Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

[roscoe]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Wouldn't you think that in this day and age, all the states could get on the same page and have universal transponders

ummmm, no.


But a better question is how does an interstate highway, bought and paid for with Federal monies, get turned into a state toll road?

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

ummmm, no.


But a better question is how does an interstate highway, bought and paid for with Federal monies, get turned into a state toll road?

I'm not sure, but I think the states which the interstates run through take care of the maintenance costs, or at least some of the maintenance costs. I don't think the federal government pays 100%.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no advocate of toll roads; but I do prefer that over dirt roads and potholes.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

ummmm, no.


But a better question is how does an interstate highway, bought and paid for with Federal monies, get turned into a state toll road?

Our previous Governor here in Pennsylvania wanted to toll I-80 and his efforts were turned down by the federal government. I don't remember their reasoning for blocking it.

 

[Outsider]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Claiming to be a native Floridian only means you're in the minority, and you've been there long enough to know it. tpenfield, keep checking with your DMV. If your 'violation' turns into a ticket, it will be reported to your DMV if not settled. I wouldn't believe anything from the 'company' that isn't in writing ...

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

My neighbor got a fine in the mail last week for running a toll in Miami in his work truck that hasn't left town (central Florida by Daytona) since he bought it.

So it's not like your the first person complaining to them about it.

 

[Beefer]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

To the OP; When I got a red light camera ticket in the mail, my attorney said that the pictures are looked at by humans. If they can't make out a number, they make a guess. They don't verify that the plate number being sent the violation matches or is even close to the type of vehicle in the picture. Makes me think that 99.9% of them (toll violations) can easily be disputed.

 

[sasto]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Yea, but sasto, that is what makes you, well, sasto ... a hillbilly Floridiot!

Don't worry, buddy, I got your back!

Yeh, aspeck, there are many of us Hillbilly Floridiots here. We are usually barefoot and end a sentence with Baaah...Baaah!

All good things to you sasto and i would love to share a few tight lines with you one day (since you are so close).


no offense meant, no offense taken. I have never heard a hillbilly joke...you'll have to share one with us.

Feelings are mutual.

Wanna hear a hillbilly joke? Why did the farmer put big rubber boots on his sheep? So he........OH.....Nevermind! :facepalm:

ummmm, no.


But a better question is how does an interstate highway, bought and paid for with Federal monies, get turned into a state toll road?

The Florida Turnpike is under the jurisdictation of the State.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Claiming to be a native Floridian only means you're in the minority, and you've been there long enough to know it.

Well...that's pretty obvious.

I am not only a native, I am eighth generation. That and a couple of bucks will get you a cafe con leche!

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Se have the same system here is Dallas Texas. You cannot go across town without hitting one, and they have the photography billing also. We have to check out bill every month to make sure we are being charged correctly. I have a toll tag and it is supposed to give me a discount because they just bill my credit card. The problem is that sometimes the booth does not read my tag and then they snap my picture. The computer then cross references their database to see if I have an account. Well it finds it and charges the NON tollgate rate. REALLY???

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Se have the same system here is Dallas Texas. You cannot go across town without hitting one, and they have the photography billing also. We have to check out bill every month to make sure we are being charged correctly. I have a toll tag and it is supposed to give me a discount because they just bill my credit card. The problem is that sometimes the booth does not read my tag and then they snap my picture. The computer then cross references their database to see if I have an account. Well it finds it and charges the NON tollgate rate. REALLY???

CO has changed a bit but was the same. Before they did license plate billing you had to stop and pay or have a toll account w/transponder. Sometimes it wouldn't read your transponder and you'd get a bill for a $75 fine for a $2.00 toll it didn't read
now they just mail you a bill for the 2 bux.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Tell ya what...if you're complaining about the toll cameras, wait until the cities start installing red light and speed limit cameras. At least the Florididiot government has not approved the speed cameras...yet, but we are wrought with red light cameras. One small slip and there's a $200 ticket in the mail to you. Have you ever tried to quick stop with a boat on your bumper? Of course you have. My cousin in Maryland has speed cameras and laughs because I complained about cameras at traffic lights.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Yea, I got another one of these notices a couple of weeks back . . . same issue from last year, except the car in question had recently gone through a Florida Toll without proper payment, etc.

So, I decided to go do some digging in to the license plate number system used by Massachusetts. It turns out that the vehicle in question has the same plate number showing as mine, except the vehicle has a 'handicapped' plate. Apparently, Mass. denotes 'handicapped' with a symbol on the plate, but precedes the plate number in the computer system with "HP", then the number. They give the same number out in some cases to both 'handicapped' and 'regular' plates. The only place it is denoted is within the computer system.

I was able to explain this to the folks in the Florida toll Administration/Customer Service department. they were quite thankful for the time that I put into investigating the issue, as they had a few other occurrences of handicapped plates not matching up with the number when they inquired with the MassDOT (DMV)

Craziness, but at least I hope the issue is gone for good.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Florida Tolls suck. for an eye opener, drive the toll roads to Orlando Samford airport. $18 in tolls in under 10 miles

Unfortunately/fortunately I have the sunpass, so my credit card gets hit everyday crossing the sunshine skyway

 

[sphelps]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

No tolls up here in j-ville for many years .. Hopefully never again ! LOL! Got those traffic light camera's though .
And I thought the joke was "why do hillbilly's wear rubber boots " .. :bolt:

 

[JoLin]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

In New York, there's Easy Pass. If you go through without it, you don't get a $2.50 surcharge in addition to the toll. You get a violation. I don't know what it costs because I've never done that. I've had an Easy Pass since they first came out. It's so much faster than having to pay with cash or token. The 10% discount makes it even more rediculous to not have it.

I have an EZPass, too that's accepted everywhere down through Maryland. After that (southbound) there are no tolls on I-95. The Florida Turnpike system works similarly, and I received a toll+fee notice with pic about 2 years ago. FL has done away with toll booths entirely on the Turnpike, so you need their 'Sunpass' to use it. I'd get one, but they charge a $25.00 fee to get the darned thing (it's free in NY- go figure), so I just drive I-95 instead.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

In New York, there's Easy Pass. If you go through without it, you don't get a $2.50 surcharge in addition to the toll. You get a violation. I don't know what it costs because I've never done that. I've had an Easy Pass since they first came out. It's so much faster than having to pay with cash or token. The 10% discount makes it even more rediculous to not have it.

A violation is something like $20 or $25.

Several years ago, I was checking my EZ Pass statement and saw a charge for the (hefty) toll for the Outerbridge Crossing. I have never been on that bridge in my life and toll date was before I had received this particular EZ Pass. It turns out that my new EZ Pass transponder wasn't properly shielded in its shipping envelope and it registered as the mail truck carrying it went through the toll booth.:facepalm:

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

"Flor-Idiot"

LOL...that's a good one. Hadn't heard that!

That's also what they call us when I lived in North Carolina for a few years. Ironically, we're the tourists up there and they can't stand the way we try to drive through the mountains and buy up all the nice real estate, the same way we complain about all the snowbirds and tourists down here. It's all relative, and we've certainly earned our "Flori-duh" and "Floridiot" titles more often than we'd care to admit, but we're also one of the most beautiful, diverse and interesting places around. Certainly never a dull moment and the boating rules!

 

[avenger79]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

funny florida never missed charging me extra when I went through the tolls pulling the camper.

 

[britisher]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Certainly here in Central Florida they are very gearing people who use the toll roads to install one of their electronic transponders. From what i understand you deposit funds into your 'toll account' on a monthly basis and each time you pass through through the toll centers, your account is debited electronically. If you pass through a toll booth without paying, it trips the camera which takes a photo of your tag. The computers then talk to one another and identify your vehicle and send you a ticket. There was one recently where a car transporter went through the toll booth and the camera photographed the last vehiclere on the top deck of the transporter and sent them a ticket for not paying!!!!! How crazt is that?
I don't use them if I can, but last year I had to use a toll road. I didn't have change (coinage) in my truck, but I notes in my wallet. I get to the first toll booth on the entrance to the toll road. It is unmanned and you are requested to deposit 35 c in the basket. I didn't have 35c, so drove past and went onto the toll road. At the next toll booth (manned) I explained to the woman what I'd done and said can I pay that 35c here? No, she said and gave me a form to complete and looked at me like I had just committed a murder whilst robbing a bank. That's servility and great customer service for you. Every toll booth ON the toll road was manned, so why wasn't the entry one manned? When I got home I read the form and it was stated I had to send a check for the amount owed and mail it to the Expressway Authority. So I duly wrote them a check for 35c, put in a #10 envelope and mailed it using a c40c or whatever it was last year stamp, for them to laboriously process my check for 35c. What a complete and utter bureaucratic waste of time. I have used toll roads in Europe in the past and my recollections were that at the start of the journey, you picked up your 'entry ticket' at the beginning and handed it at the end when they worked out your total toll fee. Simple and easy to do. Why can't Florida do the same?? Or am I making this too simple for them!!

 

[britisher]

Re: Florida "Toll-By-Plate" system ???

Yes we pay a tax on our fuel, though not sure how much. maybe a few cents per gallon. We pay property tax on homes, but not vehicles or boats. We pay a tag fee yearly. On my boat I pay $36.00, the trailer $33.00 and my Sub $87.00. The latter is a sliding scale based on GVW, whether it's a car, truck, etc. Only certain roads in Florida are deemed toll roads. We have the Florida Turnpike which runs south down to Miami and around Orlando, we have the Florida Greeneway and several other smaller toll roads. Elsewhere in the State there are other toll roads. Here in the Orlando area, traffic is becoming a nightmare and they are only just waking up to effective and integrated public transportation. They are in the midst of building the 'Sunrail' commuter train service which will run North/South from above Orlando to below Orlando. my home town will be the end of the South line when it's built. That said, the main Interstate (I-4) that goes through downtown Orlando is a mass parking garage at times and they are going to widen it and introduce what they are calling 'Lexus Lanes'. These extra lanes will be Toll lanes, which after paying the toll will allow you to waft by the great unwashed sitting in their cars in the 'public' lanes. hence the term Lexus Lanes. Sadly that's the state of politics here in Florida.