What is the difference between mdx and sunpass

But as with any launch of a new product or service, this concept will depend on acceptance by users. At first glance, it may not look like much—an array of electronic components, transponders, and readers and cameras attached to steel bars hanging under a highway bridge over Florida's Turnpike just north of Fort Lauderdale.

In January , technicians established a gantry site on the turnpike's Oakland Park Boulevard Bridge for demonstrating electronic toll collection equipment. The manufacturer will use the site for testing and fine-tuning the technology for the future deployment of ORT, or cashless, highway-speed electronic toll collection. This kilometer mile four- and six-lane connector is on the northwest outskirts of metropolitan Fort Lauderdale. Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, the tolling agency, already has begun implementing plans to turn this congested stretch of commuter highway into a prototype highway of the future.

The Sawgrass Expressway will be a user-financed toll road that delivers maximum potential in customer service through technologies such as ORT, traffic management strategies, widened roadways and ramps, the addition of aesthetically pleasing environmental treatments, and state- of-the-art intelligent transportation system ITS functions.

Since the conversion of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise in to a stand-alone operating unit of the Florida Department of Transportation FDOT , the toll road agency has begun pursuing a vision of the future in which private sector business principles provide the means to fulfilling public sector goals.

Ely, Ph. According to Reinventing Florida's Turnpike: The Enterprise Model , a publication of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, the tolling agency's business plan calls for reliance primarily on annual toll revenues for operating income and debt retirement. Projected revenues will act as security in the issuance of public-finance bonds for interim funding of required capital expansion projects.

At the onset of the 21st century, two opposing trends for highway transportation became clear. First, State and Federal gasoline taxes and Federal surface transportation allocations appear to have reached a hiatus.

Second, demand for expansion of the current highway system—both to relieve congestion in densely populated areas and to meet transportation demands in newly populated and rapidly growing areas—continues to increase at a significantly rapid rate with no signs of slowing.

In Surface Transportation: Confronting the Backlog , William Streeter, Cherian George, and Scott Trommer describe the present state of affairs as a "seemingly unbridgeable gap in surface transportation funding needs. In response to this apparent inability of the current gas-tax-based system to keep up with growing demand, proponents believe that user-based funding in the form of toll or indirect user charges may be a solution.

Proponents also believe that widespread implementation of ORT technology has the potential to promote wider acceptance of toll-based funding for highway building.

Recognized as the grandfather of open tolling, Ontario's electronic-only tolling system was successfully implemented, with the first day of tolling begun on October 14, More than million trips have been taken between October and June The ETR charges users through a transponder that is attached to an automobile's windshield. Transponders are mandatory for heavy vehicles with a gross weight over 5, kilograms 11, pounds. The tolling system automatically deducts the toll from the transponder or uses an electronic system to capture a license plate number for users without transponders.

From there, optical character recognition OCR software is used to identify the plate numbers for billing the toll at a higher rate.

The IPC describes anonymous accounts in the following way:. All financial transactions are done via cash to ensure true anonymity. During the registration process, no personal information is required—an account is opened and a security deposit is prepaid by cash. A form of security deposit is required from everyone obtaining a transponder. Since it was important that the anonymous transponder option be as convenient to use as the regular transponder option, this solution was not acceptable to the IPC.

The OTCC then explored the idea of having anonymous transponder clients replenish their account[s] at any chartered bank or trust company, without providing any identification. Through extensive discussions with the financial community, the OTCC was successful in achieving this objective. The method of payment developed for anonymous accounts is unique: [T]he user's OTCC account not a bank account but just like one, for an account holder's purposes is credited with funds for future trips on the ETR—in effect, a prepaid cash account.

This is accomplished by using a preprinted payment booklet. When an anonymous account is first opened and a transponder issued, the individual is also provided with a booklet of payment slips that are preprinted with the anonymous account number. When it comes time to replenish their account learned through the transponder which signals the driver by a flashing yellow light and one beep , one simply visits any chartered bank or trust company and deposits funds into the account number that appears on the payment slip.

The clerk at the financial institution marks the payment slip with the amount of money paid and then electronically transfers the funds to the OTCC account. The bank or trust company acts as a convenient intermediary, accepting deposits into anonymous accounts on behalf of the OTCC. Payment can also be made by mail or in person at the ETR Operations Centre where a similar electronic transfer of funds will occur.

If they wish to remain anonymous, anonymous transponder users cannot let their account balances fall to zero transponder signals this by a red light and one beep.

If they do, a record of the trip and any others will be made using the rear [license] plate recognition and identification system and a bill will be mailed to the registered [license] plate holder. Thus, anonymity is forfeited if accounts are not replenished.

However, patrons are given sufficient warning so as to allow enough time to replenish their anonymous accounts. The study examined the potential implications of statewide ORT conversion, especially as it might affect the areas of customer service and marketing; collections and operations; traffic and revenue; and engineering, organizational, and legal issues.

The study's authors examined obstacles to statewide ORT deployment and found the following:. Almost as many indicated a willingness to subscribe to an electronic toll collection program if discounts were offered or if it meant not having to stop to pay a toll.

What is clearly apparent is that in order to move to more automated and high-speed toll collection, actions and programs to increase the use of electronic transponders must continue to be pursued.

The report also indicated that there were significant issues raised in the analysis of operations and collections reliability in deploying the ORT, such as "an increased potential for revenue losses due to [uncollectible] invoices, a surcharge to maintain revenue neutrality, and the potential functional obsolescence of the existing AVI [automatic vehicle identification] system.

Statutory changes also would be needed because of some technical challenges with license plate readability and identification that is, discerning characters on license plates appropriately might mean the possibility of making plates consistent in character font, size, contrast of color, and reflective materials , payment enforcement, law enforcement vehicle access to real-time driver account status or portable transponder readers, and access to Department of Motor Vehicles DMV information, both in-State and out-of-State.

The report mentioned other issues such as a lack of standards concerning transponder type, operations, software, and approaches to integrating video. There was also a wide range of quality and performance "among vendors of video and OCR [optical character recognition] technology that appears to be independent of the cost of these components.

The permit shall not be used by anyone other than the approved use of the permit. The Disabled Toll Permit eligibility letter received with your permit should be carried in the permitted vehicle at all times.

A physician is required to provide verification of your eligibility on only one application. Use this link to access an Additional Toll Permit. The Disabled Toll Permit is an orange sticker you will need to adhere to the inside of the lower left hand corner driver's side of your windshield. The sticker shall be permanently attached to the windshield, and you must keep your windshield clean so the Disabled Toll Permit is visible to Toll Collection personnel.

To use the Disabled Toll Permit, you must go through a "manned" lane, where available. The Toll Collection personnel will record your Disabled Toll Permit number to account for your passage. The orange Disabled Toll Permit sticker does not work on "unmanned" lanes.

The Disabled Toll Permit Eligibility Letter received with your permit should be carried in the glove compartment of the permitted vehicle at all times.. Only the person to whom the Disabled Toll Permit is assigned shall use the permit. All other individuals accessing the toll road MUST pay the toll.

If the person issued the permit, is not driving the vehicle, or is a passenger, the person operating the vehicle shall pay the toll. You must use "manned" lanes wherever possible. If no "manned" lanes are available, you may continue through an "unmanned" toll lane. Payments are encouraged and accepted on a voluntary basis. Please mail checks made payable to the Florida Department of Transportation to the address below. Please do not send cash through the mail. Complete a Disabled Toll Permit Replacement Request Form identifying the orange permit sticker number and the new vehicle.

Mail the completed Disabled Toll Permit Replacement Request Form to the Florida Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged requesting an orange permit sticker replacement to be assigned to the new vehicle.

You are required to provide proof of vehicle insurance and proof vehicle was modified with accessibility equipment. A new orange Disabled Toll Permit Sticker and an Eligibility Letter will be mailed to you identifying the new vehicle associated with the replacement orange permit sticker. You must also contact SunPass at to notify them of the new vehicle associated with replacement orange permit sticker and provide a copy of your Disabled Toll Permit Eligibility Letter identifying the changes.

Use this link to access a Toll Permit Replacement. Mail the completed Disabled Toll Permit Replacement Request Form to the Florida Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged requesting an orange permit sticker replacement to be assigned. A new orange Disabled Toll Permit Sticker and an Eligibility Letter will be mailed to you identifying the vehicle associated with the replacement orange permit sticker.

You must also contact SunPass at to notify them of the replacement and provide a copy of your Disabled Toll Permit Eligibility Letter associated with the replacement orange permit sticker.

As soon as you have changed addresses you must complete a Disabled Toll Permit Replacement Request Form identifying the orange permit sticker number and your new address. A new Disabled Toll Permit Eligibility Letter will be mailed to you identifying the updated address associated with the permit.

The lapse was caused by a longer-than-expected transition from a problem-plagued system that was supposed to transform MDX highways into a model of toll-by-plate technology.

Instead, six months after shutting down the old system and trying to transition into the new one, MDX cannot tell NBC6 how many vehicles have passed through toll plazas without paying and how much money they owe. It is the latest in a long string of mishaps, which MDX claims in court filings began soon after it awarded its open-road tolling conversion and its account management and toll enforcement system projects to a Texas company, Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp.

ETCC , in Drivers have complained of being repeatedly billed based on video that clearly showed it was not their car going through the toll plazas. Andriuk concedes some may have thought they had been getting a free six-month ride on the MDX expressways. In December , MDX terminated its contract with ETCC, claiming the company failed to properly perform its duties under the contract, according to court filings.