E-ZPass not so EZ....
You know, w/ all the photo plate scanning they do today, why do they even bother issuing tags anymore? Scan the plate, if it's registered to an account, charge the account. If it's not registered, send the vehicle owner a letter/bill. Think of the money they could save on tags, and they're already photographing your plate anyway.
Funny (kind of) story. Didn't have my MC tag yet, so I used to carry my car tag w/ me. Went through the toll booth on the Delaware river last year when a buddy and I were out for a ride. Had my tag out, and it read it, and said toll paid. About a month later, I get a bill for skipping the toll. Gave the date/time/toll plaza. The only time I had been through that toll plaza in the last couple of months was that day I went through w/ my buddy. Pulled the ez-pass statement, and sure enough, there's a hit on my tag on the same date/time/toll plaza as they billed me for. I hadn't registered my bike w/ ez-pass yet, so they couldn't cross reference it (even though they could tell it was my bike, and that I did have an ez-pass account). Faxed a copy of the ez-pass statement, and the whole thing went away. Registered my MC w/ ez-pass the next day.
Funny (kind of) story. Didn't have my MC tag yet, so I used to carry my car tag w/ me. Went through the toll booth on the Delaware river last year when a buddy and I were out for a ride. Had my tag out, and it read it, and said toll paid. About a month later, I get a bill for skipping the toll. Gave the date/time/toll plaza. The only time I had been through that toll plaza in the last couple of months was that day I went through w/ my buddy. Pulled the ez-pass statement, and sure enough, there's a hit on my tag on the same date/time/toll plaza as they billed me for. I hadn't registered my bike w/ ez-pass yet, so they couldn't cross reference it (even though they could tell it was my bike, and that I did have an ez-pass account). Faxed a copy of the ez-pass statement, and the whole thing went away. Registered my MC w/ ez-pass the next day.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 2,386
Likes: 15
From: The City Of New York
The problem here in NYC is at the TBTA bridges there are gates that won't go up unless you have a tag. I've had to get of f the bike and wait for a TBTA officer to place my tag on the secondary reader and manually trigger the gate so I can proceed. Lots of pissed off car drivers behind me now.
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 796
Likes: 0
From: Central NJ
Bill I haven't even bothered with the tags since i figured out all you have to do is scan the plate and that includes for my cars too. It really doesn't make any sense because like you said, they photograph each plate. I'm sure its not a person looking to match up the plates to the registered numbers anyway. The whole process is probably 100% automated.
It really makes no sense. They should give you the option of setting up an EZ-Pass account when you register your vehicle (they do it w/ voter registration). Once you set it up, you shouldn't need separate tags, it should just hit your license plate and bam, bill your account. If you don't have a CC tied to your account, or it's expired, you'll need to deal with it.
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 756
Likes: 133
From: Connecticut
I've got mine set up on my shield and have never had a problem. You might want to try one of those bar mounts. They don't look great but at least they will let you through without any hassle. A friend mounted his underneath the fairing and as long as its vertical it still reads at the booth.
Tourer
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 383
Likes: 2
From: New Jersey
I ordered mine online in 2010 for my car and my bike.
Both tags look the same (the square white one) No "M" on the motorcycle one.
After reading this thread I did go online to my EZ pass account to check if mine is for a car only. It is registered to my Harley and says "motorcycle" for that EZ pass reader.
So I guess if I go over any bridges with a motorcycle discount I will get the discount, because the toll reader information goes back electronically to what is on your account and then bills you accordingly.
Both tags look the same (the square white one) No "M" on the motorcycle one.
After reading this thread I did go online to my EZ pass account to check if mine is for a car only. It is registered to my Harley and says "motorcycle" for that EZ pass reader.
So I guess if I go over any bridges with a motorcycle discount I will get the discount, because the toll reader information goes back electronically to what is on your account and then bills you accordingly.
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 796
Likes: 0
From: Central NJ
My bike one doesn't have an 'M' on it. In fact, you can't tell it apart from the car one. The only difference I've ever seen, is blue ones for commercial vehicles. It's also my experience that very few places give bikes a discount over cars.
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Ok here is the deal with ny ex pass for motorcycles.
When you order a tag for the bike they will send you one with a M on it, but it will charge you the same rate as a car, the only way to get motorcycle rates it to take that tag with your motorcycle registration and go down to the ezpass office, only then will they apply motorcycle rates. The reason they gave me was that they want to make sure you're actually using it on a motorcycle.
Also if you go by without the tag and it gets a picture of your plate it will charge you the car rate regardless of your tag or your plate.
When you order a tag for the bike they will send you one with a M on it, but it will charge you the same rate as a car, the only way to get motorcycle rates it to take that tag with your motorcycle registration and go down to the ezpass office, only then will they apply motorcycle rates. The reason they gave me was that they want to make sure you're actually using it on a motorcycle.
Also if you go by without the tag and it gets a picture of your plate it will charge you the car rate regardless of your tag or your plate.
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 901
Likes: 4
From: NH
Ok here is the deal with ny ex pass for motorcycles.
When you order a tag for the bike they will send you one with a M on it, but it will charge you the same rate as a car, the only way to get motorcycle rates it to take that tag with your motorcycle registration and go down to the ezpass office, only then will they apply motorcycle rates. The reason they gave me was that they want to make sure you're actually using it on a motorcycle.
Also if you go by without the tag and it gets a picture of your plate it will charge you the car rate regardless of your tag or your plate.
When you order a tag for the bike they will send you one with a M on it, but it will charge you the same rate as a car, the only way to get motorcycle rates it to take that tag with your motorcycle registration and go down to the ezpass office, only then will they apply motorcycle rates. The reason they gave me was that they want to make sure you're actually using it on a motorcycle.
Also if you go by without the tag and it gets a picture of your plate it will charge you the car rate regardless of your tag or your plate.