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Georgia Peach Pass interoperability

Started by MrDisco99, June 06, 2016, 04:18:26 PM

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MrDisco99

I got a Peach Pass for my car and put $40 on it in anticipation of this past weekend's road trip down to south Florida.  It came as a little sticker for the windshield.

I drove down and passed through electronic toll gantries along the entire Turnpike, as well as on I-95 express, Airport Expressway, Alligator Alley, and Sunshine Skyway.

I'm concerned because not once did I see the "thank you" light turn on (on the lanes that had them), nor do I see any transactions posted on my account.  Many of these are optionally toll-by-plate, but some aren't and could result in some hefty fines.

How long before I should expect to see these hit my account, and what should I do if they don't?


orulz

Using my NC Quick Pass in Florida, I came to find that some toll plazas have the proper readers and were able to read interoperable passes. Roads like this include Florida's turnpike. Others are not, such as the Beachline Expressway. On the roads where interoperable passes do not work, you are still supposed to use the pass lanes- they snap a picture of your plate and it will show up on your toll pass account at the regular SunPass rate. I think FL is in the process of updating their pass readers to handle these passes but wanted to go ahead and get interoperability working.

LGL33L


Alex

Quote from: orulz on June 07, 2016, 11:26:37 AM
Using my NC Quick Pass in Florida, I came to find that some toll plazas have the proper readers and were able to read interoperable passes. Roads like this include Florida's turnpike. Others are not, such as the Beachline Expressway. On the roads where interoperable passes do not work, you are still supposed to use the pass lanes- they snap a picture of your plate and it will show up on your toll pass account at the regular SunPass rate. I think FL is in the process of updating their pass readers to handle these passes but wanted to go ahead and get interoperability working.

Was also going to add that with Sunpass, if your car is registered under your account, and you drive through an AET gantry, you will only be charged the Sunpass rate despite the toll being processed as if it were toll by plate. I had this happen to me last summer when I lent my Sunpass to my Dad and forgot about it when I entered the Veterans Expressway northbound.

On the flip side, since my Dad's car was registered under my account, he had the same thing occur to him when he drove through an AET without a Sunpass. My account registered his toll at the Sunpass rate and my statement included a picture of his car and license plate. Hopefully it works the same with interoperability. Check your statement later and let us know.

MrDisco99

#3
Update!

All my activity from last Friday through Monday posted to my account last night, with the exception of the Leesburg and Three Lakes barriers on the north end of the turnpike, and Airport Expressway.  This resulted in the Lantana barrier only showing a $1.27 charge, which I suspect will change once Three Lakes shows up.  All were charged at the SunPass discounted rate.

So yeah... took a few days, but it works!

Considering the time it took and the way these all showed up at once, I suspect these are all photo based rather than transponder scans.  Makes me wonder if transponder compatibility would even need to be an issue to get integrated into EZ Pass as well.

1995hoo

Quote from: MrDisco99 on June 09, 2016, 07:23:14 AM
... Makes me wonder if transponder compatibility would even need to be an issue to get integrated into EZ Pass as well.

I haven't driven to New York in a few years, but the last time I was there, some of the toll plazas still had the old gate arms in place in the E-ZPass Only lanes. Until those are gone (hopefully they are already), interoperability will remain an issue because the "foreign" transponder won't signal the arm to go up.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jeffandnicole

If humans are needed to process an electronic toll, large scale interoperability won't happen.  It takes a lot of time to look up tag numbers to verify accounts.  As you noted, there was a significant time delay, which caused you to be worried you were going to be charged excess fees.  Imagine if this happened thousands, or tens of thousands of times a day, resulting in overwhelming the customer service center offices and/or phone call centers.

roadman65

Peach Pass, believe it or not is not compatible with Sun Pass even thought NC's own electronic tolling device is.  I get them in my lane all the time and it strikes me so odd that NC, a state further north of GA is, but our neighbor is not.

Then again Sun Pass will not accept Lee County, Florida's electronic toll system either which is way more than odd than that as Lee County is right here at home.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

lordsutch

Quote from: roadman65 on August 09, 2016, 09:03:49 AM
Peach Pass, believe it or not is not compatible with Sun Pass even thought NC's own electronic tolling device is.  I get them in my lane all the time and it strikes me so odd that NC, a state further north of GA is, but our neighbor is not.

Huh? Peach Pass is interoperable with SunPass. Both the Peach Pass and SunPass sites say so. The only exception is that prepaid Peach Pass accounts (Peach Pass Go) have to be converted to auto-replenish.

Quote
Then again Sun Pass will not accept Lee County, Florida's electronic toll system either which is way more than odd than that as Lee County is right here at home.

LeeWay is also interoperable with SunPass (and Peach Pass and the NC tag). Or maybe their website is mistaken too.

roadman65

Quote from: lordsutch on August 09, 2016, 02:08:10 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on August 09, 2016, 09:03:49 AM
Peach Pass, believe it or not is not compatible with Sun Pass even thought NC's own electronic tolling device is.  I get them in my lane all the time and it strikes me so odd that NC, a state further north of GA is, but our neighbor is not.

Huh? Peach Pass is interoperable with SunPass. Both the Peach Pass and SunPass sites say so. The only exception is that prepaid Peach Pass accounts (Peach Pass Go) have to be converted to auto-replenish.

Quote
Then again Sun Pass will not accept Lee County, Florida's electronic toll system either which is way more than odd than that as Lee County is right here at home.

LeeWay is also interoperable with SunPass (and Peach Pass and the NC tag). Or maybe their website is mistaken too.
I have had over a few from GA with the Peach Pass who did not register at the Beachline West Toll Plaza, and also the LeeWay too did not register either.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

lordsutch

Quote from: roadman65 on August 09, 2016, 04:40:06 PM
I have had over a few from GA with the Peach Pass who did not register at the Beachline West Toll Plaza, and also the LeeWay too did not register either.

As discussed above, it appears the 6C tags from LeeWay and out of state are not being read by the gantries yet. They should use the ETC-only lanes and be processed at the back office if they don't want to pay cash.

roadman65

Quote from: lordsutch on August 09, 2016, 04:58:48 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on August 09, 2016, 04:40:06 PM
I have had over a few from GA with the Peach Pass who did not register at the Beachline West Toll Plaza, and also the LeeWay too did not register either.

As discussed above, it appears the 6C tags from LeeWay and out of state are not being read by the gantries yet. They should use the ETC-only lanes and be processed at the back office if they don't want to pay cash.
Its just like the rental car companies version of a Sunpass.  I heard its not read in manual lanes, but the agent never tells the customer that.  Their version only works in ORT lanes, but they get into the cash lanes and my job is to charge them.  Of course I cannot force a driver to pay, as if he leaves my lane I am not held responsible.  The cameras take over and the state billing department issues the unpaid tolls to the rental car companies who in turn love the extra processing fee they impose on toll violaters.  Of course that may be why the sales people (as many hire sales people holding upsell sales against their jobs now)do not tell them that cause the upper management makes money for the company with unpaid tolls.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Eth

Quote from: roadman65 on August 09, 2016, 04:40:06 PM
I have had over a few from GA with the Peach Pass who did not register at the Beachline West Toll Plaza, and also the LeeWay too did not register either.

I used my Peach Pass in Florida about two weeks ago, with...mixed results. Based on my transaction log, it seems to have mostly worked on the Turnpike (though maybe not entering southbound from SR 70) and was fine on SR 913 and 922. Meanwhile, I haven't seen anything show up from various other south Florida tollways (836, 874, 924).

roadman65

You have to watch out for these things too, as a couple times my E Pass did not register at the Orlando South Plaza.  It just got placed with funds that I added to my account too, so I got an unpaid toll bill to pay in a few weeks time.

That is what amazes me how some pass holders come through the attended lanes at full speed not slowing down enough to check to see if their passes are working or not.   
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

1995hoo

Our relatives in Fort Myers said they use their LeeWay transponders on SunPass facilities with no problems. I didn't ask which SunPass facilities they usually use, though (I presume, given their location, the answer is Alligator Alley).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

mtantillo

I suspect some PeachPass transactions are posted by image, rather than by transponder read.

But PeachPass should be accepted in all toll lanes where SunPass is accepted. If it's an attended lane, it still has a camera and the charges will eventually reach the PeachPass account.

Can someone who has successfully used PeachPass in FL log into their account and see if the tolls are posted based on the transponder number or the vehicle license plate number?

UCFKnights

Quote from: roadman65 on August 10, 2016, 12:04:33 PM
You have to watch out for these things too, as a couple times my E Pass did not register at the Orlando South Plaza.  It just got placed with funds that I added to my account too, so I got an unpaid toll bill to pay in a few weeks time.

That is what amazes me how some pass holders come through the attended lanes at full speed not slowing down enough to check to see if their passes are working or not.   
I had that happen and got an unpaid toll bill as well, but calling SunPass they were very easy to fix it and add it onto my account and removing all the extra fees. There still was no reason for me to stop even if it didn't register, as I would have spent the time and not gotten the SunPass discount. Plus, over my life, I've had a number of tolls that I mysteriously was never charged for and never received notices for (not so much lately, but more frequently when the SunPasses still had batteries)

MrDisco99

Another update:

My activity on the Airport Expressway in Miami showed up on my Peach Pass account in September... three months later.

Still don't see Three Lakes. I've left $20 in my account in case it does some time in the future.

mtantillo

I tested out Georgia's interoperability with SunPass. I'm not impressed.

I rented a car in VA to drive down south for the eclipse. I added the car to my SunPass account using the rental car functionality on the SunPass app with the correct start and end times as well as the license plate. I put my portable SunPass auction cup device on my windshield. A day later, I took 3 trips: SB I-85 for $0.16, NB I-75 for $0.50, and a second NB I-75 trip for $0.50.

I waited patiently for 2 weeks for the $1.16 in tolls to be deducted from my SunPass account. Nothing. Then I get a $4.95 hit on my credit card from the rental car company's toll contractor. They charged me $1.00 for the two I-75 trips, nothing for I-85, and then a $3.95 "convenience fee".

The whole purpose of me bringing my SunPass transponder and entering the vehicle info onto the app was to avoid paying any excessive "convenience fees". I wanted to use my own ETC account and I never consented to doing business with this third party toll contractor. The worst thing is that I have no idea what I did wrong...I had the transponder in the vehicle and the license plate listed on the account during the time I had the car.

Fortunately, I know of someone else who had this same problem using a NC Quickpass in GA and got zapped with almost $20 in "convenience fees". He has contact with a GA political official who took interest in the problem. I corresponded with someone high up at Georgia SRTA who has promised to have their operations folks trace the transactions through their and FDOT's systems in search of the cause. I may attempt to reverse the charges on my credit card since I don't owe this third party company anything IMO. I'm glad I got the attention of someone in government though because otherwise Georgia, Florida, my rental company, and the third party toll processing contractor would just try to pass the blame. What a racket these rent-a-toll schemes are...they make it impossible to figure out how to avoid using their services!!



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