Regional Talk > New York > [OT] EZ Pass hoax or real?

reply to Chinabound

Re: EZ Pass hoax or real?

Well, I'm not sure how anyone would get two cards other than telling them you lost the one you had, resulting in paying the full fare, which takes away any savings.

Just do me a small favor please. I have no idea how old you are, but if you have any relatives older than 70, ask them about it.

Example for a regular commute from the areas of exit 1 to 18:
• 1. Enter at interchange 1, take ticket.
• 2. Exit at 18, say you lost ticket, pay toll for trip from 1 to 18, which is what you would have paid anyway.
• 3. On the way home, enter at 18, take ticket.
• 4. Exit at 2, give ticket from the morning, pay toll from 1 to 2 even though you traveled from 18 to 2. At this point, you still have a ticket from entering at 18.
• 5. Next day, enter at 1, take ticket.
• 6. Exit at 16, give ticket from previous day, pay toll from 18 to 16 even though you traveled from 1 to 16.
• 7. On the way home, enter at 18, take ticket.
• 8. Exit at 2, give ticket from the morning, pay toll from 1 to 2 even though you traveled from 18 to 2. At this point, you still have a ticket from entering at 18.
• 9. Repeat steps 5-8 forever.

Accurate timing information wasn't available until they added the magnetic stripes, because the old machines were not synchronized. So there was no way to prevent abuses like the above or to measure vehicles' speeds.

The other reason you can't give speeding tickets based on toll plaza timing is that the tickets have to issued indicating the specific municipality in which the violation occurred. With toll plaza timing, you know the average speed, but 1) you don't know in which municipality the violation occurred, and 2) you don't know in which of the many municipalities to issue the ticket.

And I have relatives over 80 years old, but what you're talking about never happened.

So you won't even ask them?

I don't know - I am only telling you what I was told from two people I trust completely, that were driving it 50 years ago. I wasn't driving until 1975.
So before this goes any further, just ask your elderly relatives.