E-ZPass on the Mackinac Bridge?

[Joe The Dragon]

At some point, EZ-Pass will likely implement tags over transponders.

SM-G991U

and how does an HOV switch work with that?

[vdeane]

At some point, EZ-Pass will likely implement tags over transponders.

SM-G991U

and how does an HOV switch work with that?

Good point.  I forgot about E-ZPass Flex when I was talking about sticker vs. hard-case tags.

[hwyfan]

Tolling will begin at the renovated Liberty Bridge in Bay City, Michigan in early 2023. All electronic tolling (AET) will be utilized.  The system will be interoperable with E-ZPass transponders. This will be the first toll facility in Michigan to accept E-ZPass for tolling. 

See:  https://baycitybridgepartners.com/tolling/

[vdeane]

Will it be interoperable with whatever the Mackinac Bridge uses?  If not, this is basically Indiana all over again... (at least the Mackinac Bridge still accepts cash)

[Great Lakes Roads]

Will it be interoperable with whatever the Mackinac Bridge uses?  If not, this is basically Indiana all over again... (at least the Mackinac Bridge still accepts cash)

No, they don't have any plans as of right now to accept EZ-Pass on the Mackinac Bridge. If you are talking about MacPass, then yes, they will be accepted on these two bridges in Bay City.

[Flint1979]

Oh God not this again.

[Flint1979]

Tolling will begin at the renovated Liberty Bridge in Bay City, Michigan in early 2023. All electronic tolling (AET) will be utilized.  The system will be interoperable with E-ZPass transponders. This will be the first toll facility in Michigan to accept E-ZPass for tolling. 

See:  https://baycitybridgepartners.com/tolling/

Which is stupid. Bay City is like 15 miles from where I live and there are four drawbridge crossings on the Saginaw River and two of them they want to make toll bridges, well one they are the Liberty Bridge but that can easily be bypassed.

[hwyfan]

Will it be interoperable with whatever the Mackinac Bridge uses?  If not, this is basically Indiana all over again... (at least the Mackinac Bridge still accepts cash)

No, they don't have any plans as of right now to accept EZ-Pass on the Mackinac Bridge. If you are talking about MacPass, then yes, they will be accepted on these two bridges in Bay City.

I recall the Bay City Bridge Partners (BCBP) had talked about the possibility of accepting MacPass at the Liberty and Independence bridges.    However that reciprocity is not yet confirmed on their website at the present time.

The BCBP, via their parent company United Bridge Partners (UBP), would have to reach an agreement with the Mackinac Bridge Authority to set up such an arrangement and establish a interoperability hub.   Otherwise there wouldn't be any way for a motorist with a MacPass bearing vehicle to be have its account charged for the Bay City toll amount.

I believe the BCBP will offer a 6c sticker transponder good for only their two toll facilities and serve as an affiliate member of the E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG).  This would mean that while the BCBP can accept and process E-ZPass tolls, they themselves would not issue a BCBP branded E-ZPass transponder.   There are some other toll agencies with this kind of arrangement.  Two other UBP managed facilities - the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge and the Cline Avenue Bridge, have affiliate relationships with the IAG. 

[hwyfan]

Tolling will begin at the renovated Liberty Bridge in Bay City, Michigan in early 2023. All electronic tolling (AET) will be utilized.  The system will be interoperable with E-ZPass transponders. This will be the first toll facility in Michigan to accept E-ZPass for tolling. 

See:  https://baycitybridgepartners.com/tolling/

Which is stupid. Bay City is like 15 miles from where I live and there are four drawbridge crossings on the Saginaw River and two of them they want to make toll bridges, well one they are the Liberty Bridge but that can easily be bypassed.

As terms of their agreement with Bay City, the BCBP has agreed to allow for residents of Bay City to have free passage across both spans for a set period of time.   Vehicles owned by local residents must have a transponder issued by BCBP installed on their vehicle to do this, as the facilities will utilize all electronic tolling (AET).

No one is being forced to use either toll bridge in Bay City, there are alternative crossings. 

[rhen_var]

Tolling will begin at the renovated Liberty Bridge in Bay City, Michigan in early 2023. All electronic tolling (AET) will be utilized.  The system will be interoperable with E-ZPass transponders. This will be the first toll facility in Michigan to accept E-ZPass for tolling. 

See:  https://baycitybridgepartners.com/tolling/

Which is stupid. Bay City is like 15 miles from where I live and there are four drawbridge crossings on the Saginaw River and two of them they want to make toll bridges, well one they are the Liberty Bridge but that can easily be bypassed.

From what I remember, people in Bay City wanted to keep the bridge, but no one actually wanted to pay the taxes required to pay for repairs, so the solution was to have a private company repair it and in exchange they get to toll it.

[hwyfan]

I would hope that the Mackinac Bridge is not like the Atlantic Beach Bridge, which has refused E-ZPass mainly because they're a corrupt political patronage operation that doesn't want anyone to know what their financials look like.  That, and the people on the island see the tolls as a way to keep out-of-towners out (among a bunch of other measures, like parking restrictions and implementing a maze of one-way streets).  They're so obstinate against E-ZPass, they're even considering going AET with no transponder - bill by mail only (presumably their commuter decals would still somehow be accepted).

The director of Nassau County Bridge Authority (NCBA) announced in July of this year, they were in talks with MTA and NYSTA about the possibility of bringing E-ZPass to the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Members of the local citizens advisory committee on the bridge requested it and also the authority had difficulty with a license plate tolling system that they implemented during the pandemic. 

See article:
https://www.liherald.com/stories/nassau-county-bridge-authority-disbands-citizens-committee,142738

[Flint1979]

I'm surprised that there are people that know anything about Bay City's local bridges in here. They were sold to a private company because the city couldn't afford to maintain them pretty much. They even wanted MDOT to take control to which MDOT refused, neither bridge is a state highway but the Veterans and Lafayette bridges are state highways to which MDOT would be involved there.

[Flint1979]

Tolling will begin at the renovated Liberty Bridge in Bay City, Michigan in early 2023. All electronic tolling (AET) will be utilized.  The system will be interoperable with E-ZPass transponders. This will be the first toll facility in Michigan to accept E-ZPass for tolling. 

See:  https://baycitybridgepartners.com/tolling/

Which is stupid. Bay City is like 15 miles from where I live and there are four drawbridge crossings on the Saginaw River and two of them they want to make toll bridges, well one they are the Liberty Bridge but that can easily be bypassed.

As terms of their agreement with Bay City, the BCBP has agreed to allow for residents of Bay City to have free passage across both spans for a set period of time.   Vehicles owned by local residents must have a transponder issued by BCBP installed on their vehicle to do this, as the facilities will utilize all electronic tolling (AET).

No one is being forced to use either toll bridge in Bay City, there are alternative crossings.

Yes I know. I know Bay City pretty well.

[hwyfan]

I'm surprised that there are people that know anything about Bay City's local bridges in here. They were sold to a private company because the city couldn't afford to maintain them pretty much. They even wanted MDOT to take control to which MDOT refused, neither bridge is a state highway but the Veterans and Lafayette bridges are state highways to which MDOT would be involved there.

The lease agreement between the city and United Bridge Partners came to my attention via articles posted on TollRoadsNews.

[vdeane]

Will it be interoperable with whatever the Mackinac Bridge uses?  If not, this is basically Indiana all over again... (at least the Mackinac Bridge still accepts cash)

No, they don't have any plans as of right now to accept EZ-Pass on the Mackinac Bridge. If you are talking about MacPass, then yes, they will be accepted on these two bridges in Bay City.

I was thinking about MacPass on the Bay City bridges.  Indiana had the absurd situation where the toll road was E-ZPass while the Wabash Bridge had its own transponder that was interoperable with nothing (at least the Mackinac Bridge still takes cash; the Wabash Bridge was AET; IIRC it didn't even have a bill by mail option).

There's also Québec, which has two toll facilities, each with their own transponder, neither of them interoperable with anything, not even each other (to make matters worse, both toll facilities are around Montréal, and one of them is AET).

I would hope that the Mackinac Bridge is not like the Atlantic Beach Bridge, which has refused E-ZPass mainly because they're a corrupt political patronage operation that doesn't want anyone to know what their financials look like.  That, and the people on the island see the tolls as a way to keep out-of-towners out (among a bunch of other measures, like parking restrictions and implementing a maze of one-way streets).  They're so obstinate against E-ZPass, they're even considering going AET with no transponder - bill by mail only (presumably their commuter decals would still somehow be accepted).

The director of Nassau County Bridge Authority (NCBA) announced in July of this year, they were in talks with MTA and NYSTA about the possibility of bringing E-ZPass to the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Members of the local citizens advisory committee on the bridge requested it and also the authority had difficulty with a license plate tolling system that they implemented during the pandemic. 

See article:
https://www.liherald.com/stories/nassau-county-bridge-authority-disbands-citizens-committee,142738

I think it's safe to say that an article written in July of this year isn't something I would have seen in November of last year. But at least now the people here who don't read the Northeast forum have seen it.

[hwyfan]

I was thinking about MacPass on the Bay City bridges.  Indiana had the absurd situation where the toll road was E-ZPass while the Wabash Bridge had its own transponder that was interoperable with nothing (at least the Mackinac Bridge still takes cash; the Wabash Bridge was AET; IIRC it didn't even have a bill by mail option).

The Wabash Memorial Bridge switched to AET in 2011 to replace the manual attended toll booth that was there previously.   Then just three years later after beginning AET, INDOT decided to end tolls altogether, citing low traffic volumes and cost of doing electronic tolling.  That surprised me.

The distant location of the Wabash Memorial Bridge in relation to the East-West Toll Road made the decision to go with lower cost Sirit sticker as opposed to E-ZPass a more reasonable choice.

[hwyfan]

At the November 2024 meeting of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, there was an agenda item dealing with MacPass and tolling.

It was disclosed that at the present time - toll transactions at the Mackinac Bridge occur through the following methods and percentages. 

44% of bridge tolls are paid by cash;
40% of bridge tolls are paid by MacPass transponder;
12% of bridge tolls are paid by credit card.

The agenda item which was introduced and passed did the following.

1) Reduced the initial MacPass account fee from $80 to $40, with subsequent account refills being reduced from $40 to $20.   This will make MacPass more accessible to local commuters, some of whom were reluctant to join under the existing fee structure. 

2) American Express will no longer be accepted for toll payment or MacPass account refills due to high processing fees.

3) A surcharge of approximately nine cents will be tacked on to credit card toll transactions to cover processing fees.

4) The Mackinac Bridge Authority will join the "state contract" (MDOT) for future toll equipment related purchasing and requisitions.

There wasn't any discussion regarding interoperability.   

The discussion occurs between 1:40:00 and 1:47:00 on this YouTube video of the board meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/live/XQNTz4cuq9I?feature=shared

[Molandfreak]

Well, cutting the price for a MacPass in half is a good start. Watch as the figure they cite for MacPass users with other transponders doubles or even triples.

[hwyfan]

Well, cutting the price for a MacPass in half is a good start. Watch as the figure they cite for MacPass users with other transponders doubles or even triples.

That would seem unlikely to occur unless the Mackinac Bridge Authority voted to significantly increase cash and credit card toll rates compared to MacPass.   

[GaryV]

Reduced the initial MacPass account fee from $80 to $40

So instead of taking 10 round trips to use it up, it now only takes 5. That's still me loaning them money for 2-3 years. Why bother?

[Molandfreak]

 

Well, cutting the price for a MacPass in half is a good start. Watch as the figure they cite for MacPass users with other transponders doubles or even triples.

That would seem unlikely to occur unless the Mackinac Bridge Authority voted to significantly increase cash and credit card toll rates compared to MacPass.   

The amount of MacPass users with other transponders is 5%. Regardless of what the MBA thinks on the matter, I don't think it's an insignificant figure since MacPass is really only worth it for daily or semi-daily crossers at a price of $88.00

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Mac will no longer accept American Express and will tack on an additional fee for non-cash users starting tomorrow.

https://www.upnorthvoice.com/news/2024/12/mackinaw-bridge-to-increase-crossing-fees/

[mgk920]

The Mac will no longer accept American Express and will tack on an additional fee for non-cash users starting tomorrow.

https://www.upnorthvoice.com/news/2024/12/mackinaw-bridge-to-increase-crossing-fees/

'Swipe fees'?

Mike

[SSOWorld]

The Mac will no longer accept American Express and will tack on an additional fee for non-cash users starting tomorrow.

https://www.upnorthvoice.com/news/2024/12/mackinaw-bridge-to-increase-crossing-fees/

'Swipe fees'?

Mike

Welcome to the USA. After seeing the activity of 3 other countries and credit cards in each of them, I now think that the USA is going the wrong way.

[mgk920]

The Mac will no longer accept American Express and will tack on an additional fee for non-cash users starting tomorrow.

https://www.upnorthvoice.com/news/2024/12/mackinaw-bridge-to-increase-crossing-fees/

'Swipe fees'?

Mike

Welcome to the USA. After seeing the activity of 3 other countries and credit cards in each of them, I now think that the USA is going the wrong way.

At work I also encounter quite a few customers who are direct immigrants (and their immediate descendants) from places where they have a deeply embedded cultural distrust of banks and government in general.  They do pretty much all of their everyday commerce in cash only.

Mike