Posted on 06/16/2017 3:53:52 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Will your E-ZPass allow you to pay a toll in a faraway state, where toll tags are named something else like SunPass or FasTrak?
The concept to do that is called "toll interoperability" and it was supposed to go nationwide last October under a federal mandate. That means is Jersey drivers could use their E-ZPass on any toll road or bridge even if it uses a different electronic toll payment system.
It would allow different toll systems communicate with each other and properly bill a driver who uses another agency's tag. The idea differs from electronic tolling which bills the vehicle owner for the toll, if they don't have a tag.
A reader who knew about the mandate asked what's happening, now that the deadline has passed.
Q: E-ZPass should be interoperable with other toll taking systems. When are they going to comply?
A: The answer is complex. There are four major regional toll collection programs in the nation, E-ZPass in the Northeast, SunPass in Florida, TxTag in Texas and FasTrak in California, and more than 65 toll agencies in the United States.
The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, a toll industry trade association, has worked on the issue since 2010 to design an electronic collection protocol that works for all agencies.
"We are currently testing three widely-used protocols to determine if any one is notably superior to another," said Bill Cramer, an IBTTA spokesman. "We hope to have a single protocol that can ... reliably provide the information that all toll operators need to process a transaction."
Testing is expected to be completed this fall, he said. IBTTA experts want to ensure using national protocols won't make a local toll collection system worse, Cramer said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Which is what will happen. But there have to be competing specs for there to be competing possible standards.
That’s the way it goes.
Good thing, too. When you have the government setting standards you get orphans such as the Minitel.
Mine has worked everywhere I’ve gone so far. But lately (since first getting E-Z Pass) I’ve not been farther west than Ohio or farther south than Savannah.
IL I-Pass is a 50% discount from the cash tolls.
I-Pass now works in IN and OH, but I don't know if the same discount applies.
Best solution is no toll roads.
In Virginia, the Dulles Greenway pays an annual dividend to frequent drives who pay with SmarTag/EZPass.
Because people who don't use the roads and bridges should definitely be taxed to pay for them. It's only fair.
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