E-ZPass - History

History

The notion of electronic tolling had been considered as early as the 1980s, particularly in the New York metropolitan area. The tolling agencies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—which constitute two-thirds of the United States' $3 billion-a-year toll industry—sought to create a compatible electronic-tolling technology that could be used on the toll roads and bridges of the three states, in an effort to reduce congestion on some of the busiest roadways and toll plazas in the United States. In 1991, the E‑ZPass IAG was created to develop an interoperable system, and involved the participation and cooperation of seven independent toll agencies—The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, The New Jersey Highway Authority—which, at the time, operated the Garden State Parkway—the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York State Thruway Authority, The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the South Jersey Transportation Authority (operator of the Atlantic City Expressway). The E‑ZPass trademark, however, belongs to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority has been aggressive at protecting its trademark, including forcing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to rename the "EZ Pass" regional transit pass to "EZ transit pass" to protect its rights.

On July 15, 1991, Colorado's E‑470 became the first highway in the United States to implement electronic tolling, via its "EXpressToll" system. E‑470 was engineered for open-road tolling from the beginning.

Under the direction of Peter Tufo, chairman of the New York State Thruway from 1989 to 1996, E‑ZPass was first deployed on the Thruway at the Spring Valley toll plaza on August 3, 1993. Over the following three and a half years, the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) installed electronic toll-collection equipment, in stages, along the Thruway. By February 6, 1997, E‑ZPass had been installed along the entire length of the corridor.

On October 6, 1998, a U.S. patent for an "automated toll collection system" was issued to Fred Slavin and Randy J. Schafer.

Meanwhile, various other agencies began work on similar electronic toll collecting facilities. This resulted in the emergence of other networks:

• The MassPass system used in Massachusetts, now changed to the compatible Fast Lane, and being rebranded E‑ZPass in 2012.
• The I-Pass system used in Illinois.
• The I-Zoom system used in Indiana, but will retire that name and use the E‑ZPass brand beginning September 2012; always compatible with E‑ZPass.
• The Smart Tag system used in Virginia, integrated in 2005 and rebranded E‑ZPass in 2007.
• The TransPass system used in Maine, since replaced by the E‑ZPass system.
• The M‑Tag system used in Maryland, integrated into and rebranded E‑ZPass in 2001.

Originally, these systems were not interchangeable with E‑ZPass. However, since most of them use the same technology (or have since converted over to a compatible technology), all of them have been incorporated into the E‑ZPass network. Though several still retain their own brand name for their own facilities, users of those systems can use E‑ZPass and vice versa. This allows, for example, travelers to drive on various toll roads in several states from Chicago, Illinois, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, with only an E‑ZPass tag.

Until 2005, drivers crossing the Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, paid a toll before crossing to Canada. Following upgrades to the border crossings in 2005, drivers instead pay a toll on the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge after clearing Canadian customs. This is the only E‑ZPass toll booth outside of the United States. The toll goes to the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, a bi-national agency that is charged to maintain the international bridge.

The E‑ZPass system continues to expand. The Indiana Toll Road Concessions Corporation has upgraded its toll plazas to include E‑ZPass functionality on the Indiana East–West Toll Road, while the Ohio Turnpike Commission has upgraded its toll plazas in October 2009 for the Ohio Turnpike (I‑76, I‑80, I‑90). The Indiana Toll Road Concession Company brands its E‑ZPass program as I‑Zoom; Ohio will use the E‑ZPass brand name. On December 16, 2008, Rhode Island joined the network by activating E‑ZPass lanes in the state's only toll booth, at the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge.

E‑ZPass ETC transponders do not work on all toll roads in the United States. Currently, the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system (as well as the other ETC systems that are part of the E‑ZPass network) are not compatible with Florida systems (including SunPass and E‑Pass), California's FasTrak, Kansas's K‑Tag, Oklahoma's Pikepass, Texas's TxTag, Puerto Rico's AutoExpreso, Georgia's Peach Pass and Cruise Card, or other ETC systems outside of E‑ZPass operating regions.

In 2009 an organization called the Alliance for Toll Interoperability 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.