Ohio Turnpike to Start Using E-ZPass October 1

[PAHighways]

HALLELUJAH!

Starting October 1, it will be possible to drive through a toll plaza in Ohio without stopping and still pay your toll.  A new fare schedule will debut then as well.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09228/991012-147.stm

[mightyace]

^^^ Yeah, and sticking it too non-EZPass users as usual.  A nearly 50% surcharge for cash.

I sometimes take the Ohio Turnpike when traveling through Ohio.  Not anymore if I don't have to! 

[thenetwork]

It's about time!  For as busy as the turnpike is, and considering that IN, NY & PA were all using E-Z Pass for years. I'm glad they are coming into the 21st Century!  (Now if they can do the same thing for Casinos in Ohio).

Actually, about 4 or 5 years ago, I was asked to partake in a survey by the Ohio Turnpike (actually handed a survey with my change at a booth) regarding their Ready Pay pre-paid toll card.  I ripped the program from end-to-end, especially asking how a pre-paid toll card was to speed up the wait times at the toll plaza -- You still had to give the collector the card and the ticket, they still had to scan the ticket for the proper toll amount, and then they had to scan the card and give it back to you with the appropriate amount taken off.

How different was that from actually handing them exact change with the ticket and then be on your way?  Oh, and let us not forget the experiment they did at Exit 161 with the unattended auto-pay lane.  That disaster was more complicated than finding your way out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport.  You can see the pictures of the monstrosity here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/91902633@N00/1330333820/in/set-72157601875891592/

[agentsteel53]

unattended automatic payment devices are a nightmare, especially when one has to insert items into a slot.  The buckets are bad enough, but at least, if you pull up too far away, you can give the coins a good heave and in they go.  People are conditioned to stop a certain horizontal distance away from obstacles, so that they can open their doors, but at these machines, you have to pull up to the machine at an unnervingly close distance ...

and then fumble with the *exact change* or lose money.  "Crap, just need four more sufficiently crisp dollar bills, a nickel, a 100-yen piece, a #8 washer, and the battleship from Monopoly ... honey, is there a battleship in the glove compartment??  No, not that one, that's the aircraft carrier from Battleship.  Crap, either I put in a twenty because that's all I have, or I run this thing illegally."

and that, after the sixty-third impatient honk from the crowd behind them, is when they just floor it and forget.

[Hellfighter]

Well, it looks like I'll need to get one the next time I travel.

[Terry Shea]

The funny thing is I remember driving back from Baltimore along the Ohio Turnpike back in '83, and they gave us pamphlets stating that the turnpike was going to be paid off later that year and they weren't going to collect tolls anymore.  I guess that concept is taking a little longer to implement than was expected at the time. 

[Sykotyk]

Because nobody wants to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Sykotyk

[SSOWorld]

Well, it looks like I'll need to get one the next time I travel.

Already got one.

In anticipating a lot of trips into the northeast since that's where a majority of the meets happen, I figured an E-ZPass (in my case I-Pass) was justified.  Turns out I've used it on 4 trips already - one of them being in through to Pennsylvania (where I could have used it in Slow-hio)

[rawmustard]

Well, it looks like I'll need to get one the next time I travel.

Like Scott, I also got mine from Illinois. From what I've read, getting an E-ZPass from Illinois is probably the best option, because all they charge is a refundable deposit of $10 on top of the $40 minimum used for tolls (no monthly fee or nonrefundable tag fee and no additional shipping charge), and you can use a credit card to replenish. The Wikipedia article on E-ZPass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass) actually has a pretty decent table regarding fees and any policies from each agency, and you should give that a look if you're considering ordering one. It's best to avoid the agencies which charge either periodic fees or high nonrefundable tag fees, and to be aware that some agencies may discourage travelers from outside of their area (both Peace Bridge and West Virginia are prime examples).

[PAHighways]

E-ZPass Start Exquisitely Botched in Ohio

[mightyace]

E-ZPass Start Exquisitely Botched in Ohio

I read that, too.  (You beat me to posting it.  )

Anyway, I don't know why they thought there would be a 30% Day 1 adoption rate.  Even on their own website, the reason they stated once why they hadn't implemented something like EZ-Pass had been that they have very little "commuter" traffic.  (i.e. frequent, short runs)  In that case, most of the early EZ-Pass users are probably PA, IN, IL, etc. residents that are traveling through.

Even Quasi-government organizations need to "know your customers!"

[vdeane]

Why did the go with the Ezpass/mixed/cash lanes thing?  If they went with only mixed and Expass-only they wouldn't have had the confusion.

[PAHighways]

If they went with only mixed and Expass-only they wouldn't have had the confusion.

Ohio drivers seem to have problems with lanes labeled "E-ZPass Only."  I can't recall how many times I've been behind one of them as I was entering such a lane on the PA Turnpike and it would result in one of two things:  either a toll taker comes over to hand them a ticket, or they throw it in reverse and nearly into my front end.

[exit322]

Haven't you people in different states figured out to say "lord, get out of the way and let them be" when you see the idiots with Ohio plates?

We can't drive in this state.  It's terrible!

[PAHighways]

Haven't you people in different states figured out to say "lord, get out of the way and let them be" when you see the idiots with Ohio plates?

I learned to scan the plates on the stopped vehicles in the "E-ZPass Only" lanes, and if I saw red/white/blue, I'd move over to another or an E-ZPass/Ticket lane.

[exit322]

Very smart.  Ohioans is stupid.

But be warned, we're threatening to change our plates again.

[Brandon]

Well, once all the bugs are figured out, it'll be nice to drive all the way to Cedar Point with my I-Pass. 

Now if only other states (Flordia, Texas) can get on board with EZ-Pass.

[Sykotyk]

Very smart.  Ohioans is stupid.

Self-fulfilling prophecy?



Sykotyk