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Toll Payment In Other States May Get Easier

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You soon may be able to go through the SunPass lanes even if your transponder is from another state. Toll agencies are discussing the possibility of using high-speed cameras to record a driver's license plate and then sending the information to the driver's home state to have the toll deducted.

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2009

TAMPA - Imagine using one transponder on toll roads in New York, Georgia and Florida.

"It sure would simplify things," says Christine Phillips of Lockport, N.Y.

Phillips and her husband, Jim, wouldn't have to keep two transponders in the car – one for New York and one for Florida – or maintain two accounts for the toll-collection devices, tying up as much as $100 at a time.

Toll agencies nationwide are imagining the same thing.

Except in places like the Northeast, where motorists use one transponder to travel from New York to New Jersey, Connecticut and nine other states, most states don't have a way to share toll collection data and transmit tolls across state lines.

Now the agencies are talking about bridging their differences by using high-speed digital cameras.

With the cameras, the states can record license plate data and then match it against a list of toll agency customers from the driver's home state. If the driver's name shows up, the agency can have the toll deducted from the driver's account.

Potentially, a driver with an E-ZPass account in New York could drive the Florida Turnpike.

If the driver is not an E-ZPass customer, the agency would need to track his address to send him a bill.

Phillips said she and her husband would love the convenience of having one transponder and one account. The pair drives down yearly from Lockport, just outside Buffalo, to their winter home in Mulberry in Polk County.

"I'm sure it would help commercial vehicles too," she said.

The idea of sharing data and collecting tolls across jurisdictions is called "interoperability." It's been talked about for years but has become a hot topic lately because of advances in camera technology.

The goal now, toll officials say, is to devise a business agreement to allow for the exchange of data and collection of out-of-state tolls.

A group called the Alliance for Toll Interoperability is working on a draft agreement. This June, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the nation's largest toll industry association, is set to discuss interoperability when it meets in Tampa.

"I think there's a pretty good amount of momentum here," said Greg LaFrois, program manager for consulting services at the toll operations department at Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.

"The question is how easily and quickly can the specs being written now be implemented by a couple of agencies," he said.

LaFrois said he believes there's enough enthusiasm for interoperability that testing could occur in two years and Florida might become a testing ground.

The state's toll agencies already exchange data – a SunPass transponder, for example, can be used on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway, though it was originally intended for E-PASS transponders.

Additionally, the state has a large influx of out-of-state motorists who use toll roads. About 60,000 tolls daily on the Florida Turnpike come from out-of-state drivers.

Although camera technology is developing rapidly, the idea of interoperability has been held back for years by technological and jurisdictional complexities.

Some of the talk about overcoming these problems has focused on the transponders themselves – developing a unit that works on multiple systems or by switching out the electronic readers in toll booths. Both options would mean multimillion dollar investments.

The toll agencies got into this predicament because they developed their transponder systems independent of one another. As the agencies grew, it became harder to integrate those systems.

The cameras offer a less-costly alternative. Virtually all toll agencies already have cameras, thus the investment costs are reduced, and many states, including Florida, Texas and California, already share information amongst their own agencies.

"Video technology is a nice bridge," said Neil Gray, spokesman for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association.

The trickiest part with cameras is developing the out-of-state business agreements – how exactly the agencies share tolls and the license plate data.

Depending on the state, those agreements might require approval from legislatures. Plus, the larger agencies would need some kind of incentive to enter into state-to-state agreements.

The 12 northeastern states that use E-ZPass have a combined 20 million customers compared with Florida's 4 million SunPass customers. Before the customer's license and account information could be shared, E-ZPass would need to get the customer's permission.

"That would involve some kind of cost," said Jim Crawford, executive director of the Interagency Group, a consortium of toll agencies that use E-ZPass. "It couldn't happen this year."

But J.J. Eden, executive director of the toll alliance, said agencies can make more money with the agreements than without them. Eden said the alliance is about a week away from developing a draft of a business agreement.

"This is an increasingly mobile society and a lot of people do go from New York to Florida," he said. "For them, it would be nice to use E-ZPass on the Florida Turnpike."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.

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