Toll road tickets [images]

[MrDisco99]

I know this is a pretty high level of geekiness, but I thought some of you might be interested in seeing these.  I took a road trip last week and collected a bunch of tickets from toll roads in the midwest and northeast.

I started in Chicago and worked my way east through the toll roads of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York City.  Then later I took the Thruway north and west back to Cleveland.  I managed to keep the tickets I'd pulled by claiming I'd lost it at the ending toll booth and paying the full length toll (which I would have with the ticket anyway).  There are a couple exceptions...

The Indiana Toll Road is a fully automated ticket system where the exit toll booth has you insert the ticket into a slot and then pay by inserting cash or a credit card.  There was a button to ask for help, but I didn't feel like fussing with waiting for someone to come over and holding up the line behind me so I just let the machine eat my ticket.

Also, I already had a New Jersey Turnpike ticket from my last trip up north, and this time I entered at exit 6 so I gave back my ticket so I wouldn't have to pay en extra couple bucks for it.

Otherwise, claiming the lost ticket was pretty easy and the attendants didn't hassle me about it.  The only place where they made any kind of fuss was on the New York Thruway (both sections) where they have you sign and write your license plate number (they get it for you as you leave if you don't know it) on some form whose purpose the attendant didn't even know.  I'm guessing it could be used if you claim to have entered somewhere other than the beginning to reference it to images from the camera at the entering toll booth so you don't have to pay the whole thing.  I'd be surprised if they really went to that much effort to save the driver money, though.

Anyway, here are the pictures...

Ohio Turnpike:

I like how they put the service plaza locations on the ticket.  This came in handy on our trip.

Pennsylvania Turnpike:

This road is really long so there's lots of info to cram onto this one.  The mag stripe is super narrow down the middle of the front.  Notice the toll rates are back on the ticket.  They played around with leaving them off recently, but people weren't too happy with that.

New Jersey Turnpike:

This one is from last year, hence the reduced toll rates.  I can say that's the only difference from the current ticket.

New York State Thruway Mainline:

This one is slightly larger than the others.  They actually have attendants at the entrance toll booth handing these out rather than the ticket machines everywhere else.  Looks like the back is preprinted while the whole front is printed onsite with only the relevant vehicle class' toll rates.  The back has a very informative list of service areas and phone numbers.

New York State Thruway Erie Section:

Not much to this one.  This section is not very long and only has the one service area which funnily enough is listed on the mainline ticket.  I imagine the multipliers for higher vehicle classes is not very convenient for truckers, but then they probably have their stuff figured out in advance anyway.

Interestingly, all of these except the NY Mainline ticket are exactly the same size (about 2" by 5"):


The NJTP and NY Erie section tickets even have their alignment holes and mag stripes in the same place.

As I remember it, the Indiana Toll Road ticket was about the size of one of these cut in half.  The front had an onsite printed list of exits and toll rates and the back had a preprinted straight line map of exits and a mag stripe offset towards the edge.

Here's a picture of both NY Thruway tickets to give an idea of their size difference:


With electronic tolling becoming the wave of the present, I'm thinking you'll start to see some of these go away really soon.  I figured it was worth documenting these before you can't get them anymore.  Anyone have any pictures of tickets from other roads?  I haven't been on the turnpikes in Massachussetts, Kansas, or Oklahoma yet and I have a SunPass on my car so I'll probably never get a ticket from Florida.


=EDIT=

So I got rid of my SunPass and got a ticket from Florida.  Here it is:





Florida's Turnpike only uses a ticket system for the middle third of its length, where it goes through Palm Beach county
and a bunch of rural wilderness between there and the metro Orlando area.  Interestingly on the front of the ticket, the exits are listed in reverse mileage order.

[Scott5114]

Oklahoma does not operate a traditional ticket system. Instead, you pay at some combination of mainline or sidegate toll plazas. On the Turner and Will Rogers, this is the simplest: if you get on at the terminus, you pay if exiting at the first 3 exits, then, if continuing past the first 3 exits, stop at the one mainline toll plaza and pay the full length price there. Then, if you exit before the end, you present your receipt and get refunded the appropriate amount. If getting on somewhere other than the termini, but upstream of the mainline plaza, you get a ticket of sorts which reduces the fare paid at the mainline plaza and then you continue on to the terminus or to your exit and get refunded as before. If getting on downstream of the mainline plaza, you pay a reduced amount, and then get refunded if you get off before the terminus as before. It is really complicated to explain or think about but from a motorist's eye it works pretty well as long as you keep your ticket or receipt handy. I think if you do PikePass none of this happens behind the scenes and the computers just calculate the appropriate toll based on entry and exit plaza.

The other turnpikes have multiple mainline and sidegate plazas, some of which are just baskets, and I have no idea what the hell is going on there. I don't think any refunding happens. The tolling system is kind of neat on the Chickasaw Turnpike... both of the interchanges are partial interchanges–all entrance ramps point towards the one mainline toll plaza, and all the exit ramps point away from it!

Here is an example of some of the receipts. The Indian Nation/Eufaula Plaza one includes a blank line for "Entry Plaza". On the Turner and Will Rogers turnpikes, this would say "Okla City", "Tulsa", or "Joplin" as appropriate. I dunno why it's left blank on the Indian Nation.

[Alps]

Masspike.


This was Lou's but now I have one from Hurricane Irene. Wonder why I haven't uploaded it yet...

[PurdueBill]

Below I posted a couple Indiana Toll Road tickets from last year--I had them because where I got on the I-Zoom reader wasn't working so they were handing out tickets to everyone.  I tried to hide the transponder and exit at the next exit, only a couple miles away, so I could pay with my MassPike FastLane tag the rest of the way and get the discount as well as no lines, and what do you know--it read my transponder but of course that means I was billed from the state line, not the next exit.  Getting back on, it wouldn't read my tag and I had to take another ticket! Repeat at next exit, and finally get back on with tag.  With so many unmanned plazas now, only the push button to call for help, I gave up on waiting for help because the line just kept ringing--apparently it just places a phone call for you to someone somewhere. Meanwhile several cars came along behind me and there was only one entry lane open, so I just gave up.  Sigh.  As I remember, the Indiana tickets were the size of a credit card, with the magnetic stripe in the same location--much like a ticket from a parking facility where you pay at a self-service machine and the same reader takes in and spits out tickets and credit cards.  

Here is a New York Thruway ticket from 1997.  It had fallen under the seat where I couldn't find it as I approached the B3 plaza, and I had traveled from Dunkirk, New York that day heading for Peabody, Mass so the toll was going to be $10.05 anyway, ticket or no ticket.  I told the attendant how I couldn't find the ticket and he was disappointed to tell me it would be $10.05, and was surprised to hear me not object since that's what I was planning on paying anyway.  I finally found the ticket after the trip, under the seat.

[Brandon]

Last toll ticket I got was on the Kansas Turnpike.  They need to get with it and join EZ-Pass.  I'll never see one for the Indiana Toll Road or Ohio Turnpike (my most used ticket toll roads) again as I have I-Pass (EZ-Pass).  A good question is, how much longer until toll tickets go the way of 5-1/4" floppy disks?

[PurdueBill]

Well I'm shocked that I looked in the one last place those tickets might have gone and what do you know--I found them.  Both are from 3/17/11, but one of them is not dated as such because it's the one that was being handed out by a person not even in a booth--evidently there was a stack of tickets printed up for the event of a malfunction or something.  It includes time 99:99:99.  The Middlebury ticket has rounded corners while the Bristol one's corners are not rounded.  I should have scanned them against a colored background...

[MrDisco99]

Last toll ticket I got was on the Kansas Turnpike.  They need to get with it and join EZ-Pass.  I'll never see one for the Indiana Toll Road or Ohio Turnpike (my most used ticket toll roads) again as I have I-Pass (EZ-Pass).  A good question is, how much longer until toll tickets go the way of 5-1/4" floppy disks?

I think it'll be really soon.  I wouldn't be surprised if Florida gets rid of theirs before the next time I go.  The Homestead extension and a few other roads in SunPass land have already gone all electronic with toll-by-plate.

The Indiana Toll Road has mostly gotten rid of their toll attendants, which is probably the biggest hurdle in the transition to electronic tolling.  The PTC also seems to be actively pursuing all electronic tolling and have published some proposals for it.

[vdeane]

On the other hand, other than a long-range plan to replace the Williamsville toll barrier and ez-pass only ramps at exit 24 for I-87 through traffic that seem to be dead, the Thruway has no plans to push electronic tolling any more than it has.

[Scott5114]

Here's a Kansas Turnpike ticket:

[PAHighways]

The PTC also seems to be actively pursuing all electronic tolling and have published some proposals for it.

All-Electronic Tolling Feasibility Study

[MrDisco99]

I also have this really old souvenir ticket from the 1954 NY State Fair when the first sections of the Thruway were being built:



Looks like not much changed between 1954 and 1997.

[HighwayMaster]

Did you notice on the PA Turnpike ticket, under "INT.", the number '42' is listed? That is where the old pre-2000 interchange number would be. Problem is that the Warrendale toll barrier opened after the new numbers were implemented, so 42 was the number that was used on tickets. 30 is the number for the final booth before the bridge to NJ near Philly.

[mightyace]

Does anyone have a picture of a 1970's PA Turnpike toll ticket?

I have this vague memory of them being the size of computer punched cards.  (presumably for easy data reading in the pre-magnetic stripe era)

Or, am I just totally off base here?

[Mr_Northside]

Does anyone have a picture of a 1970's PA Turnpike toll ticket?
I have this vague memory of them being the size of computer punched cards.  (presumably for easy data reading in the pre-magnetic stripe era)
Or, am I just totally off base here?

It would have been the early 80's, but I remember much larger tickets than the ones that have been in use for quite some time now.

[texaskdog]

I know its off-topic but I didn't renew my toll account, thinking I could pay by mail, and they just sent me a bill for 24 cents.

[MrDisco99]

I know its off-topic but I didn't renew my toll account, thinking I could pay by mail, and they just sent me a bill for 24 cents.

That's awesome.  They would have come out on top if they'd saved the postage.  Public sector... 

Did they give you the option to pay with a credit card?

Which turnpike was this?  I'd actually considered busting the toll on the ITR so I could keep the ticket, but didn't know what their pay-by-mail policy was.

[MrDisco99]

Edited OP to add Florida Turnpike ticket.

[roadman]

I know its off-topic but I didn't renew my toll account, thinking I could pay by mail, and they just sent me a bill for 24 cents.

That's awesome.  They would have come out on top if they'd saved the postage.  Public sector... 

Did they give you the option to pay with a credit card?

Which turnpike was this?  I'd actually considered busting the toll on the ITR so I could keep the ticket, but didn't know what their pay-by-mail policy was.

Several years ago, a co-worker of mine was sent an electric bill for $0.00 (not a joke, I saw the actual bill).  No problem he thought, until he started getting notices from a collection agency a few months later for the "past due" amount.  He finally stopped the collection activities by sending the agency a check, made out to the utility company, for $0.00.

[Kacie Jane]

Stolen from Steve's site.  I'm saddened by the move from this format to the one pictured above.

[theline]

I'd actually considered busting the toll on the ITR so I could keep the ticket, but didn't know what their pay-by-mail policy was.

I got an ITR ticket without busting the toll, quite by accident.

Back in 2010, I was getting on at the Elkhart East entrance. Since I have an I-Pass, I pulled into the iZoom lane, pulling up behind another car. I realized too late that they weren't going anywhere. The occupants were having an argument, no doubt about where their transponder was. As I pulled close, the gate raised in front of the other car, apparently triggered by my transponder. The driver drove on, thinking his problem was solved. He failed for the moment to realize that he would end up paying the maximum fare when he got off.

The gate went down before I could get through. At first I thought I was stuck, until my daughter wisely pointed out that I could just hit the button for a ticket. (Indiana puts a ticket dispenser on all lanes, for drivers who get in the wrong lane or forget their transponders.) When we got off, the correct toll was charged to my transponder.

I posted the ticket on my office wall, as a reminder that no matter how stupid I may be feeling, there is always someone stupider.

[Road Hog]

I know its off-topic but I didn't renew my toll account, thinking I could pay by mail, and they just sent me a bill for 24 cents.

That's whack. Here in DFW the toll agencies won't even bother to mail you a bill until you accrue a toll of greater than $8 or some amount like that. The last bill I got had a trip on it from last May.

[cpzilliacus]

I have this vague memory of them being the size of computer punched cards.  (presumably for easy data reading in the pre-magnetic stripe era)

Or, am I just totally off base here?

I seem to recall that the Pennsylvania Turnpike toll cards from back then were the size of an 80-column IBM (Hollerith) card, with the encoded entry and class information punched into it.

Makes some sense, since IBM was very involved in toll collection systems for many years.

Peter Samuel (of TOLLROADSnews) wrote a pretty good historical summary of toll collection technologies back in 1997, when the first segment of Ontario's Highway 407 opened to traffic (here).