E-ZPass

The United States set up an extensive system of roads as its main system of transportation. This system of roads is financed through general taxes and toll collection by the federal and state governments. Although most of the funding for these roads comes from the federal government (90% federal 10% state), roads are owned, maintained, and operated by states or toll authorities. Part of these operation costs includes building .new roads, maintaining old roads, and collecting tolls through tolling plaza’s. In the early 1980’s electronic tolling was being considered to try and improve the collection on tolling roads. Eventually this led to the creation of the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group in 1991. The E-ZPass IAG was created to develop the interoperable system which involved the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the New Jersey Highway Authority, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York State Thruway Authority, and the South Jersey Transportation Authority. The E-ZPass technology first made its debut in New York on the thruway August 3rd, 1993. By 1997 the entire thruway had installed the electronic tolling system. Shortly after in 1998, a U.S. Patent for an “automated toll collection system” was issued to Fred Slavin and Randy J Schafer for the technology used to make the E-ZPass system which was installed on the thruway and other tolling roads. Other agencies began creating their own versions of electric tolling systems and hence a new movement for tolling began.
 * __How E-ZPass Originated__**

**__Upgrading the Old Infrastructure__** Tolling was not new to the United States and an infrastructure was already laid out. With the interstate highway system, tolling plazas and booths were already set up collecting fees for road usage. Bridges and tunnels were also another main roadway that was set up for toll collections. The toll booths were set up to collect fees to help maintain the busy roads and in some ways deter some of the congestion. Two types of tolls were set up to do this. For most of the interstate or expressways, entry and exit tolls were established. In an entry and exit toll a motorist would take a ticket when entering the highway and would pay a specified fee based on where they exited the road. The other toll is known as a mainline toll. These tolls are placed at various points along a road in which all motorists have to pay a fixed amount. These are also typically seen in effect for tunnels and bridges. For both of these systems when a driver has to pay the toll the car waits in a cue for an open toll booth. At the booth an operator collects the fee and then raises a pike which was preventing the driver from continuing forward until the toll was paid. The obvious down side to this system is that people need to come to a stop and physically make an exchange with the tooth booth operator. These exchanges would cause traffic and congestion as cars would continue to line up and wait for their turn to pay and continue onward. This is why IAG was created to try and upgrade the existing system with an automated toll collection system which is now known as E-ZPass. The E-ZPass technology was created to collect tolls faster from motorist and thus eliminate some of the traffic created by the tolling plaza’s. E-ZPass does this by using Radio-frequency identification or RFID technology. An E-ZPass Tag Reader was placed inside the tolling plaza and would process the electronic transfers from the passing motorists. Antennas are then connected to the Tag Reader and placed across the designated E-ZPass lanes. Up to Seven Antennas could be connected to each of the Tag Readers to collect electronic data. In order to use the E-ZPass lanes drivers would have to register an account with E-ZPass IAG. Once an account was created then the driver would receive an RFID transponder which would be placed on either the windshield or mounted to the license plate of the vehicle for a 50 dollar deposit. When a motorist would drive through one of the E-ZPass lanes at a designated reduced speed, the transponder tag would send a signal which would be collected by the antenna of the Tag Reader in the toll plaza. The transponders signal contained the drivers account information and entry point if it was an entry and exit tolling system. The designated fee was then billed to the drivers E-ZPass account. This allowed old tolling plazas and lanes to be used with just the addition of the E-ZPass Tag Readers and antennas to the infrastructure.

**__Early Struggles__** The E-ZPass wasn’t a huge success with drivers at first. Although it was on average 39% faster to use E-ZPass than to give money to an operator, early problems plagued the E-ZPass’s acceptance by motorists. The first problem was many drivers didn’t want to switch over to the E-ZPass system because there were still many cash lanes available. A lot of the E-ZPass lanes that were first put into use were multilane where an operator was still at the booth so some cars could pay using cash. This obviously hindered the efficiency and effectiveness that installing the new system was supposed to provide. Another main reason drivers didn’t adopt the electronic tolling system right away was the $50 deposit for the E-ZPass transponder. Tolls were only a couple of dollars so most drivers didn’t see the point in paying 50 dollars up front to try and move a little faster. The accuracy of the E-ZPass was also brought into question during its early arrival. Many drivers with an E-ZPass account were given violations because the signal from the transponder wasn’t being picked up and processed by the Tag Reader. When a vehicle would pass through an E-ZPass lane without processing that it paid for whatever reason, a photo of the license plate is taken. A violation would then be sent to the driver who owned that car for not paying the toll. Many of the first E-ZPass users experienced this problem of not having their E-ZPass processed even when driving at the reduced speed. They would then have to dispute the violation which normally just resulted in their account being charged but many violation charges were not reversed. The problem turned many drivers off to the new system. E-ZPass was also primarily East Coast but only started in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Other states started working on similar systems but they were not compatible at first with EZ-Pass. MassPass started in Massachusetts, Smart Tag in Virginia, TransPass in Maine, and the M-Tag in Maryland were all independent systems that could not be used together. This was another deterrent to drivers, especially truck drivers who would want to use the electronic tolling systems across different states. It was not until 2007 that the final system, Smart Tag in Virginia, was made compatible and rebranded to work with the E-ZPass system. These setbacks prevented E-ZPass from being fully accepted by all commuters and drivers on the road.

__**Present day E-ZPass and its effect**__ Despite early setbacks E-ZPass has been successful in increasing tolling efficiency and decreasing congestion on tolling roads today. With the other electronic tolling systems joining the IAG, the E-ZPass system now crosses 14 States and has brought up calls for creating a nationwide agency. . As of 2008 there have been nearly 17 million E-ZPass tags in service and the numbers are growing. The increase of Tag Readers in tolling plaza’s and more antennas spread across lanes, has greatly reduced the number of errors when processing motorists RFID tags. The existence now of E-ZPass only lanes have brought true increase in efficiency for the toll booths. An E-ZPass only lane can process 250 to 300 percent more vehicles per lane than cash operated toll booths. Discounted tolls have encouraged even more drivers to switch over to the electronic tolling method. This has reduced traffic delays and congestion due to backups caused by cash toll booths. With a decrease in traffic on major roads more cars choose to drive on more direct tolling roads providing more revenue. Another benefit gained from the E-ZPass lanes was the reduction of auto emissions which would burn fuel idling in lines to pay tolls. This also increases fuel efficiency since motorists no longer need to come to a complete stop to pay the fees for using the road. New Tag Reading technology known as Open Road Tolling (ORT) also allows for drivers to now be processed for tolls at full speed instead of the decreased 15 mph limits. This is an even greater increase in efficiency since drivers would not need to reduce speeds at all. This technology is essential from keeping roads from backing up not only for efficient road ways but for the safety of drivers. Unexpected lines from tolls can cause accidents. Roads will always be a burden to the United States as there they do not make nearly enough money to keep them maintained. Even in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania who comprise of 2/3 of the 3 billion dollars in tolling revenue of the United States, the cost of maintenance for roads and tolling plaza’s is a burden. With the increased cost of gasoline drivers are making less long distance trips. This provides less tolling revenue for the interstates which charge more for longer distances travelled. The E-ZPass helps crutch this system by processing more tolls, increasing revenue. Also with the system decreasing the traffic on major roads the need to spend more money widening lanes and building more roads for alternate routes has also decreased. Until a new transportation method is adapted in the United States or a new material requiring less maintenance is found then there will continue to be a place for E-ZPass technology.

__ Works Cited __ __ Primary Source __ 1. Slavio, Fred, and Randy J. Schafer. Toll collection system. E-Z Pass IAG, assignee. Patent 5819234. 1998. __ Secondary Source __ 1. "E-ZPass - Information." __Welcome To E-ZPass__. 17 Apr. 2009 []

2. __ Electronic Tolling / Congestion Pricing __. 17 Apr. 2009 [] 3. "Automatic Toll Collection - E-ZPass, I-Pass, etc - a knol by Bruce Whiteside." __Knol: a unit of knowledge__. 09 June 2009 . 4. "Dispelling Highway Construction Myths, May/June 2005 Public Roads." __Home - Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center__. 09 June 2009 .

5. McDermott, Monika. "NEW JERSEY E-ZPASS ? THOSE WHO USE IT LOVE IT But Budget Problems are Taking Their Toll." __The Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers__ 23 June 2002. 25 May 2009 . 6. "News: Press Release." __New York State Thruway Authority__. 09 June 2009 . __ References __ 1. "E-ZPass -." __Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia__. 15 Apr. 2009. 17 Apr. 2009 .