I-Pass and E-ZPass questions

I don't know about the discounts, but I used my I-Pass several years ago on a road trip through New England and it worked perfectly. No need to update any profile for number of axles, it will figure it out automatically and deduct the proper amount.

 

Same here ...... but in Mass I get a bill for the trailer.

 

All of those accounts have monthly fees, so take that into account before you start opening monthly accounts and buying new transponders. It may not be worth it for a small fee discount.

 

The Ipass is completely compatible with the EZpass, it will work for everything on the east coast except for the FL tolls. You don't need to do anything at all. We use ours when we head out that way to camp.

 

It is a nice time saver for sure, especially with open road tolling like Chicago. For end to end tolling, it is not a huge time saver, but very convenient to just be able to drive through and not have to dig out $. We have used our in NY, PA, NH, MA, and so on.

 

I have Illinois ezpass and it is set up for just the truck not pulling the trailer. I drove last year from Illinois to DC and then up through Pennsylvania and into New York with a trailer. The automatic tolls billed me for both truck and trailer. The only place we found that it did not work was crossing from Canada back into the US at Port Huron. I belive Ipass works with ezee

 

You will not get the discounts in NY unless you have a NY-Ezpass account.

Also, most toll plazas we have crossed auto detect if you have a trailer. I know this from traveling the NY Thruway and the NJ GSP.

 

Hmmm... good case for extreme tailgating?

 

Just went through Florida and found our ezpass works on everything but the turnpike.

 

I go through Chicago a handful of times each year. For me I don't use the pass enough to worry about it. I blow the stops and record the time. Then after my trip I pay online.

 

Found this thread and thought I'd ask my question here.
We live in NY and have an EZPass for our normal travels around here (Buffalo area). It's the regular white transponder for normal automobiles (2 axles). We don't have to pay a monthly fee (years ago that used to be the case) whether we use the pass in a month or not.
Anyway, we've used this EZPass for several years now and numerous trips to and from Minnesota. Have absolutely loved it for not only the time savings, especially around Chicago (which, btw, there is NO good way around), but also for the 50% off tolls in Illinois. Not sure if there were any discounts in Ohio or Indiana or even in NY.
We just got back from our maiden voyage with our ntu pup, a 2007 Fleetwood Avalon, which has two axles; giving us a total of four axles now. We checked, and here in NY, they require a different transponder (blue), so we now have that one for when we are towing our pup. When we were looking into this, we saw that we would be paying a little more toll for towing the pup, but didn't have a problem with that. What we didn't really look into was what the increase in toll would be in Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. I guess we figured it'd be a little more than the usual, just like NY.
Were we WRONG!
Last year, on one of our two trips from NY to MN, we paid a little over $8.00 to travel on the Indiana Tollway; that's going the full length of it without getting off at all. This year, with towing the pup, that exact same trip cost us $42 and some change.
That's FIVE TIMES MORE expensive!!! :O
Are we missing something here?
When we travel out that way again we are looking at NOT taking the Indiana Tollroads.
What a rip-off!

 

Wow , that sucks.

 

Go back to the old ez-pass unit. All the blue ez-passes I've seen (here in NJ) are on commercial vehicles towing larger trailers.

 

You can go online and look up the rate charge for any of the toll roads. It goes up significantly as you go from regular passenger vehicle to more than 2 axles. In general, there is often no distinction between towing a relatively light trailer (pup) vs a large heavy 3 or 4 axle vehicle. It is significantly more expensive to go around Chicago with a trailer vs a car and also no 50% discount (I believe). The issue is that they can't weigh things, so they just count axles. Not fair, but that is the way it is. It costs me something like $11.25 to go around Chicago and back in a car and closer to $40 towing the camper. If you value your time, it is still usually worth it to take the toll roads.

 

Thankfully, we're unemployed now, so have the time to not take the toll roads and have decided that is exactly what we'll probably be doing more of now. Hate to tell you how many trips over the last 30+ years we've made between WNY and MN. Habit is why we did it this year going out. Not coming home

 

Indiana "sold" the toll road to a private investment firm a decade or more ago (actually, we leased it for 100 years). Since then, tolls have been steadily increasing, unfortunately. That said, maintenance on the toll road is actually happening, which is something that rarely occurred previously... Pick your poison.

When EB, get off at the last Ohio exit and travel Hwy 20 across the state. Pokagon State Park (at Angola, on the east side), Potato Creek State Park (about 30 minutes south of Hwy 20, a little more than half way through the state when EB), and Dunes National Lakeshore/State Park (Michigan City area) are excellent places to spend a day or three while traversing the state. Unfortunately, once you get into Chicago-land, you may not have any good option but to get on a limited access highway, which likely means tolls.

 

Yeah, we have no problem paying a little more b/c of the additional axles, but 5x more is just ridiculous and a ripoff. imho.
Thanks for the suggestions on SPs. On the way out and more so on the way back home, we were very motivated to avoid as much of Chicago as possible (we are SO over Chicago ). So the last few years we've minimized our travel through/around Chicago by staying on I-80 (which is VERY congested) and then heading north on I-39. More miles, but for the most constant speeds, no switching from one lane to another and getting onto different hwys/exits/entrances and no tolls once you get past Chicago.
Wisconsin, especially between Rockford and Madison is also VERY congested and slow b/c of the construction. We remember when there was NOTHING out there! What happened?!?!
On the way home, we actually went further south and avoided Chicago altogether. We also took longer, but we really enjoyed the stress-free drive on State highways rather than interstates.
During the week, we had no problem getting our pick of camp sites in SPs in Indiana and Illinois. The camp hosts did tell us that they are booked solid on the weekends, so good to know for in the future.
We're also looking at taking the northern route through Canada and upper peninsula of Michigan.
Lots of options, especially now that time isn't an issue.

 

We have an Ohio EZ Pass and only use the regular white one for everything. I have used it on the Chevy 3500 alone, towing the 5er, on the Chevy 1500 alone and towing the HTT, on her Malibu, my Equinox, the 3500 towing several uhaul trailers including both a 12 foot box and a car hauler with the Nox riding along, and a 26 ft Uhaul. Have run this way thru Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York. Have never had a problem. I would ditch that blue transponder and just use the white one. Only catch is you have to list the plate of the camper or whatever you are towing/driving on the account when using it. Just remember if using a Rental to get it off the account when you turn it in so the next guy doesn't travel on your dime.