K-Tag now works in...Florida?

[Fredddie]

I got an email from K-Tag this morning that says it now works in Florida (mostly)

Good news! K-TAG now works on most toll roads in Florida.

What does this mean for you?
Your K-TAG will work in the electronic lanes of most Florida toll roads except some in the Orlando area. Florida's SunPass now works on the Kansas Turnpike.

If you have a Florida transponder in your vehicle, please use only one transponder to prevent double billing issues. Any duplicate charges must be reported within 120 days per the K-TAG user agreement.

As always–ensure your license plate and payment methods are up to date and any unused K-TAGs are deactivated on your account.

Sincerely,

The K-TAG Customer Service Team

[JoePCool14]

That's definitely an out of nowhere collaboration. Maybe it's to encourage tourism to Florida from Kansas?

(Unrelated, but I've got a shield of the same route as your profile pic! Although mine's the 3-digit version of IA-136.)

[SkyPesos]

Looking forward to when K-Tag becomes compatible with every transponder system in the US except E-Zpass.

[ZLoth]

Now, for the TX Tolltags....

[Rothman]

Looking forward to when K-Tag becomes compatible with every transponder system in the US except E-Zpass.

Heh.  How restrictive.

[thspfc]

Been waiting for this for years. It's a great day to be an American.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Also, it seems like PikePass is also now accepted in Florida...

EDIT: It also seems like SunPass works in Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas...
https://www.sunpass.com/en/common/docs/texas_map.pdf

[Joe The Dragon]

Also, it seems like PikePass is also now accepted in Florida...

EDIT: It also seems like SunPass works in Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas...
https://www.sunpass.com/en/common/docs/texas_map.pdf

This works in part where part ends half way down an road is going to lead to someone racking up an bill bill / fines or will they just bill you for the missed tolls with no fine / no ticket.

Will they be forced to have signs saying that say SUN PASS MUST EXIT NOW at the cut line?

[wxfree]

NTTA's TollTag works in what they describe as "most of Florida."  Go to the link, click "Florida" and download the PDF file.  It shows "Participating Facilities" and "Facilities Coming Soon in 2023."  The TxTag web site doesn't say anything about Florida.

https://www.ntta.org/plan-your-trip

[wxfree]

Also, it seems like PikePass is also now accepted in Florida...

EDIT: It also seems like SunPass works in Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas...
https://www.sunpass.com/en/common/docs/texas_map.pdf

This works in part where part ends half way down an road is going to lead to someone racking up an bill bill / fines or will they just bill you for the missed tolls with no fine / no ticket.

Will they be forced to have signs saying that say SUN PASS MUST EXIT NOW at the cut line?

The map shows that SunPass works on regional authority roads, but not county or TxDOT toll roads.  It also includes all of the managed lanes in the DFW area operated by private companies under contract with TxDOT.  As I recall, NTTA, which runs TollTag, which now works in parts of Florida, is the collection service provider for all of the DFW managed lanes, even though the primary contract is with TxDOT.  So when NTTA became interoperable with parts of Florida, apparently they brought in the non-NTTA managed lanes because they do the toll collection.

For the Austin area roads, that's even more complicated.  The TxDOT roads, the CTTS, Central Texas Turnpike System (red roads in the Austin area), is not included, but the regional mobility authority roads are included.  The north end of Loop 1 is part of the CTTS, and is fully tolled.  The managed lanes further south along Loop 1 are run by the RMA, and are included.  However, the CTTS has cashless tolling with no tag required, and will send a bill for tolls, as driving without a tag is not a violation.  For non-tag users, the toll rates are one-third higher and there's a billing fee of (last I checked) $1.15.

It's complicated, but it's simpler if you remember that in Texas (not including border bridges, which are only half in Texas) away from the Houston area no tag is required for any toll roads (and no cash is accepted).  In the Houston area, you need to either avoid toll roads or spend a few days in the library researching which facilities accept cash and which require a tag.

[J N Winkler]

That's definitely an out of nowhere collaboration. Maybe it's to encourage tourism to Florida from Kansas?

Not quite out of nowhere--in 2017 or thereabouts, I think one of us found a draft for an agreement that would have merged SunPass (and possibly Georgia's Peach Pass) into the Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas interoperability area.  They all use SeGo.

There is also additional discussion in a Central States thread dealing with Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas interoperability.

The map shows that SunPass works on regional authority roads, but not county or TxDOT toll roads.  It also includes all of the managed lanes in the DFW area operated by private companies under contract with TxDOT.  As I recall, NTTA, which runs TollTag, which now works in parts of Florida, is the collection service provider for all of the DFW managed lanes, even though the primary contract is with TxDOT.  So when NTTA became interoperable with parts of Florida, apparently they brought in the non-NTTA managed lanes because they do the toll collection.

My understanding is that NTTA has functioned as the collection service provider for all "foreign" transponders in the Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas interoperability area--in other words, when an agency takes reads from a transponder issued by another agency within this zone, it must go through a hub NTTA runs in order to bill the customer through the other agency.  NTTA takes a cut of the toll charge, so it's a really sweet deal for them.  (Not for nothing is it said the acronym stands for North Texas' Toughest Anglos.)  I don't know if this arrangement, or the accompanying ban on transponder discrimination, still holds now that SunPass has joined.

[wxfree]

My understanding is that NTTA has functioned as the collection service provider for all "foreign" transponders in the Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas interoperability area--in other words, when an agency takes reads from a transponder issued by another agency within this zone, it must go through a hub NTTA runs in order to bill the customer through the other agency.  NTTA takes a cut of the toll charge, so it's a really sweet deal for them.  (Not for nothing is it said the acronym stands for North Texas' Toughest Anglos.)  I don't know if this arrangement, or the accompanying ban on transponder discrimination, still holds now that SunPass has joined.

I seem to recall something like that, although it's been a few years.  Was NTTA the first one interoperable with Pikepass?  Maybe they got the three-state job because they already had the setup to deal with both in-system and non-system tags.  If this is the case, then NTTA deals with the agencies, but for the DFW managed lanes, NTTA also deals with the customers, doing toll collection.  I think that distinction is why DFW non-NTTA managed lanes are included (since they know how to charge a "foreign" non-TX, non-OK, non-KS tag and still be interoperable with all of the native tags).  I don't know why other regional authority roads are included while TxDOT and county toll roads are not.

NTTA's TollTag may be growing into the "EZPass of the South" but with more of an emphasis on local branding.

[J N Winkler]

I seem to recall something like that, although it's been a few years.  Was NTTA the first one interoperable with Pikepass?  Maybe they got the three-state job because they already had the setup to deal with both in-system and non-system tags.  If this is the case, then NTTA deals with the agencies, but for the DFW managed lanes, NTTA also deals with the customers, doing toll collection.  I think that distinction is why DFW non-NTTA managed lanes are included (since they know how to charge a "foreign" non-TX, non-OK, non-KS tag and still be interoperable with all of the native tags).  I don't know why other regional authority roads are included while TxDOT and county toll roads are not.

AIUI, regional interoperability did begin with PikePass and TollTag, and the key step in bringing in K-Tag and the other Texas tags was NTTA commissioning a hub that allowed agencies to share customer files.  For some reason, which I have never seen satisfactorily explained, PikePass did not receive full interoperability throughout the region until a year or so after K-Tag did.  At first it would work in Kansas, in Oklahoma, and on TollTag roads in Texas, but not on TxTag or EZ Tag infrastructure.  This meant that an Oklahoma resident looking for immediate access to ETC throughout the entire area would have been better off getting a TollTag or even a K-Tag.

I wonder if similar sticking points (maybe having to do with back-office integration) account for interoperability not applying immediately to all transponder providers in both Florida and Texas.

NTTA's TollTag may be growing into the "EZPass of the South" but with more of an emphasis on local branding.

Apparently it is the recommended choice even in metro Houston, EZ Tag's home area.

[HighwayStar]

Been waiting for this for years. It's a great day to be an American.

Although one should never look a gift horse in the mouth, I would say it would be a great day to be an American when we dump toll roads and all this hassle altogether.

[kphoger]

For some reason, which I have never seen satisfactorily explained, PikePass did not receive full interoperability throughout the region until a year or so after K-Tag did.  At first it would work in Kansas, in Oklahoma, and on TollTag roads in Texas, but not on TxTag or EZ Tag infrastructure.  This meant that an Oklahoma resident looking for immediate access to ETC throughout the entire area would have been better off getting a TollTag or even a K-Tag.

Yeah, that threw me off.  I bought my first toll tag back when interoperability was on the horizon but not yet a reality.  Because I expected Texas toll roads to accept PikePASS before K-Tag, I bought a PikePASS.  Fortunately for me, by the time I next needed to actually use a toll road in Texas, all three states were interoperable.

It's complicated, but it's simpler if you remember that in Texas (not including border bridges, which are only half in Texas) ...

That's a minor thing that bothers me.  TxTag's website says, "TxTag can be used on all toll roads in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma".  Except, of course, at a bunch of toll booths approaching the Mexican border, which are firmly on Texas soil.  In my opinion, that blanket statement is misleading.

how to charge a "foreign" non-TX, non-OK, non-KS tag

I appreciate the consistent use of quotation marks around the word foreign in this discussion.  After all, the phrase 'foreign tag' could also refer to a license plate from out of the country.  And, in fact, as far as I'm aware, drivers with Mexican license plates can still drive all over Texas' toll roads without ever having to pay a dime, because no agency here has a way of sending them the bill.

[NJRoadfan]

Florida hasn't updated their signs indicating this as of Feb. 2023. They just got around to adding E-ZPass to all of them! I wonder what the holdup was with CFX roadways that they weren't part of the initial rollout?

[vdeane]

CFX is actually under a different system (E-Pass) that is interoperable with but not actually a part of SunPass.  They also were interoperable with E-ZPass years before anything else in Florida was, so the disparity is not unprecedented.

[ZLoth]

Now, for the TX Tolltags....

NTTA's TollTag works in what they describe as "most of Florida."  Go to the link, click "Florida" and download the PDF file.  It shows "Participating Facilities" and "Facilities Coming Soon in 2023."  The TxTag web site doesn't say anything about Florida.

NTTA pushed out an announcement last night:

• NEW! Your TollTag works in most of Florida!
• Florida Interoperability Map
• Sunpass Interoperability Map