RV with tow vehicle on Texas toll roads?

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jymbee

jymbee

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Joined
Feb 20, 2018
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Upstate NY
Cameras on the toll road take a picture of a vehicle's license plates, and that information is used to identify the registered owner of the vehicle. A toll bill is then sent to the registered owner's address. Pay By Mail customers have 30 days to pay their bill either in person, via check, online, or over the phone.
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To these cameras pickup both your RV and tow? We tend to avoid toll roads around here but there's been a few times lately when I would have paid a lot to avoid some of the traffic messes we encountered.
 
jymbee said:
To these cameras pickup both your RV and tow? We tend to avoid toll roads around here but there's been a few times lately when I would have paid a lot to avoid some of the traffic messes we encountered.
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toll roads around houston will read your plates front and back, then send you a bill..
they can detect the difference between a smalll trailer or a Toad and count axels.
tolls are billed on axels.
 
solarman said:
toll roads around houston will read your plates front and back, then send you a bill..
they can detect the difference between a smalll trailer or a Toad and count axels.
tolls are billed on axels.
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Yes, and that’s why our one transponder works in the car and the coach (with or without the toad).
 
jymbee said:
To these cameras pickup both your RV and tow?
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All of the toll roads that we have been on did read and bill based on the number of axels. Even when you are towing 4-down with a transponder on each vehicle they still bill based on the number of axles. The software uses both the transponder data and the picture when determining the amount to bill. Most toll authorities do not bill unless they have a photo to match each transponder but they do bill with a photo only as that is typically a higher rate than with a transponder. According to the internet, 35 states and Washington DC have toll roads, so I can't say for them all but all of those that we have traveled in the past 10 years or so have that ability. Our son worked for a company that wrote custom software for toll authorities in several countries and more than 20 states and all of those he worked on had the ability to identify vehicles type and configuration from the photos.
 
Kirk said:
All of the toll roads that we have been on did read and bill based on the number of axels. Even when you are towing 4-down with a transponder on each vehicle they still bill based on the number of axles.
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Still a bit confused re. TX "transponders". As I expect you know, with the EZPass system we use back East, you just zip through tolls (or at least where there used to be physical toll booths) and the system deducts that amount due from your account. When the account gets depleted, it replenishes.

Do TX responders function similarly? Also, would I be correct in assuming that these transponders aren't a requirement when driving on toll roads, they just make paying for tolls easier?

Yeah, I'm a bit dense... :rolleyes:
 
jymbee said:
Do TX responders function similarly? Also, would I be correct in assuming that these transponders aren't a requirement when driving on toll roads, they just make paying for tolls easier?
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Yes to both questions, if you have a transponder that they accept. But just as EZ-pass doesn't accept any of the TX transponders, neither does the TX system accept the EZ-pass. In such cases they read your license plate from the photo and then mail you a bill to the address on your vehicle registration.
 
What sucks is trying to remember which tolling authorities accept what outside transponders. I have four different ones in my semi trucks. The main issue I look out for is in FL. If I don't put my PA EZpass in an RF bag in favor of my SunPass, I can get double charged. I had TXtag but only had the sticker transponders that are long gone. Even when I was doing a lot of trucking in TX I rarely used it, so never needed to pursue it. Same with the PikePass for OK and KS tolls, but I did get regular transponders if I can remember where they are LOL.
 
For the most part, Texas Toll roads are easy to ignore, but We had TxTag from when I was working with WalMart HQ a lot and had to go down to DFW or over to OKC and Tulsa often for work.
It also works in Kansas, so I keep it around.
 
RedForeman said:
What sucks is trying to remember which tolling authorities accept what outside transponders. I have four different ones in my semi trucks. The main issue I look out for is in FL. If I don't put my PA EZpass in an RF bag in favor of my SunPass, I can get double charged. I had TXtag but only had the sticker transponders that are long gone. Even when I was doing a lot of trucking in TX I rarely used it, so never needed to pursue it. Same with the PikePass for OK and KS tolls, but I did get regular transponders if I can remember where they are LOL.
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I had that happen in NY. My EZPASS has both the car/truck and trailer registered. I had my motorcycle in my toy hauler. Separate EZPASS for motorcycle required in PA. The MC transponder was in the trunk of the bike. I looked at may account, and both transponders were being charged, two seconds apart. I had to dispute the charges with NY turnpike commission. Hard to believe the bike transponder worked through the trunk and roof of the trailer.
The bike's transponder is now stored in a shielded bag.
 
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Larry N. said:
Not all other states- Colorado's Express Toll is different yet...
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Yeah, I know… But sure would be nice if all the states got on board with sharing the software to handle the billing. We have an EZPass transponder and it’s good in most states east of the Mississippi. It’s obviously possible to have any state charge whatever they want.
 
Laura & Charles said:
Yeah, I know… But sure would be nice if all the states got on board with sharing the software to handle the billing. We have an EZPass transponder and it’s good in most states east of the Mississippi. It’s obviously possible to have any state charge whatever they want.
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In PA, using the EzPass gets you about a 50% discount on turnpike tolls.
The one for the bike is different. Same discount, but using it keeps the toll at the class 1 level. Makes no difference if I'm pulling my small trailer, which happens to be a pop up camper.
 
Heading to So. Dakota, four years ago we had to go through a toll booth in I believe Illinois that did not take EZ Pass. Traffic was pretty heavy and the booths were packed with out-of-state'ers paying cash. I pulled up to the window and the lady in the booth looked at my rig with the dolly and car in tow and said "We'll send you a bill in the mail", OK, have a nice day.
Never received a bill! Now you know why most if not all states have switched to some kind of auto pay system.
 
LarsMac said:
It also works in Kansas, so I keep it around.
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TX has a state tag and each toll authority had one but all of them accept any of those and both the TX-Tag and the NTTA-Toll Tag are accepted on all toll roads in OK and KS. Those state's tags are accepted in TX also.
msw3113 said:
I could only find a TxTag window sticker.
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TX used to have the hard plastic movable ones but they have done away with those and only use the windshield stickers now. I had one of the old ones and they sent me the new sticker and told me that my plastic one would be invalid on a specific date.
Laura & Charles said:
Sorry… I just assumed EZPass (and all affiliated states’ transponders) included TX. )
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I don't believe that anyone west of the Mississippi accepts it and some states have multiple authorities who don't accept each others. In the Denver area there are two toll authorities and they do not accept each others tags unless that has changed in the past year or so. CA was also that way when we were last there but it has been several years so may have changed.

It would not be all that difficult to make it such that all authorities could read each other's tags but the billing would be far more complicated to have only one bill. Since it is the billing that creates the higher fee rate, just accepting each others tags but still billing from each authority would be very complicated since they do not all use the same software or accounting systems.
 
Adventurous Traveler said:
Now you know why most if not all states have switched to some kind of auto pay system.
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My take is that despite some "challenges" with all these auto pay toll systems, the advantages to the state FAR outweigh any of those issues.

When you consider the considerable expense of building and staffing traditional toll plazas not to mention what often results in huge traffic backups at these plazas, it's a no brainer.

When they first came out with EZPass in NY there were dedicated EZPass lanes for those with transponders. That helped speed up traffic but the lines often were still lengthy for the non pass holders. Now, the booths are all gone and there's never any backup given it's all done "invisibly".
 
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