Transcore Toll Tags coming in 2006
Toll tag makeover
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
By Jason Whitely / 11 News
KHOU-TV (Houston)
Copyright 2005
HOUSTON -- More than a million and a half EZ Tag users who drive on Harris County toll roads may not recognize the timesaving device after its makeover.
The tag is supposed to last the life of your car.
Beginning next spring, the EZ Tag will get a new look; no longer a bulky piece of plastic, but rather a paper thin sticker, which is smaller than your registration sticker.
"Not only is it a better looking tag but it performs better," said Fred Philipson, with the Harris County Toll Road Authority. "It's going to help customers because it's going to be cheaper. And the battery doesn't go out in it."
The existing tags have tiny batteries, which last about three years before having to be replaced. HCTRA said that is a costly expense the new sticker tag would eliminate.
The new thin tag, which doesn't need a battery, is supposed to last the life of your car while costing consumers about a third of what the old one did.
Philipson has one of the new sticker tags in his Chevrolet Tahoe. It's among twenty or so HCTRA is testing right now at tollbooths in Harris County.
Unlike the existing plastic ones, the new EZ Tags can't be moved from car to car. Its manufacturer, Transcore, said the sticker tags only work when stuck to the windshield. They're designed to use the glass as part of their "antenna." Plus, Transcore said, the sticker tag is easily destroyed if you try to peel it off.
Philipson said sticker tags will also be able to buzz you through a lot more toll booths, not just on Texas toll roads but on turnpikes all over the south from Kansas to Florida. Toll operators in a handful of other southern states also use Transcore equipment meaning you can use your EZ Tag on express lanes in other states and get them on your HCTRA bill.
"With the price of concrete and oil and steel going up everyday, the authority is really turning to technology to try and help keep their operating costs lower," Tracy Marks, Transcore Vice President, said.
Harris County was forced to make the change because, after 17 years, the existing plastic tags are no longer made.
The Toll Road Authority tells us it'll phase in the sticker tags in the second quarter of 2006, gradually replacing a million and a half of the existing plastic tags as their batteries begin to die.
© Copyright 2005, KHOU-TV www.khou.com
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
By Jason Whitely / 11 News
KHOU-TV (Houston)
Copyright 2005
HOUSTON -- More than a million and a half EZ Tag users who drive on Harris County toll roads may not recognize the timesaving device after its makeover.
The tag is supposed to last the life of your car.
Beginning next spring, the EZ Tag will get a new look; no longer a bulky piece of plastic, but rather a paper thin sticker, which is smaller than your registration sticker.
"Not only is it a better looking tag but it performs better," said Fred Philipson, with the Harris County Toll Road Authority. "It's going to help customers because it's going to be cheaper. And the battery doesn't go out in it."
The existing tags have tiny batteries, which last about three years before having to be replaced. HCTRA said that is a costly expense the new sticker tag would eliminate.
The new thin tag, which doesn't need a battery, is supposed to last the life of your car while costing consumers about a third of what the old one did.
Philipson has one of the new sticker tags in his Chevrolet Tahoe. It's among twenty or so HCTRA is testing right now at tollbooths in Harris County.
Unlike the existing plastic ones, the new EZ Tags can't be moved from car to car. Its manufacturer, Transcore, said the sticker tags only work when stuck to the windshield. They're designed to use the glass as part of their "antenna." Plus, Transcore said, the sticker tag is easily destroyed if you try to peel it off.
Philipson said sticker tags will also be able to buzz you through a lot more toll booths, not just on Texas toll roads but on turnpikes all over the south from Kansas to Florida. Toll operators in a handful of other southern states also use Transcore equipment meaning you can use your EZ Tag on express lanes in other states and get them on your HCTRA bill.
"With the price of concrete and oil and steel going up everyday, the authority is really turning to technology to try and help keep their operating costs lower," Tracy Marks, Transcore Vice President, said.
Harris County was forced to make the change because, after 17 years, the existing plastic tags are no longer made.
The Toll Road Authority tells us it'll phase in the sticker tags in the second quarter of 2006, gradually replacing a million and a half of the existing plastic tags as their batteries begin to die.
© Copyright 2005, KHOU-TV
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, November 22, 2005
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