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Old 06-05-2020, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Florida
2,026 posts, read 2,745,953 times
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How many toll road transponders do I have to sign up for?


I recently moved to Florida, Brevard county.

But I would be going to Orlando, StPete, Sarasota, Miami and other places frequently.
Is Sunpass or E-pass going to cover my trips, do I need to have both, or even a few more local authority related ones?
How does this Florida Toll Road system work anyways?
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Old 06-05-2020, 03:36 PM
 
Location: Not too far East of the Everglades
10,951 posts, read 3,621,747 times
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SunPass should be integrated across the State by now......BUT the easiest thing to do is to call the Sunpass and or E-Pass people to make sure that is correct.

I Live in Miami, have a Sunpass Mini Sticker (I hate batery operated Transponders ) and when in Osceola, Orange and Seminole Counties I use the ~417~ aka GreeneWay a LOT, and my SunPass works perfectly well there
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Old 06-05-2020, 03:48 PM
 
Location: Florida
503 posts, read 1,197,657 times
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I only use Sunpass. You can buy the window sticker for $5 at Publix or Walgreens.
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Old 06-05-2020, 04:00 PM
 
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guys, how do the stickers work?

Do they send you a bill every month?...or pay online? something like that
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Old 06-05-2020, 04:10 PM
 
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If you are planning to ever drive out of Florida up the East Coast on some occasional basis, E-Pass (non EZ-Pass) would/may be the better option.
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Old 06-05-2020, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,258 posts, read 22,663,185 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Corrie22 View Post
guys, how do the stickers work?

Do they send you a bill every month?...or pay online? something like that
The 'toll by plate' option is a monthly bill with a 'convenience charge' tacked on. The transponders offer multiple ways to top off an account. We just have it set up to charge our credit card $50 when our Sunpass balance falls below $10.

Whatever you do, don't link a Sunpass account directly to your bank account or debit card. The system had a catastrophic failure in 2018 and when it came back online, a lot of the accounts got transposed. There'd be stories of a guy getting billed hundreds of dollars in tolls when he could prove that the car the sticked was attached to had sat in long term parking at the Miami airport for most of the month while he was our of the country.

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/in...s/67-569843541
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Old 06-05-2020, 06:49 PM
 
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oh....thanks beach!....when they said "stickers" I thought it was some new decal or something like that...like a flat paper decal you put on the windshield
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Old 06-05-2020, 06:54 PM
 
Location: Ormond Beach, FL
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We have a portable transponder that I can move between cars. I think I had to buy the transponder then sigh up for an initial balance of $25. Since there are no toll roads in my area, I leave the transponder in my desk. When we take someone to the Orlando airport we put the transponder in the car we are using.

The transponder attaches to the window with suction cups. We've had it for several years and haven't had anything go wrong.
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Old 06-05-2020, 06:59 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,258 posts, read 22,663,185 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Corrie22 View Post
oh....thanks beach!....when they said "stickers" I thought it was some new decal or something like that...like a flat paper decal you put on the windshield
The sticker option aka Sunpass mini has a computer chip in between the layers of the sticker and communicates with the tolling point that way. It's cheaper- $5- and that can be a factor if you aren't planning to move a bigger transponder that attaches with suction cups among multiple vehicles.
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Old 06-05-2020, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Florida Suncoast
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We don't live in Florida yet, we're still doing scouting trips looking for a home to buy, but we own two SunPass transponders. One mini transponder for a car we drive to Florida, and the other, a portable transponder, that we use on rental cars. All you do is maintain a balance in the SunPass account. The other part of using a SunPass, and probably the other transponders, is you get a discount on the tolls. For example, the Skybridge south of St Petersburg has a toll of $1.50 each way on the bridge for a car. The SunPass charges $1.06 toll instead of $1.50. We've experienced other discounts on other toll roads, especially around Orlando. You don't have to hassle with a bunch of coins, and stopping to pay the tolls. There are some exits that do not have the option to pay with coins. The SunPass mini transponder is $4.99 and the portable transponder is $19.99, plus taxes. We found that the portable transponder was a little harder to find, probably because the mini transponders are more popular.

When we rent a car in Florida, I call the SunPass system and register my portable transponder to the rental car's license plate. They ask when I'm returning the rental car, so that the portable transponder automatically unregisters from the rental car plate. I used to have to call the SunPass people when I was returning the rental car. Of course, you have to be very careful that you don't leave the portable SunPass in the rental car when you return the rental car. You can use the car rental company's transponder, but then you are typically charged $3 for each day you use the transponder, for a maximum charge of $20 per rental period. We got tired to paying the extra fee to the rental car companies, and bought a portable SunPass to solve that problem.

When I drive around Florida, I'm amazed at the number of apparent residents that drive on the tollways that do not have a transponder in their car, and are stopping to pay with coins. It's a no-brainer to have a transponder, even if you only rarely need to use a toll road or toll bridge. I think that the toll bridge to get to Sanibel was a cash only toll bridge, not part of the transponder system. There could be other cash only toll bridges. Orlando seems to have the most toll roads in the state.

One of the main downsides to choosing a transponder is the transponder does not work nationwide. The SunPass works in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and supposedly more states coming in the future. There should be a national standard, so that you don't need multiple toll transponders in your car, and multiple toll accounts to maintain.

The states with toll roads and bridges sometimes get out of control. Texas is good example of tolls gone out of control. The most of the freeways in the major cities are tolled. From my understanding, the toll system is run by a company in Europe and Texas gets a piece of the action, and the European company has very poor customer service, because they don't have to have good customer service.

If you're going to live in Florida, or visit Florida frequently, I think it's a no-brainer to get a SunPass or another transponder for the tolls in Florida. After we move to Florida, we'll buy another mini transponder for the other car, and loan the portable transponder to the in-laws who visit us in the wintertime from the snow belt.
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