E-ZPass (and other active RFID) transponder lifespan reports

[briantroutman]

After fourteen years of service (I think it arrived around September/October of 2003), my PTC-issued E-ZPass finally stopped working. It was a sudden death, too: The transponder was working fine just days before, then on a trip to Pittsburgh last week, I noticed that absolutely none of the toll lane lights turned green for me. And no amount of repositioning, tapping on it, hitting it, etc. seemed to have any effect.

Since I had to pass Harrisburg on my way back from Pittsburgh anyway, I just stopped at the PTC's E-ZPass customer service center off Derry Street and got a replacement over the counter. The replacement is about half the size of the original (like this one).

What kind of lifespans have the rest of you gotten from your transponders?

[froggie]

Going on 8 or 9 years so far with my Virginia EZPass, but it hasn't gotten used nearly as often since mid-2014 since we lack toll facilities in Vermont and we don't make a lot of trips to areas that do (on average, once every 2-3 months).

[ilpt4u]

ISTHA sends notices of when they expect your I-Pass/E-ZPass to go expire, with instructions either to mail it back to the Tollway in tin foil, or go to a Tollway Service Center, or to Jewel or Road Ranger locations that sell I-Pass transponders.

ISTHA is pretty proactive about it. I'm on my 2nd I-Pass. I think they mailed out after about 8 years or so of the 1st

Now living in Southern IL, I don't use my I-Pass nearly as much as I did when I lived in Chicagoland

As far as the sizes, my 1st I-Pass is the same model as your old E-ZPass, and my new one is the same smaller model as your new E-ZPass

[sbeaver44]

8 1/2 years so far with my PA turnpike one that looks just like yours.  With the PTC getting rid of the stoplight system for EZPass, how will we know if it dies?

Nexus 6P

[roadman]

My New Hampshire transponder (original large one) lasted me about 9 years before I turned it back in.  Because my travel patterns have changed, I opted for a MassDOT one (newer small one), so I can get the Massachusetts discounts, when I got my current car in 2014.

[briantroutman]

With the PTC getting rid of the stoplight system for EZPass, how will we know if it dies?

Perhaps they'll be relying on you look at your statements and notice that transactions are showing up under your license plate number rather than your transponder number. Most people probably wouldn't, though.

The PTC could probably apply a simple if/then kind of filter to the transactions so that if an account's transactions suddenly switched from all-transponder to all-plate, the system would send you an alert to check whether your transponder is properly installed, and if not, to request a replacement.

Of course that could also catch people who intentionally do a toll-by-plate. I've occasionally forgotten my transponder when traveling and just added the rental car to my account anyway. The system matches it up eventually without any penalty.

[jp the roadgeek]

Got my MA E-ZPass transponder in 2014.  Doesn't get much use as I don't travel out of state much and CT doesn't have tolls (yet).  It  worked fine last year driving to Boston and back on the Mass Pike, and it worked the last time I drove on the NY Thruway.

[ilpt4u]

Maybe not as a default, but on an Opt-In basis...

Make it an option to give your E-ZPass agency your Cell number with text alerts for transponder misreads/toll-by-plate transactions.

I've occasionally forgotten my transponder when traveling and just added the rental car to my account anyway. The system matches it up eventually without any penalty.

I got burned adding a Rental Car to my I-Pass account one time. Got back-charged all the tolls that were zoomed thru before. Called ISTHA, and they said sorry, nothing we can do, and advised, in the future, to NEVER add a rental car to your I-Pass. Just put the transponder in the car.

I also read ISTHA is considering charging the regular Cash rate for toll-by-plate transactions, to encourage users to get individual transponders for each car, instead of sharing and then forgetting it. It was discussed in the "Illinois Tollway Notes" thread on the Great Lakes page

[hbelkins]

I don't remember when I got my West Virginia E-ZPass, but I think it's been about 10 years. I'm on the original transponder. I hadn't used it in a couple of years so was hesitant about what might happen when I used it last summer, but it worked fine. I don't know if WV will contact me or send me a new one proactively, or if I'll have to wait until it dies.

[briantroutman]

I got burned adding a Rental Car to my I-Pass account one time. Got back-charged all the tolls that were zoomed thru before. Called ISTHA, and they said sorry, nothing we can do, and advised, in the future, to NEVER add a rental car to your I-Pass. Just put the transponder in the car.

Maybe ISHTA does things differently, but the PTC's E-ZPass online account management system allows you to enter start and end dates and times for each vehicle on the account, and those refer to the time that the vehicle passes through the toll plaza and a photo is taken, not when the transaction hits the system. There's also a "This is Rental Car"  checkbox to click beside the date/time settings.

So if you pick up your rental car at noon on Monday and return it at noon on Friday (and set the date/time settings correctly on your account), you will only be charged for tolls that are incurred while the vehicle is in your possession. Even if someone else ran up tolls on Sunday and those charges hit the system on Wednesday (while the car is in your possession), they won't go to your account since it's the time of the photo that determines where the toll charge is routed.

[froggie]

^ Virginia does not give one that option online.  We can add/edit/delete vehicles, but there's no way I can find to delineate that a given vehicle is a rental.

[1995hoo]

I believe–not positive–our two Virginia E-ZPasses date back to around 2006. They replaced my original Smart Tag without my asking; the letter said the batteries were nearing the end of their lifespan. I cancelled my New Jersey E-ZPass around the same time in favor of a Virginia one to save $1 a month. They've both worked just fine ever since. We will be swapping both for Flex devices when we get home from our current trip.

[AsphaltPlanet]

If you have an EZ pass transponder that does bite the dust, is the EZ pass system smart enough to bill your account by plate, or are there other repercussions?

[kalvado]

NY EZpass similar to what you shown started develop problems about 8 years into its life, but service center refused to replace it. Replaced later, at 10-year mark since that is official lifespan.
There is a huge Lithium battery inside the transponder, and it is designed for 10 years. Depends on weather, tag storage, probably use pattern etc.

[roadman]

If you have an EZ pass transponder that does bite the dust, is the EZ pass system smart enough to bill your account by plate, or are there other repercussions?

For toll roads with "pay by plate", the plate reader is supposed to take a photo if the system doesn't recognize you have a transponder.  So if the battery in your transponder dies, you should eventually get a bill in the mail.

[briantroutman]

For toll roads with "pay by plate", the plate reader is supposed to take a photo if the system doesn't recognize you have a transponder.  So if the battery in your transponder dies, you should eventually get a bill in the mail.

Not quite: As long as the plate is associated with an active E-ZPass account, the charge will be deducted from that account, and no bill will be mailed. (Or at least so it is supposed to work.)

If you have an EZ pass transponder that does bite the dust, is the EZ pass system smart enough to bill your account by plate, or are there other repercussions?

In PA, the toll will be charged to your active E-ZPass account at the E-ZPass rate–the same as if your transponder had been working normally. The only difference is that it may take several days for the transactions to show up.

Along the same lines, I believe I posed the question in another thread some time ago: Is there any penalty to not using your transponder? At least in the PTC's setup, the answer appears to be "˜no'. The same seems to be true of California's FasTrak and Florida's SunPass.

But I think I also asked: Since cameras already have to be installed at all toll lanes to catch violators, and since toll road authorities have also made the investment in the computers and software necessary to automatically read license plates, why is it necessary to have transponders (and the associated sensing equipment) at all? Just do toll-by-plate for everything but require that motorists register an account and set up a funding source first.

I believe the consensus was that, from a combination of labor costs associated with paying a human to read the relative few plate numbers that the automated system could not, plus the loss of toll revenue from plates that are illegible or can't be matched to a vehicle record, the costs of a solely camera-based system.

[kalvado]

If you have an EZ pass transponder that does bite the dust, is the EZ pass system smart enough to bill your account by plate, or are there other repercussions?

For toll roads with "pay by plate", the plate reader is supposed to take a photo if the system doesn't recognize you have a transponder.  So if the battery in your transponder dies, you should eventually get a bill in the mail.

Got that 3 or4 times with my buggy transponder on NYS Thruway.
Since that is a toll booth based system, there are license plate cameras to catch toll evaders.
Once it worked fine with license plate shown as a tag number on the statement.
Had to contact customer service in the other case - maximum toll of $20 or so was charged, instead of 30-something cents.  2 weeks later things ironed out no more question asked.
Was a nightmare in the third situation, with things coming close to court charges...

So - YMMV

[ilpt4u]

I got burned adding a Rental Car to my I-Pass account one time. Got back-charged all the tolls that were zoomed thru before. Called ISTHA, and they said sorry, nothing we can do, and advised, in the future, to NEVER add a rental car to your I-Pass. Just put the transponder in the car.

Maybe ISHTA does things differently, but the PTC's E-ZPass online account management system allows you to enter start and end dates and times for each vehicle on the account, and those refer to the time that the vehicle passes through the toll plaza and a photo is taken, not when the transaction hits the system. There's also a "This is Rental Car"  checkbox to click beside the date/time settings.

So if you pick up your rental car at noon on Monday and return it at noon on Friday (and set the date/time settings correctly on your account), you will only be charged for tolls that are incurred while the vehicle is in your possession. Even if someone else ran up tolls on Sunday and those charges hit the system on Wednesday (while the car is in your possession), they won't go to your account since it's the time of the photo that determines where the toll charge is routed.

Yup, ISTHA didn't have that option. I just checked the redesigned getipass.com website from ISTHA, and they do now have the Rental/Temporary vehicle add with a Start and Stop time. The previous version of the getipass.com account management site did not have that option

Sounds like a good idea, tho. Props to PTC for doing something right -- well, beyond building the first "Interstate" despite it predating the Interstate system by just a few years

[theroadwayone]

I was thinking, shouldn't transponders have some sort of color-coded light system to show it's life or your account status? Green: you're good to go, yellow: you're getting low on funds (solid) or battery (flashing), red: call customer service.

[Joe The Dragon]

I got burned adding a Rental Car to my I-Pass account one time. Got back-charged all the tolls that were zoomed thru before. Called ISTHA, and they said sorry, nothing we can do, and advised, in the future, to NEVER add a rental car to your I-Pass. Just put the transponder in the car.

Maybe ISHTA does things differently, but the PTC's E-ZPass online account management system allows you to enter start and end dates and times for each vehicle on the account, and those refer to the time that the vehicle passes through the toll plaza and a photo is taken, not when the transaction hits the system. There's also a "This is Rental Car"  checkbox to click beside the date/time settings.

So if you pick up your rental car at noon on Monday and return it at noon on Friday (and set the date/time settings correctly on your account), you will only be charged for tolls that are incurred while the vehicle is in your possession. Even if someone else ran up tolls on Sunday and those charges hit the system on Wednesday (while the car is in your possession), they won't go to your account since it's the time of the photo that determines where the toll charge is routed.

Yup, ISTHA didn't have that option. I just checked the redesigned getipass.com website from ISTHA, and they do now have the Rental/Temporary vehicle add with a Start and Stop time. The previous version of the getipass.com account management site did not have that option

Sounds like a good idea, tho. Props to PTC for doing something right -- well, beyond building the first "Interstate" despite it predating the Interstate system by just a few years

and if the system is late the rent a car can bill you full rate + an admin fee.

[briantroutman]

I was thinking, shouldn't transponders have some sort of color-coded light system to show it's life or your account status?

Are you talking about having status lights on the transponder itself? (There are colored status lights on many toll plazas, but they're being phased out because of federal regs stating that R-Y-G signals should not be used to indicate toll payment status.)

I think a problem with having lights on the transponder is that the lights–even low-power LEDs–would drain enough power that it would significantly shorten the effective life of the transponder.

But aside from that, my understanding is that even an active RFID transponder like E-ZPass doesn't allow for two-way communication. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the transponder basically spends its lifetime just broadcasting its identity nonstop: "Here I am–number 006946732" . So with the existing equipment, anyway, there wouldn't be a channel for the toll plaza to signal the transponder with information like "balance low"  or "call customer service" .

That said, my California FasTrak has a tiny piezo beeper that chirps once when it has been read by a toll plaza (or other equipment–I've had it beep unexpectedly entering airports and similar facilities, even where there isn't a "park by FasTrak"  kind of option). I don't know if that's an example of two-way communication or whether the transponder is merely sensing the presence of whatever radio signals that the sensing equipment emits.

[ilpt4u]

The 2nd Generation I-Pass used in IL (we are on 4th Gen now -- the small Flatpack) beeped and had a LED screen on it with Toll Paid and Balance (and also had a replaceable battery). So there had to be some 2-way communication for that to work. And AFAIK its still the same technology powering I-Pass, and that early 2nd Gen I-Pass I think still works

The 1st Gen I-Pass, the black dash-mounted transponder, I believe was a different vendor and different equipment, and that design had a pretty short life. But if memory serves, it also had an LED display for balance and toll paid. Its been a few years since I've seen the old black I-Pass, so I could be wrong. ISTHA was already getting rid of those by the late 90s, I believe

Also, according to the ISTHA website, the I-Pass/E-ZPass transponder receives a "wake up" signal on approach to a toll plaza, roughly 300' before the Tag Readers. That also tells me there is some type of 2-Way communication, tho I guess that doesn't have to be 2-Way

[kalvado]

But aside from that, my understanding is that even an active RFID transponder like E-ZPass doesn't allow for two-way communication. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the transponder basically spends its lifetime just broadcasting its identity nonstop: "Here I am–number 006946732" . So with the existing equipment, anyway, there wouldn't be a channel for the toll plaza to signal the transponder with information like "balance low"  or "call customer service" .

EZpass - actually company named Kapsch, which owns technology - has quite complex communication protocol. It is, generally speaking, accessible to public - but some paperwork has to be signed before getting access as Kapsch still owns the thing.
They specify 500 kbit/s for both uplink/downlink; quite respectable bandwidth for the purpose I would say..

[cl94]

I've seen these transponders work for 10-15 years under certain conditions. My dad has his original NYSTA transponder from 1997 until a few years ago. Last I knew, my grandfather still had a TBTA E-ZPass that is probably around 10 years old (he lives in Ohio now, so it doesn't get much use). I doubt mine will last that long with how much I use it.

[davewiecking]

If you have an EZ pass transponder that does bite the dust, is the EZ pass system smart enough to bill your account by plate, or are there other repercussions?

My EZ passes are at least 10 years old, and seem to work as reliably as before, with one exception-on the Dulles Greenway. On one excursion this summer, it was read successfully by the 495 Express Lanes readers, and the Dulles Toll Road readers. On the Greenway, the gate just refused to go up. I took my pass off the velcro holder, waved it around, and also stuck it out the window (holding it in front of the windshield). Eventually one of the collectors from one of the other lanes came over and said it wasn't being read, and I'd have to pay real money, so I paid by credit card. She said they'd been having the problem recently with some MD-issued EZpasses, and blamed MD. I've rarely had problems since then with it being read by any other readers (and this is just one more reason to avoid the Greenway). Occasionally (and this has happened for years) I drive thru the WPL Bridge toll plaza too fast and am charged the non-discounted rate because the reader missed me and a human had to intervene to look at the picture.