New Hampshire E-ZPass

[John S]

Details about New Hampshire's future E-ZPass system are emerging. It
looks like it will be deployed in several phases across the state's toll
plazas during the first half of 2005. Affiliated Computer Services is
the contractor for the system; they also now operate most of the E-ZPass
systems.

All transponders will be "sold" for a fee greater than what the
Massachusetts Turnpike charges. There will also be a monthly fee for
New Hampshire accounts. Some sort of discount will replace the former
token discounts, but the amount has not been announced yet. The rest of
the details should be similar to other E-ZPass issuers.

A while back it was announced that New Hampshire E-ZPass accounts would
accrue interest on prepaid toll money in the accounts, however no word
if this will still happen. (If it does, it will probably be very tiny,
and most likely would be well below the $10 annual floor for 1099
reporting.)

[richar...@earthlink.net]

The way the state is going to be running E-ZPass, I don't see how NH
commuters will benefit. There will have to be a much larger discount
for E-ZPass users than there will be for token customers to make up for
the cost of the transponder and the monthly fee. Somehow, I don't see
that happening.

Is there someplace to compare the E-ZPass costs from different
agencies? Right now, it seems like the only way I'll be able to afford
E-ZPass is to get my transponder from somewhere other than NH.

[richar...@earthlink.net]

BTW, this is where to find the latest (official) NH E-ZPass news:
http://webster.state.nh.us/dot/turnpikes/pdf/EZPassUpdate.pdf

[Mike Tantillo]

Thats the beauty of E-ZPass, you can get a tag from whereever and it
will still work in all E-Zpass facilities. You can get an E-ZPass tag
from an agency who's facilities you don't even use.

[sterli...@hotmail.com]

Yeah, but unless I haven't looked hard enough on the internet, the only
way to compare plans is to go to each individual organization's E-ZPass
site, and in many cases download each organization's application form
and do the mathemathics yourself I keep hearing Peace Bridge gives the
best value. Likewise Maryland, and Delaware as far as I know do not
charge monthly maintanence fees.

What follows is the link to all the (non-commercial) signup pages I
know of...
New Jersey http://www.ezpassnj.com/static/signup/index.shtml
New York http://www.e-zpassny.com/static/signup/index.html
Maryland http://www.ezpassmd.com/static/signup/index.html
Virginia (Smart Tag) https://smart-tag.com/enrolltest.cfm
Delaware http://www.ezpassde.com/sign_up.html
Delaware River & Bay Authority (Delaware Mem'l Bridge)
http://www.ezpassdrba.com/drba/static/signup/index.html
Delaware River Port Authority / Burlington County Bridge Commission
http://www.bcbridges.org/bridge_info/E-Zpass/getit.asp
Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
http://www.ezpassdrjtbc.com/static/signup/index.html
West Virginia Turnpike http://www.wvturnpike.com/ezpass_apps.html
Pennsylvania Turnpike http://www.paturnpike.com/ezpass/onlineapp.htm
Mass. Turnpike (Fast Lane)
http://www.masspike.com/travel/fastlane/fastlane_signup.html
Massport (Fast Lane -- Toobin Br. resident discount)
http://www.massport.com/bridges/tolls.html
Peace Bridge http://www.pbaezpass.com/signup.shtml
Maine Turnpike http://www.ezpassmaineturnpike.com/signup.html

Interesting article from Foster's Daily Democrat
http://www4.fosters.com/December_2004/12.18.04/news/co_1218a.asp
"On Feb. 1, Maine will transfer from the Transpass system to E-ZPass,
meaning once New Hampshire is up and running, motorists can travel from
Maine to Florida using the system."

To Florida, eh? Well, yeah, as long as you don't drive on any toll
roads south of the Virginia-Carolina border. I just noticed that
article in the ad space in Google. The same mistake is in this AP
article on WMUR.com
http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/4006156/detail.html

[Donal Waide]

I understood it was TRMI (The Revenue Markets Inc) and not ACS that won
the contract.

[John S]

Donal Waide wrote:

ACS won the contract, worth $16.6 M, to operate the NH E-ZPass service centers
for three years. TRMI had the contract for toll system work, which is nearly
complete.

[AllstonPar...@hotmail.com]

richar...@earthlink.net wrote:
> The way the state is going to be running E-ZPass, I don't see how NH
> commuters will benefit. There will have to be a much larger discount
> for E-ZPass users than there will be for token customers to make up
for
> the cost of the transponder and the monthly fee. Somehow, I don't
see
> that happening.

I'm sure they'll reduce the discount on tokens to make it worthwhile
for frequent users to buy a NH transponder.

I'd like to publicy blame the Mass Pike for being the first E-ZPass
agency to break the previous trend of providing discounts to all tag
holders regardless of the agency the tag is from. That was supposed to
be one of the benefits of E-ZPass -- seamless interoperability up and
down the east coast, and discounts which represented the money toll
agencies saved due to e-tolls.

But it turns out the technology is hideously expensive, and doesn't
save anything in labor, and politicians also discovered it's more fun
to gouge the nonresidents, and they can get away with it since they're
only accountable to voters. In fact E-ZPass is making it far easier to
set toll rates based on residence -- before, they'd have to institute a
dedicated mail-order discount sticker program for each toll agency, so
it wasn't worth it unless there was extreme political will to give
people a break on outrageous tolls (like on Staten Island and in the
Rockaways in NYC), but now that everyone's getting a transponder anyway
it's trivial to figure out where people live and what agency their tag
is from.

-Apr

[mayers...@hotmail.com]

And I would like to blame NJ for being the first to charge the monthly
maintenance fees. IMO, the purpose of EZ-PASS is to reduce the
congestion at toll booths by having people pay their tolls with the
transponders (ideally at highway speeds), instead of having to stop and
pay tolls. The more cars that are equipped with EZ-PASS, the greater
the number of cars that can pass through the toll plaza.

Monthly fees greatly discourage the occasional user of toll roads from
getting a transponder. Typically, I only use the toll roads when
visiting family in the NYC area. I usually visit about 3-4 times a
year. I wouldn't have a transponder if I had to pay $12 a year extra
for only occasional benefit.

Fortunately, Maryland does not charge the fees, so I can continue using
EZ-PASS.

Mayer Samuels

[Greg DePasse]

Lawmaker proposes commercial advertising as part of toll system
Foster's Daily Democrat - Dover,NH,USA
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The state transportation commissioner supports
incorporating commercial advertising into the new E-Z Pass toll
program, as long as any profits are used for future road
improvements....
http://www4.fosters.com/January2005/01.19.05/news/ap_nh_01119n.asp
-Greg

[John F. Carr]

In article <1106162833.5...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,

It's too bad the FHWA decided not to enforce the advertising
ban in the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices when the
Massachusetts Turnpike sold naming rights. Now there is a
precedent to clutter up toll plazas.

--
John Carr (j...@mit.edu)