Fun with EZ-Pass

[giza]

Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 10:16:03 -0400
From: Susan Landau <susan.landau@sun.com>
Subject: E-ZPass, UPS, and Newark Airport

[This appeared in the Metropolitan Diary section of *The New York Times*,
3 Nov 2003. It is yet another example of what can happen when perfectly
plausible actions are combined in unexpected ways. Fortunately this one
is humurous. Susan Landau]

Dear Diary:

After moving to Nashville from New York recently, it occurred to me that I
no longer had a pressing use for my E-ZPass. Following the E-ZPass
instructions, I filled out a few forms and dropped my pass off at United
Parcel Service, destination Staten Island service center.

Two weeks passed, and I received my normal E-ZPass e-mail statement. I
entered my account and, lo and behold, my recently surrendered pass had been
used by someone to go from Newark Airport to Exit 18 on the New Jersey
Turnpike.

I was incensed.

I immediately called E-ZPass and informed them that someone had stolen my
pass. I explained that I had mailed the pass and that now someone was
running up and down the turnpike using it.

Very calmly, the E-ZPass representative said, "Sir, your E-ZPass was not
stolen, it is in the UPS truck, and every time that truck goes through an
E-Z Pass toll booth, it is going to register another toll."

Comments

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Geeze. That's insane. The miracle of modern RFID tags. Sheesh.

[silverscalenaga.livejournal.com]

heheh... steal your boss's ez pass then walk to a toll booth and just scan it a shitload of times then put it back in his car ;P

[giza.livejournal.com]

Only problem being that no pedestrians are allowed at the toll booths. I would probably be arrested for tresspassing.

Oh, and all the EZ Pass toll booths also have cameras to catch vehicles without EZ Pass on them. I would be caught on film.

[shenryyr.livejournal.com]

*g*

If it is like SmartTag (Virginia RFID)

[blackfeather.livejournal.com]

Then they could have wrapped it up in tin (aluminum) foil, to stop it registering automatically. My SmartTag arrived that way in the mail. And it is what they recommend if you wish to pay in cash. So I suppose if you mail it you should also wrap it up that way.

As far as E-Z Pass lanes, aren't there 'option' lanes, where either form of payment is allowed? I know there are on SmartTag.

(Fortunately, there are no tolls here in Bloomington, where I now live. So that's all behind me.) :)

Smart Tag, Dumb State

[mejeep.livejournal.com]

I read this in comp.risks where I also replied about the foil-bag used when it was mailed to me and the note to use that bag since there's no "OFF" switch.

Sadly, NJ is clueless about how to do anything right concerning automobiles. NJ's auto insurance is among the highest in the nation thanks to 20+ years corruption, the DMV was privitized and is now being re-absorbed into the state gov't so license fees increased to cover that. All other states have EZ-Pass or such for free, but NJ has a $1.00 monthy fee to cover for cost overruns. And the toll lanes: they're EZ pass ONLY, no attendant, no other form of payment. That's not just NJ, it's NY bridges too.

Re: Smart Tag, Dumb State

[darthgeek.livejournal.com]

And the toll lanes: they're EZ pass ONLY, no attendant, no other form of payment. That's not just NJ, it's NY bridges too.

How recent is that? I was driving DC-CT several times a month during the spring and summer of 1999. I drove DC-NYC in 2002. I was able to pay cash getting on and off the NJ Turnpike and going across the Washington(?) bridge and going through the Holland Tunnel.

Re: Smart Tag, Dumb State

[mejeep.livejournal.com]

I was a bit too terse: the EZ-PASS lanes are unattended so you can't ask for directions and everyone's stuck when someone without the tag accidentally gets into that lane. There are still manned lanes for cash, but fewer than before.