Central TX Toll Roads Versus Out of State Plates (sales, buy)

[Rynldsbr]

When I moved here I avoided the toll roads at first because I am a thrifty individual (tightwad by wife's definition) and hate paying for driving when my taxes should have covered that already. Besides, with free frontage roads running parallel to the toll road, it just doesn't make sense. Anyway, I digress...


After a few situations where use of the toll roads was necessary, I did not receive a toll charge and was told that it was due to the fact that my vehicle had out of state license plates. According to people I spoke with, the system doesn't recognize out of state plates. Later, when the family arrived, DW drove on toll roads a few times prior to changing registration to new address here in Central TX utopia and - once again - not toll bill until registration changed to TX address and TX plates on vehicle.


Months later, friend moved here and drove for several months on out of state plates while seeking permanent housing, and toll bills never found him until permanent residence established and beautiful black and white plates attached to vehicles.


Questions: Why does the state of Texas remain so opposed to joining in a national toll system that would prevent this issue? In today's world, why would a relatively new toll system not be designed to capture all the data so all the money can be collected?

[Trainwreck20]

Eh, they probably 'get you' years later when you change your registration to Texas or something, and then they get penalties and interest, too. So they probably end up coming out ahead.

[centralaustinite]

Are you telling me that such a thing as "a national toll system" actually exists? Please provide a link of some sort.

[Austin97]

there is no national toll system.

[Aquitaine]

The engineering problem is that Texas only controls Texas DPS/DMV. They can manually look up plates from other states (like when a cop pulls you over) but an automated system that says 'send plate number, retrieve address for mailing the bill' would need to be able to access every state's database.

This is much easier than it used to be and many states are in a place where they could provide it, but there are a lot of security implications. They may have also just done a cost/benefit analysis on what it would cost to add image recognition and database processing for 49 other states versus the number of out of state plates they see on the toll road and figured 'not worth it.'

[verybadgnome]

So is there an incentive for people moving from out of state to not register based on (1) not paying registration fees and/or sales taxes, and (2) not having to pay tolls? If so this tiny chunk of lost funding will become bigger over time. Also points out that gas taxes - aside from the electric vehicle issue which could be addressed - may be a better way of funding roadways.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

So is there an incentive for people moving from out of state to not register based on (1) not paying registration fees and/or sales taxes, and (2) not having to pay tolls?

Sure, breaking the law often pays off, for a while.

Heck, just cover the plate with paper when you're driving on the toll road, same effect.

[Rynldsbr]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Are you telling me that such a thing as "a national toll system" actually exists? Please provide a link of some sort.

E-ZPass Group - Home EZ Pass isn't quite national but comes pretty close. I've driven from Boston to Milwaukee and never had to stop at a toll booth, paid it all electronically through one system.


[LEFT]The E-ZPass Group is an association of 37 toll agencies in 16 states that operates the extremely successful E-ZPass electronic toll collection program. E-ZPass enjoys tremendous brand recognition and high levels of customer satisfaction, and is the world leader in toll interoperability, with more than 30 million E-ZPass devices in circulation.[/LEFT]
While this website is primarily intended as a resource for our staff and member agencies and much of this site is therefore password protected and not available to the general public, you will find some basic information about the E-ZPass program. More detailed information can be obtained by contacting the E-ZPass service center of one of our member agencies.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

E-ZPass Group - Home EZ Pass isn't quite national but comes pretty close. I've driven from Boston to Milwaukee and never had to stop at a toll booth, paid it all electronically through one system.


[LEFT]The E-ZPass Group is an association of 37 toll agencies in 16 states that operates the extremely successful E-ZPass electronic toll collection program. E-ZPass enjoys tremendous brand recognition and high levels of customer satisfaction, and is the world leader in toll interoperability, with more than 30 million E-ZPass devices in circulation.[/LEFT]
While this website is primarily intended as a resource for our staff and member agencies and much of this site is therefore password protected and not available to the general public, you will find some basic information about the E-ZPass program. More detailed information can be obtained by contacting the E-ZPass service center of one of our member agencies.

But that's only for the transponder.

Which, if you're actually signing up, is already a non-issue for the Texas system.

The license plate recognition is to support the usage of the roads by those that have never signed up.



So what do the EZ-Pass states do? They either have to manually staff toll booths 24/7/365 (which is a lot more expensive than what texas is losing to out of state plates) OR they have to implement the exact same license plate reader system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass

"In 2009 an organization called the Alliance for Toll Interoperability[29] stated that it was exploring the option of using high-speed cameras to take photographs of the cars passing through non-E‑ZPass lanes in other states.[30] The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which has been studying going towards all-electronic tolling in order to cut costs, plans to implement such a system for non-E-ZPass users by 2018.[31]"

[tiffngio]

FWIW. If you buy a new car, temporary tags do not go through the scanning system either. You can drive the toll roads with your temporary plates and same thing, just not cost effective to look up a temporary plate number for a $.45 toll.