SunPass, E-ZPass compatibility remains in limbo

The Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | January 14, 2017 | Wayne K. Roustan

[EVO X]

I’m patiently waiting for Sunpass/EZ-Pass compatibility so I can drive Florida’s turnpike.

They are taking out manual lanes on the SunCoast Pkwy near Tampa. If your out of state, they just take a photo of your plate and send you the bill. If your a snowbird and going to roost in FL for the winter it is probably wise to get a Sunpass. You have about a month or so to pay the bill.

[Alberta's Child]

1. Toll roads aren't necessarily "double taxation" -- especially with roads that were originally constructed as toll roads.

2. The idiot in this article has no problem with the electronic device. He just doesn't want to use two of them.

3. Isn't your car filled with electronic devices -- many of them required by law?

4. Hey nut job ... Who told you?

[SamAdams76]

Well it was $50 across six or seven states so not one tollbooth in particular. But yeah, now that they have done away with tollbooths, it is much easier for them to raise electronic tolls surreptitiously. People just zip on through the checkpoints and don't think about it until they get their EZ-Pass bill. People don't pay as much attention when they aren't forking over hard cash.

I was reading an article about those phone apps that coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts use. These apps allow you to pre-load cash so that you can pay for your cup of coffee with a smartphone. Very convenient for the consumer. But again, you don't notice anymore when that cup of coffee creeps from $2.18 to $2.23 to $2.37. Even though consumers get a lot of "special offers" and freebies with those apps, the chains are raking it in.

[Mr. K]

you can tell EZPass is a government program

it is stupid beyond belief (from this 25 year software engineer)

[oldbill]

Wrong.
A Freeway is just that - set up first in California as a counter to all the toll roads in the East in the 50s and 60s - Pennsylvania Turnpike, New York Thruway, Garden State Parkway, later Turnpikes.

With your definition, the 1940 Pennsylvania Turnpike, (a toll road) with limited access interchanges, no intersections, pedestrian controls, or railroad grade crossings, would be a “freeway”.

Stay in Alberta, where the superhighways (TransCanada)stop in the city limits so the local businesses get all the traffic.

[Mr. K]

Florida is the worst... every few miles it seemed I had to stop and pay ANOTHER toll

I worked once at a place that had a window facing a thruway entrance... I counted the cars once- except for morning traffic, there was barely enough cars during the day to pay the toll takers salary. So, we are paying a toll taker, for the privilege of having a toll taker there.

[Alberta's Child]

The term "freeway" is typically used as a functional classification, related to roadway design, geometry and operations. Your local street isn't a "freeway" even though there are no tolls on it.

The roads you referenced are perfect examples of cases where the name of the road has nothing to do with the "toll" or "free" status of the road. The New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes are toll roads, but the Connecticut Turnpike is not. The Garden State Parkway is a toll road, but the Cross Island Parkway in NYC and the Palisades Interstate Parkway in NY-NJ is not.

Interesting historical point ... the Pennsylvania Turnpike isn't even a turnpike, under the original definition of that term. The "turnpike" referred to the toll gates with spiked barriers that were placed along the route even before it was built as a highway for cars.

[Alberta's Child]

P.S. — Your reference to the term “Freeway” in a historical context may have been correct when they originally named the roads in California, but those distinctions have slowly been erased over time. Look at Orange County, California as a good example of this. State highways like 73, 133, 241 and 261 are toll roads, but Caltrans considers them “freeways/expressways” for functional classification purposes.

[Soul of the South]

” Politics....................”

Money

[Red Badger]

One and the same...................

[litehaus]

“And what about the gas taxes we all pay; don’t those go for upkeep of the roads?”

It disappeared into the pension trust fund for the ‘535 PRINCES if the UNIVERSE’ ?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Toll booths, where they still exist, do interrupt the flow of traffic.

[dfwgator]

Toll booths, where they still exist, do interrupt the flow of traffic.

"Tell me about it." - Sonny Corleone

[Nifster]

Toll roads have always been double taxation. You pay gas taxes at the pump designed to be used for those reasons. Paying a toll on top is another form of taxation

No my car does not have electronic devices in it....what are you specifically referring to

Word gets around....and it does take one to know one

[Alberta's Child]

As far as I know in the states where I’ve worked extensively in these areas, toll roads are expected to operate as self-funding entities — and therefore are not eligible to use state fuel tax revenues to finance their projects. In fact, some toll agencies are expected to dedicate a portion of their revenues to other government agencies to cover expenses off the toll road system that might otherwise require taxpayer funding.

[Nifster]

Don’t know what states those are. Plenty of states have til roads and bridges and get federal highway funds. Funds are fungible

[John Milner]

I always thought it would be cool to set up toll booths in states that otherwise don’t have tollways. Then only charge tolls on the vehicles from the states that charge us when we go there.