Functionality
E‑ZPass tags are battery powered RFID transponders, made exclusively by Kapsch TrafficCom (formerly Mark IV Industries Corp - IVHS Division.) They communicate with reader equipment built into lane-based or open-road toll collection lanes. The most common type of tag can be mounted on the inside of the vehicle's windshield behind the rear-view mirror, though some vehicles have windshields that block RFID signals. For those vehicles, historical vehicles, and customers who have aesthetic concerns, an externally mountable tag is offered, typically designed to attach to the vehicle's front or rear license plate mounting points.
Although a tag can be used with a motorcycle, there are usually no official instructions given for mounting due to the numerous variations between bike designs and the small area of a motorcycle windshield which could prove a hindrance if the transponder is attached following automobile instructions. Transponders may be held in the hand, if necessary.
Most E‑ZPass lanes are converted manual toll lanes and must have fairly low speed limits for safety reasons (between 5 and 15 mph is typical), so that E‑ZPass vehicles can merge safely with vehicles that stopped to pay a cash toll and, in some cases, to allow toll workers to safely cross the E‑ZPass lanes to reach booths accepting cash payments. In some areas, however (typically recently built or retrofitted facilities), there is no need to slow down, because E‑ZPass users can utilize dedicated traffic lanes ("Express E‑ZPass") that are physically separate from the toll-booth lanes. Examples include Delaware Route 1, Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, the Hampton toll plaza on I‑95 in New Hampshire,the Interstate 78 Toll Bridge, the Atlantic City Expressway, the Newark Toll Plaza on the Delaware Turnpike, the express lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway, in two locations on the New Jersey Turnpike—one at the southern end near the Delaware Memorial Bridge and one near the northern end of the western spur (just north of exit 16W)—the Garden State Parkway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Gateway, Warrendale and Mid-County (I‑476) toll plazas, new sections of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, and the New York State Thruway at the Woodbury toll barrier. In October 2006, Illinois completed open road tolling for I‑Pass and E‑ZPass users; it was the first U.S. state to have done so.
Each E-ZPass tag is specifically programmed for a particular class of vehicle; while any valid working tag will be read and accepted in any E‑ZPass toll lane, the wrong toll amount will be charged if the tag's programmed vehicle class does not match the vehicle. This will result in a violation and possible large fine assessed to the tag holder, especially if a lower-class (e.g., passenger car) tag is being used in a higher-class vehicle such as a bus or truck. In an attempt to avoid this, E‑ZPass tags for commercial vehicles are blue in color, contrasting with the white tags assigned to standard passenger vehicles. The blue E‑ZPass is also used in government employee vehicles. In New York, an orange E‑ZPass tag is issued to emergency vehicles as well as to employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and New York State Thruway Authority.
For purposes of interoperability, all agencies are connected to each other by a secure network (the "reciprocity network"). This network provides the means to process toll transactions and violations across the various agencies. Registration of a transponder causes data of the transponder's user to be stored on the network. This data will be available in approximately one hour on the primary network the unit is issued by (e.g., i‑Zoom, i‑Pass, E‑ZPass), but may be delayed by 24 hours on other networks.
Read more about this topic: E-ZPass