![]() States other than the E-ZPass group that introduced electronic toll technology, or switched protocols, as Minnesota was doing at the time of the last article, tended to use SeGO or 6C. Originally the standard was ISO 18000 6B (commonly called “SeGo” as branded by one of the companies that added proprietary security enhancements to it), then ISO 18000 6C. Although the readers are slightly more expensive, the transponders issued to motorists are much, much cheaper, essentially just a sticker with an antenna, a capacitor, and one chip as opposed to an active electronic device. Following this first generation of active transponders, newer technology was introduced in the form of passive RFID sticker tags. The southern states tended to use Transcore, and California had its own standard, commonly called Title 21. Minnesota (and Washington) used a system from an Israeli company called Advanced Telematics. Meanwhile, states like Minnesota that were isolated from the E-ZPass block saw no need to be interoperable, and thus chose their own active technology. Some agencies maintain their own branding – Illinois State Toll Highway Authority calls theirs “IPass” for example – but henceforth I’m going to refer to the entire network as “E-ZPass”. These three agencies consisted of two-thirds of the U.S toll industry, so nearby states were motivated to join up by linking computer billing systems and if necessary, switching protocols. ( Photo: Mikeetm )Į-ZPass was originally a consortium of the toll agencies in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In the early 2000s there were a number of different active systems out there, but gradually states in the Northeast and lower Midwest have joined the E-ZPass network. Originally these transponders were “active” – having batteries and electronic circuitry – and thus were relatively expensive for the agencies to buy. Introduction to Electronic Toll technologyĮlectronic tolling is the idea that you can use a toll road or toll lane without stopping at a toll booth to pay cash instead a transponder in your car communicates with an overhead reader on the highway and tells it to deduct the amount of the toll from the account you have set up. ![]() The deadline has long come and gone, but I recently noticed that MnDOT has announced their intention to become interoperable with the E-ZPass network as of summer 2021, so it’s time for an update. In 2015 MnPASS was still interoperable with no other states, so I wrote an article about the status of things. There was, in fact, a 2012 mandate for nationwide interoperability by 2016. In practical terms that would mean you’d be able to use your MnPASS transponder to pay tolls on a road trip to Chicago or in your rental car in Florida, and in turn, residents of those states would be able to use their IPass and Epass to pay tolls on the MnPASS express lanes. Nationwide Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) Interoperability has been an elusive goal for some time. ![]()
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