Delaware Toll People, We Need to Talk

Four dollars. Four. That's less than a crappy latte at Dunkin'. Or a good latte from my local cafe. Or a gallon of gasoline.

OK, not less than a gallon of gasoline. But still. $4.

That's the toll that their stupid EZ Pass system missed grabbing from my perfectly-functional NY EZ Pass transponder. Every other state I've driven in, when they miss the transponder (because they miss it a lot), they just mail you a bill. Pay the toll, and we're still friends. No biggie.

Delaware treats you like a dang miscreant. My $4 toll became $54 after they added in processing fees, ambulance fees, a fine, etc. It's a violation. Why? Their rationale? Well, you could just sign up for a Delaware EZ Pass. But then, why not sign up for 48 other states' EZ Pass systems? Right? Do I get a pile of transponders with that?

Appeal it? Sure. Just check the appeal this E36 M3 box. Then, enclose a check for the toll, and don't forget to log into your relevant EZ Pass website and print a copy of your statement, showing your Identity somehow and that your account has a positive balance. Of course, you better make sure you redact important information. So, here I am, after 40 minutes of paying this stupid $4 toll, to save $50 (redacting poorly-designed web page screen shots carefully takes time). I could have almost driven to the particular toll plaza in that amount of time from my state (PA).

I paid them with a check. But now I'm wondering... could I have paid them with 8 checks? $0.50 each? Just to make a point?

Anyway, I feel better. Thanks for reading. And that's a nice haircut--I forgot to mention that. Care to share your stupid-toll-plaza-fee stories? Unleash them here!

Illinois is pulling the transponders and making you get a sticker, so there goes pulling the transponder and using it in a rental car or an old 240Z.  

Why are you complementing my haircut? I know it's a E36 M3ty haircut, but it costs nothing & saves $ on shampoo...

I don't understand why Ezpass isn't universal, but apparently each state has to redeclare their independence. In this day & age when everybody wants to share your info...

Get off my lawn!

Here in CA, Fastrak doesn't even mail you a bill when the transponder read fails.  They look up the license plate, see if it's associated with an account and just bill it.

I'm so glad we, the state with the most expensive toll road in the berkeleying world, let an out of state company handle it so that we have 22+ more years of 5% annual toll increases, while the rest of the state roads disappear from lack of maintenance. That's a real nice trick charging DOUBLE for toll by plate instead of EZpass though. berkeley Pennsylvania.

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Illinois is pulling the transponders and making you get a sticker, so there goes pulling the transponder and using it in a rental car or an old 240Z.  

What about all the people driving into or through from other states... which was the whole reason for setting up an EZ Pass network in the first place?

I know on my Ohio EZ Pass they are explicit that I don't own the transponder.  Fine.  I paid nothing for it.  I assume Illinois is similar.

My question is: if they still use transponders to make all of the truck traffic happy.... can you buy an out of state transponder and use THAT?

Maryland has proprietary EZpass too.  A toll that's $4 for MD subscribers is $8 for any other state subscriber, and a whopping $12 for nonsubscribers.

I'm having my own round of trouble with DEEZnuts I mean DEEZpass because they claim I never took the Miata's old tag off the account.  So when it was issued to a new car I'm now on the hook for $180 worth of tolls I never had.  Yet somehow they are also reading the Miat's current tag too. Hmmm.

Last toll road trip I took had all the booths removed and replaced with cameras.  A big sign for a phone app directs you to pay by plate number.  If you are old and oblivious a bill will arrive eventually.  Once home I looked myself up and paid the $14.  This system made the trip from Michigan to Minneapolis much more enjoyable.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Your EZ Pass will work - our state is just updating technology

I got my NY EZ Pass back in 2009 or so when I lived there. At the time, their pass was free, and at least I thought at the time that other states' passes were not free. So I kept it when I moved. And when I moved again. Many moves later, and I'm still a NY EZ pass subscriber. I probably should get a MD EZ Pass though, especially if Maryland is ripping me off so badly every time I drive through the now-overcroweded-to-a-level-never-before-seen tunnels.

Like all technologies, EZ Pass seems to be one that solved a huge problem almost magically (traffic backups at toll plazas and all the expense to run those), and then backfired as a way to rip everybody off in the worst way imagineable once the problem was "solved" leaving us all worse off. Just like streaming video!

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Illinois is pulling the transponders and making you get a sticker, so there goes pulling the transponder and using it in a rental car or an old 240Z.  

What about all the people driving into or through from other states... which was the whole reason for setting up an EZ Pass network in the first place?

I know on my Ohio EZ Pass they are explicit that I don't own the transponder.  Fine.  I paid nothing for it.  I assume Illinois is similar.

My question is: if they still use transponders to make all of the truck traffic happy.... can you buy an out of state transponder and use THAT?

Interested in this thread as I just got a NY EZpass, and will use it for the first time in Ohio and NY soon.

But when I got this pass, the NY website was pretty clear that I can add cars to this transpoder.  So apparently one can use it on multiple cars.

And the NY and Ohio sites were pretty clear that it's part of the EZpass system, not just for one state.  Which is nice since NY does not charge an annual price for the pass. (and mind you, I don't live in either state).

Even Illinois has moved to plate recognition and billing.  Can't we just all do that?

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Even Illinois has moved to plate recognition and billing.  Can't we just all do that?

Maryland does that, but tolls are literally 3X the cost of in-state EZpass.

Arizona has no toll roads; all our roads are public and are most are generally in a good state of repair. 

Just sayin'. 

I have all of my cars' plates linked to my PA EZ Pass account.  Anything in-state (PATP, mainly) will bill my account using the plate.  Out of state, it's hit or miss. 

When I had my classic Mini, the low and near vertical windshield somehow made the transponder hard to read by some scanners - specifically the NJTP high-speed scanners.  So when I drove that car the first few times into NJ the toll would get mailed as a violation, but when I called them and paid the toll by credit card over the phone, they would wave the penalties. 

I drove through DE and MD over the weekend and just checked my EZ Pass account - the tolls (2x $4 in DE and 1x $8 in MD for the toll northbound after crossing the Susquehanna) hit my account this morning.  

I'm not sure what's worse - the $4 each way through ~20 miles of DE on I-95 or the 50 cents or so of the PA TP after crossing the DE River from NJ and then immediately exiting onto Rt 13 in less than 1/4 mile... 

Yes... the PATP is staggeringly expensive... From Exit 351 to 146 - about 205 miles = $29.40.   2x since I drove it both ways... 

Google maps will usually estimate the toll costs for various route options.  I've taken slightly longer routes with less tolls when the fuel cost works out to be cheaper.

brandonsmash said:

Arizona has no toll roads; all our roads are public and are most are generally in a good state of repair. 

Just sayin'. 

 

It's funny... because the state with the most toll roads I've ever seen (NJ) has weeds growing out through their highways. I always joked that the Garden State Parkway was so-named because they were growing a garden through the asphalt between the opposing lanes. More tolls = worse roads. Who would have thought?

Kansas Turnpike Authority sent me a bill for ~$12.  I paid it.  Then they sent me a $1.50 bill for having sent me a paper bill.  

I won't even get into how they were sending MY bills to the address of my ex-wife.  <smh>

alfadriver said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Illinois is pulling the transponders and making you get a sticker, so there goes pulling the transponder and using it in a rental car or an old 240Z.  

What about all the people driving into or through from other states... which was the whole reason for setting up an EZ Pass network in the first place?

I know on my Ohio EZ Pass they are explicit that I don't own the transponder.  Fine.  I paid nothing for it.  I assume Illinois is similar.

My question is: if they still use transponders to make all of the truck traffic happy.... can you buy an out of state transponder and use THAT?

Interested in this thread as I just got a NY EZpass, and will use it for the first time in Ohio and NY soon.

But when I got this pass, the NY website was pretty clear that I can add cars to this transpoder.  So apparently one can use it on multiple cars.

And the NY and Ohio sites were pretty clear that it's part of the EZpass system, not just for one state.  Which is nice since NY does not charge an annual price for the pass. (and mind you, I don't live in either state).

The EZPass works in a lot of states.  I've used it in PA and it's seamless.

My question is if your state takes away your transponder, can you buy an out of state transponder so you don't have to put a sticker on your car.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Even Illinois has moved to plate recognition and billing.  Can't we just all do that?

No, that's a horrible idea.  It means I can't use the turnpike with someone else's car.

NC uses plate recognition. I just paid the tolls from blasting past traffic through Charlotte a month or so back. 

brandonsmash said:

Arizona has no toll roads; all our roads are public and are most are generally in a good state of repair. 

Just sayin'. 

 

Yeah, it's got a lot more to do with climate than tolls.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

As a Delawarean, in MD I couldn't even buy a MD transponder as a gift for my daughter, who has a MD address, driver's license, and registration.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Even Illinois has moved to plate recognition and billing.  Can't we just all do that?

No, that's a horrible idea.  It means I can't use the turnpike with someone else's car.

 

 

If you have an account, you can add a temporary plate with specified date ranges. Or at least that's how the IL system works

I like to think positive.  I'm positive that it's going to get worse before it gets better. 

No complaints with Virginia EZ Pass.  Works great.  The few times I've had reason to contact customer service, I have been blown away with just how nice and helpful they are.  Seriously.

Duke said:

Maryland has proprietary EZpass too.  A toll that's $4 for MD subscribers is $8 for any other state subscriber, and a whopping $12 for nonsubscribers.

I'm having my own round of trouble with DEEZnuts I mean DEEZpass because they claim I never took the Miata's old tag off the account.  So when it was issued to a new car I'm now on the hook for $180 worth of tolls I never had.  Yet somehow they are also reading the Miat's current tag too. Hmmm.

 

it's not really "proprietary" because a MD transponder works in other states, and other states' transponders work in MD.  The out-of-state transponder still receives a discount in MD vs no transponder. Maryland DZ-pass tables

NOTE: I'm not suggesting that MD isn't berkeleying you. I'm just saying at least they're not forcing you to take ATM.

FWIW, OH does not have an out-of-state rate for DZ-pass. Transponders from all participating states get the same DZ-pass rate.

Q: Will I receive the discounted Ohio E-ZPass® toll rate when using an out-of-state transponder?
A: Customers using a transponder from any of the agencies listed above will receive the discounted toll rate when traveling on the Ohio Turnpike.

Q: Are there administrative fees charged for using an out-of-state transponder on the Ohio Turnpike?
A: If a customer has already established an E-ZPass® account with another toll agency, there is no "administrative", or "service" fee paid to the Ohio Turnpike.

i will now adopt "DZ-Pass" into my lexicon. so thanks for that!