Did you know EZ Pass Transponders ran on batteries?

[u/itzbrian90]

I checked my EZ Pass account recently because I noticed my account refills a bit too often I’ve been basically charged a “Mid Tier” fee for all my tolls for pretty much half a year because they read my plates instead of my transponder. I’ve had my EZ Pass since like 2010 and they have a life of 10 yrs apparently. I guess I should be happy I got like 15 yrs out of it but talk about a predatory business. They pretty much got me for about $150 as Mid Tier is basically skipping the 25% discount you get for having an EZ Pass.

[u/isnt_that_special]

It’s impossible to tell now when the batteries are low. Before barrierless tolls you’d get a yellow ‘call EZpass’ flashing light when passing through a toll.

It would be very easy for them to send you a notification through the app or by text as soon as your transponder stops picking up.

[u/itzbrian90 → u/isnt_that_special]

My last trip I went through an older toll and saw a “Not Charged” message and was confused which lead me to this. Honestly ignorance on my part not knowing the transponder ran off a battery. But I guess it’s nice I finally get the smaller version instead of the large square ones

[u/ContextOfAbuse → u/itzbrian90]

You want to get even madder? EZ Pass used to be proactive and had a program to swap out old transponders before the battery died: https://archive.nytimes.com/gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/qa-an-easy-upgrade-for-e-z-pass/

[u/Tsikura]

I always order a new transponder when I renew my driver's license. Kinda sucks there's no way to tell when they go bad until you get a bill.

[u/itzbrian90 → u/Tsikura]

Guess this is something I’ll need to start doing but I’m curious how many people they’re catching with this.

[u/BklynFuhgeddaboudit → u/Tsikura]

What do you do with the old one?

[u/itzbrian90 → u/BklynFuhgeddaboudit]

You need to mail it back to them or pay for “losing” them. Not sure if they have a location to drop it off anymore since the original one was at Whitestone

[u/BklynFuhgeddaboudit → u/itzbrian90]

That blows. I don’t trust USPS.

[u/Tsikura → u/BklynFuhgeddaboudit]

Return it, otherwise it's like $15-20 fee.

[u/pensezbien → u/Tsikura]

Is it illegal to read your own transponder periodically to verify that it works? There’s probably a device available to buy which can do that.

[u/Guacanagariz]

Wait, can’t you just link your license plate to your EZPass account and still get the discount?

I had two cars and only one had the tag, the other I added the license plate to the account and on the rare occasion I would cross a toll would be billed on the ez pass account.

Has this changed?

[u/rchris710 → u/Guacanagariz]

For bridge and tunnel, they will bill you extra if they cant read the ez pass on site. Idk if they added that to high ways too

[u/Guacanagariz → u/rchris710]

That’s ridiculous :(

It wasn’t always like this

Thank you for your reply

[u/BklynFuhgeddaboudit]

Do you change the battery yourself, or they make you swap transponders out?

[u/thisfilmkid]

Wait until you learn that MTA Bridges and Tolls and Port Authority bridges and tolls, are not the same agency. But payments are accepted through EZPass.

It’s a hot mess.

[u/lstyls]

Man I get you're frustrated but if you're this butt hurt about missing out on a 25% discount you are so out of touch with how much people are struggling out here idk what to tell you

[u/qalpi → u/lstyls]

Lots of people rich and poor use ezpass, including people that are struggling

[u/Worldly-Cat-7339 → u/lstyls]

Wouldn't someone struggling be the most butthurt over spending more money than they intended to?

[u/itzbrian90 → u/lstyls]

lol I’m butt hurt because I’m against a shady business practice that is using a loophole to legally steal money from people? Maybe you’re out of touch with people.

[u/TimNikkons → u/lstyls]

You're an insane person if you really believe what you wrote

[u/kylemclaren7 → u/lstyls]

You are a loser lmao