YSK that if you live/travel on toll roads in the Northeastern US, you can get an E-Zpass toll tag with no monthly fee from the NY State Thruway Authority
So I drive a lot in the Northeastern US and I'm surprised to find out that a lot of people don't have an electronic tolling tag from E-Zpass. Often people don't get it because they don't want to pay 25 cents to a dollar a month (depends on who issues it), but you don't have to get an E-Zpass from the authority in your state; you can live in Ohio and drive on toll roads in PA using an E-Zpass issued by New York (even within New York, the Port Authority and Metropolitan Bridge & Tunnel association issue Ezpass in addition to the State Thruway Authority).
Anyways: If you sign up here and get statements by email/auto-replenish (refill balance when low) via a credit card, there's no fee to get the toll tag or monthly fee. They will mail you the tag, a read prevention bag (if you don't want to use it at some point), and the strips that mount it to the windshield (3M Velcro, removes easily if you want to at some later point).
Why might you want an E-Zpass, even if you only drive on toll roads once or twice a year?
1) Tolls are often cheaper for electronic tolling users because they don't have to employ toll booth workers at those lanes. Some authorities (New Jersey Turnpike) restrict the discounts to their own E-Zpass tags only, but others (Pennsylvania Turnpike) give the electronic tolling tag to any E-Zpass, whether issued inside or outside the state.
Entering the PA Turnpike from Ohio via the Gateway toll plaza, for example, is $7 cash - but $4.89 when paid via E-Zpass.
2) You don't have to stop at E-Zpass booths. If you're on a newly renovated section of road, you can drive highway speed through a gantry to pay your toll. If it's a retrofitted toll booth, you just need to slow down to the posted speed limit (5-25 mph depending on plaza) and roll through the toll.
3) Certain crossings (PA Turnpike Delaware River Bridge, NY Henry Hudson Bridge, NY Tappan Zee, etc.) are now entirely cashless, and if you don't have an E-zpass you'll receive a higher price toll in the mail that you need to pay later. Certain tolling authorities like the PA Turnpike are looking to go entirely electronic tolling across their entire stretch in coming years
4) Certain highway exits/entrances can either be E-Zpass only or unmanned (E-Zpass and exact change only) at all times or at night. For example, the George Washington Bridge is E-Zpass only from 11PM-6AM or 7AM (depends on day), certain exits on the PA Turnpike are E-Zpass only, and certain entrances/exits on the Illinois Tollways are exact change/E-ZPass only (the exit for O'Hare airport is $1.50 or exact change).
5) Many rental cars are E-Zpass enabled, but with a catch: If you use the tag at all, they charge you a fee (usually $6-$10) for every day of the rental plus the un-discounted cash price of all tolls. So if you rent a car from Chicago O'Hare on Monday and return through the electronic toll lane at O'Hare on Thursday ($1.50 cash toll), you'll end up with a separate credit card charge for $20-$30 for that one $1.50 toll. Whereas if you close the elecronic toll tag in the rental car and put your own E-Zpass on the velcro strips on the windshield, your own E-Zpass gets charged, and you only pay for that one toll.
It may be too late at this point to get in the mail for your planned holiday travel (although maybe not; promised delivery time of the tag is 5-7 business days), but it's easier to get the E-Zpass before you need it and just have it in the car. Once you have it, it's pretty brainless; it sits on your windshield for up to a decade (you'll get a letter and parcel with a new E-zpass when your current one is set to expire, and a prepaid label to send the old one back - there's a battery in it), it automatically charges your credit card when your balance runs low, and you just go through the E-Zpass lanes and it tells you that your toll payment was made.
One word of warning: E-Zpass is generally accepted throughout the entire Northeast US (although it goes as far west as Illinois and as far south as North Carolina), but there are a very small number of tolls in E-Zpass states that don't accept it. It also doesn't work in certain other toll states like Texas or Florida, although different states are working to find a way to make tags that work in the entire United States.
