we call it Sunpass down here in the FL sunshine, and I recommend getting one if you go through tolls fairly regulary (we only go through tolls about 4 times a month and I am glad I have it).

I had moved from FL 7 years ago, and when I moved back I still had my device and was able to start it right back up. Most tolls are cheaper with EZ pass. Where I live you can also use it at the airport parking lot, I don’t know if the price is reduced. I also don’t know if my EZ malfunctions and they read my plate if I still get the lower price since I am an EZ pass user? Another thing is I don’t know if the read your plate thing is much easier if you are already signed up with EZ pass. I’m not sure the DMV system and EZ system actually work together? They have to spend money to send you a bill don’t they? Not if you have an EZ pass. So it makes sense there is at least some sort of fee for running a toll.

I can replace the battery in mine, which is what I did when I moved back to FL. FL also has a less expensive sticker passes. You just stick it to your windsheild, but then you need one for each car. But, as I said it is cheaper than the battery one.

What state are you in?

They don’t work well. You really need to track where you are going.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/29/cbs-2-investigates-living-through-an-e-zpass-nightmare/

http://www.newstribune.com/news/2012/jun/28/e-z-pass-not-always-so-easy/

Batteries? That’s old technology.

Here in Georgia, we have the Peachpass, which is an RFID strip that is read from above. It’s no thicker than a piece of cardboard and sticks to the windshield. No battery at all.

Yes, it makes life easier to have one. But if you’re paranoid, then don’t get one.

Where I live, all toll booths are now unmanned, so transponders are a must. Our pass is a sticker, which the cameras in the non-manned toll booths and along the toll roads can read. When it needs replacing (which for me has been necessary only when I changed cars), it can be ordered by phone or online and received in a couple of days.

Transponders send toll payment info, Plates just register who owns the car.

@kritiper – actually, to get really pedantic about it, transponders do NOT send toll payment information.

They send a unique identifying number (scrambled) to the receiver. That’s all. The receiver’s software does a lookup on that unique number, verifies the account, checks to see if there is a balance, and then uses the account information on the host computer to create the charge transaction.

It would be very dangerous to have the transponder carry credit information. That’s why the only thing that is being transmitted is the unique number.

But the transponder is for paying tolls not seeing who’s car is who’s. Like you said for ” the charge transaction.”

The plates are linked to the transponder once you get a transponder.

Here in Texas there aren’t any cash booths so your license (front and back) gets a picture and they mail you a bill. Technically, you don’t need the sticker but you get a “discount” price for using one.

Thanks all! Since several of you have said that all you need is a sticker, I was right in concluding that there really is no need for the battery operated devices we have in Pennsylvania.

Optical scanning is a bit less reliable than RFID or transponders especially when trying to read analog (a license plate) rather than digital (a barcode). It’s not so much of an issue at grocery stores where you don’t have to deal with fog and rain, and it’s easy to re-scan, but a lot of plate-scanning requires human intervention/interaction.

I have to wonder how many people have kept their car long enough to run the battery in their transponder dead, and why not just get a new transponder every few years. Many people don’t even keep the same car for more than 3 years, and it seems to me a new transponder is cheaper and easier to replace than an entire car.

As for the EZ-pass discount, I am surprised your area is just rolling that out. Because EZpass cna be read in motion instead of stopping for a minute to hand over cash, it’s easy to see how it would reduce congestion. Most tollbooths I see, cash lanes are the minority.

If they send a bill in the mail by scanning your license plate, there is paperwork and mailing costs, and some administrative work if you fail to pay your bill (fines). In my state it’s just a sticker. I’d not go with the transponder either. No thanks.

@jerv My battery transponder I move from car to car. That was the point of that type of transponder. The sticker you have to buy for each car, and when you sell, you lose it and have to buy a new one.

@snowberry Why are people against the transponder? Is it a big brother issue?

@JLeslie I read all the comments above about them, and if those comments are true, no I don’t want it. I know nothing about if such a thing is connected to a credit card, but if that were the case, NEVER! Too easy to hack. LOL Also, I’m careful about cell phones that emit radiation (I do have one, but I don’t talk long on it), and I wouldn’t want an appliance like that in my car, always on, even a little bit.

@snowberry Your credit card is in the main computer system, so if someone hacks the system I guess there is risk, like any time our credit card is used in a computer system, but it isn’t in the transponder.

The beam you are worried about is in the tunnel or EZ pass bars you drive under, not what is on your car. Actually, I think it works on radio waves?? Shoot, someone can correct me. So, like having a radio in your car.

I’m not trying to convince you to get one, just letting you know the deal.

@jerv I don’t know if it’s still that way, but when EZ-Pass started in NJ you still had to slow down to go through the toll booths. I think it was down to 25 or 30MPH, even though it was capable of being read at faster speeds.

And, don’t know about anywhere else, but where I am the stickers are free. You just have to order another one and then call to have it attached to your account. Which is dumb, but there ya go.

@mrentropy We have a lot of fast lanes now that I think are 50mph to pass through?? The slow lanes are going through old fashioned toll lanes, so walls on either side, and safety is an issue at higher speeds. I think also it depends what the merge is like on the other side of the tolls. If the toll plaza goes from a three lane road to 8–10 toll lanes, the merge on the other side is more complicated.

@JLeslie Maybe I’m just used to replacing items every few years anyways, so I don’t see the big deal with replacing transponders.

@jerv We rarely replace anything if it is working. The one exception is cars.

@JLeslie They still do that? GSP?

What is GSP?

Garden State Parkway. It sounded very similar to the way they had things laid out.

The E-470 tollway in Colorado scans license plates, no transponder needed. I drove it last week in a rental car. I drove it last week.

https://www.expresstoll.com/PayingTolls/Pages/License-Plate-Toll.aspx

@mrentropy Oh. Hahaha. I haven’t been on the Garden State Parkway in over 25 years. most turnpikes and toll roads are similar to each other. I am in FL where we have quite a few tolls down here too. On some toll roads, Chicago comes to mind, they really separate the traffic with EZ pass from the cash paying drivers. The cash payers kind of go off to the side, it almost feels like going to local lanes for a little bit, while the others are in express (I think I295 was like that for point of reference, or maybe it was I95 by you, I can’t remember?) while the EZ lanes are multiple and fast moving.

@JLeslie There is some reason this gizmo has a battery, if not to send a signal somewhere to something. And if it’s on, it’s always on. Regardless, I’d hate that you can’t tell if the thing is working properly or not. That’s an opt-out for me, right there. I’d rather pay a little more each time I use the toll road and know what I’m getting.

I can tell if mine is working. I push the button and it gives me info. It beeps when I pass through the sunpass toll that it received the signal.

But, again I am not trying to convince you, I am a freak about suspected radiation. The sunpass is only in my care 3 or 4 times in a month.