Texas tolltag no longer required

[AY4B]

Just got off the phone with the NTTA to transfer my toll tag from my ST to the F3 and was told to remove the toll tag. Motorcycles and 3 wheelers are now read by license plates only. This is probably true for other areas as well.

[Arion]

Wonder if that's the same for the toll road around Austin?

[AY4B]

Wonder if that's the same for the toll road around Austin?

It should be for all toll roads now but check . I have a toll tag that I took off my ST and had it in the frunk of the new F3 and still got a Zip cash bill from the last time I got on the toll road. The rep told me that all Motorcycles now use the licence plate. To take off the toll tag. That explains why I got a Zip Cash bill. The F3 was not registered to my account.

[AY4B]

That should also fix the problems with trailoring your spyder, and getting charged for every tolltag that passes the readers.

[DGoebel]

So how do us damn Yankees use the system? We're passing through the Great State of Texas, planning our Border to Border ride starting up in Canada, ending in NL, then back to Rockport for a mission trip, planning on Twisted Sisters as our reward when heading back to MN.

[Tbachli]

So how do us damn Yankees use the system? We're passing through the Great State of Texas, planning our Border to Border ride starting up in Canada, ending in NL, then back to Rockport for a mission trip, planning on Twisted Sisters as our reward when heading back to MN.

Most likely you’ll ride free. Oakies get billed, not sure of any other agreements with non-Texans

[AY4B]

So how do us damn Yankees use the system? We're passing through the Great State of Texas, planning our Border to Border ride starting up in Canada, ending in NL, then back to Rockport for a mission trip, planning on Twisted Sisters as our reward when heading back to MN.

We charge double for damn Yankees. LOL Not really but people that do not have a toll account just get the bill mailed to them using the Zipcash system. Some systems are linked and the tags work in different locations like if I were to go to Spyderfest, the System used to use my Texas toll tag. Im not sure how this will affect it but assume it will be the same.

[bhern]

Just got off the phone with the NTTA to transfer my toll tag from my ST to the F3 and was told to remove the toll tag. Motorcycles and 3 wheelers are now read by license plates only. This is probably true for other areas as well.

None of the tollway authority websites that I checked (NTTA, TxTag, HCTRA) are reporting any different directives/guidance on toll tags for motorcycles, at least not yet.

I'm not sure I like the idea of eliminating the two-factor authentication aspect of this, however error-prone either end of it tends to be, but I don't have a horse in this race. I never use the toll roads here in Austin on my Spyder, and I'm usually able to use the HOV lanes on I-10 in Houston for free if I time it correctly -- and don't need them if I don't!

[canamjhb]

Sure glad I live in an area that has Freeways. Sounds too complicated for my tiny mind. Maybe if they removed the bureaucracy that deals with the tolls then you could ride/drive like we do on freeways.....?

[missouriboy]

Wonder if that's the same for the toll road around Austin?

Yes, it is. I just used that tollway in July, in my cage, no toll tag, and got the bill yesterday. Almost TWENTY BUCKS each way! (From Oklahoma City to Joplin MO is only NINE bucks, for comparison.)

[missouriboy]

So how do us damn Yankees use the system? We're passing through the Great State of Texas, planning our Border to Border ride starting up in Canada, ending in NL, then back to Rockport for a mission trip, planning on Twisted Sisters as our reward when heading back to MN.

Back when I still had Missouri plates, I hit some tollways around Ft. Worth and never did get a bill. That was around 8-10 years ago.

[TobyH]

So how do us damn Yankees use the system? We're passing through the Great State of Texas, planning our Border to Border ride starting up in Canada, ending in NL, then back to Rockport for a mission trip, planning on Twisted Sisters as our reward when heading back to MN.

This is from www.ntta.org:

ZipCash offers a pay-by-mail option at higher rates for customers who do not have a TollTag. TollTag customers receive the lowest toll rates on NTTA roads; ZipCash customers pay at least 50 percent more than TollTag users.

And:

My vehicle is registered in another state. Can I open a TollTag account with an out-of-state license plate? Or, can I add one to an existing TollTag account?
Yes. TollTag accounts are available to both in- and out-of-state customers. You can open a TollTag account or add a vehicle to an existing account via our online Customer Service Center, at a Regional TollTag Partner location, or by calling us at 972-818-6882 or 817-731-6882.

Enjoy your ride thru Texas!

[storckd61]

This is what I got when I called them.

I registered my Spyder with my existing account. They will mail me a Toll Tag. I asked where I was supposed to put it they stated it does not matter because NTTA reads license plates and then bills the toll tag it is registered to. If you don't have a Toll Tag account then they bill you - at a higher rate. No need to place the Toll Tag on the bike unless you travel out of area and hit tolls.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Last year coming home from the BRP Homecoming event I went through a toll booth in MA. They read my license plate. A few weeks later I got a bill in the mail for something like $1.50. Since there was no surcharge to use a CC I paid it with my CC. Between the postage to send me the bill and the CC processing fee they probably would have been just as well off to not bother!

[cruisinTX]

I got a notice from the NTTA a few years ago telling me I owed a fee that went on to say the fee was past due and they had submitted my license plate number to authorities for collection or something along those lines. I looked at the date I was supposed to have been on one of the toll roads. Turns out my wife and I were in Lake City, Colorado on that date. I wrote them a letter via their electronic contact mechanism to explain that. Not only did I not get a response, a few weeks later I got another notice of another violation. and additional fees that were due for non-payment of other violations. To shorten an otherwise very long story, the picture they have that they send you (of your license plate) is less than a quarter inch in size and completely illegible. After this second notice another came in with more threats and my fees & fines were approaching $600. I wrote yet another letter and got no response as I knew I had never had the particular bike in question within 200 miles of any of the roads managed by NTTA. I also called the toll free number on their notifications but was on hold for over 20 minutes and hung up. Finally a collection agency in Chicago contacted me with yet still another threating letter if I did not pay my fees and fines. When I opened that letter, my blood boiled. After calming myself a bit, I called their toll free number and got a live agent on the first try with no waiting; I was totally amazed. I explained to that person the situation and asked them to read me the plate number they had been tracking as mine. Turns out the NTTA computer system had read the K on the plate of another bike as an X making it match my number. The person in Chicago apologized and I have not heard from them since.

I shared all of that to make the point; just because they send you a notice of fees owed, don't take them at their word. They make huge mistakes relying on the computerized system and are very difficult to contact to get things corrected.

[AY4B]

I got a notice from the NTTA a few years ago telling me I owed a fee that went on to say the fee was past due and they had submitted my license plate number to authorities for collection or something along those lines. I looked at the date I was supposed to have been on one of the toll roads. Turns out my wife and I were in Lake City, Colorado on that date. I wrote them a letter via their electronic contact mechanism to explain that. Not only did I not get a response, a few weeks later I got another notice of another violation. and additional fees that were due for non-payment of other violations. To shorten an otherwise very long story, the picture they have that they send you (of your license plate) is less than a quarter inch in size and completely illegible. After this second notice another came in with more threats and my fees & fines were approaching $600. I wrote yet another letter and got no response as I knew I had never had the particular bike in question within 200 miles of any of the roads managed by NTTA. I also called the toll free number on their notifications but was on hold for over 20 minutes and hung up. Finally a collection agency in Chicago contacted me with yet still another threating letter if I did not pay my fees and fines. When I opened that letter, my blood boiled. After calming myself a bit, I called their toll free number and got a live agent on the first try with no waiting; I was totally amazed. I explained to that person the situation and asked them to read me the plate number they had been tracking as mine. Turns out the NTTA computer system had read the K on the plate of another bike as an X making it match my number. The person in Chicago apologized and I have not heard from them since.

I shared all of that to make the point; just because they send you a notice of fees owed, don't take them at their word. They make huge mistakes relying on the computerized system and are very difficult to contact to get things corrected.

I had something similar happen to me about 7 or 8 years ago. They were reading a bike in Austin as mine. I got it straightened out. This past Zipcash bill had a pic of me on my Spyder but it was very low rez. They do have a high rez version. That time 7 0r 8 years ago they emailed me the high rez version and You can easily read the lisence plate on the bug crawling across your windshield.

[AY4B]

Sure glad I live in an area that has Freeways. Sounds too complicated for my tiny mind. Maybe if they removed the bureaucracy that deals with the tolls then you could ride/drive like we do on freeways.....?

We also have Freeways but The new ones are all tollways. They are even making HOV lanes Toll lanes I guess because not too many people use them.

[2Paw]

I know there are are horror stories out there, but the only time I have had a problem with NTTA it was my own fault. The one and only time my tag failed to read and it used the plate instead, it read the plate correctly, but when I had transferred my tag online from one vehicle to the new one 2 years prior to this I had entered the plate number wrong, for for 2 years the tag and never failed to read. I fixed the problem paid the bill and as far as I know it's still working. I guess I just lucky. BTW I keeping my tag on my Spyder.

[AY4B]

I know there are are horror stories out there, but the only time I have had a problem with NTTA it was my own fault. The one and only time my tag failed to read and it used the plate instead, it read the plate correctly, but when I had transferred my tag online from one vehicle to the new one 2 years prior to this I had entered the plate number wrong, for for 2 years the tag and never failed to read. I fixed the problem paid the bill and as far as I know it's still working. I guess I just lucky. BTW I keeping my tag on my Spyder.

They did not give me the option. They just said to remove the tag that was on my ST and they will from now on just use the plate.

[2Paw]

They did not give me the option. They just said to remove the tag that was on my ST and they will from now on just use the plate.

But do you still have an accout and get charged the lower rate?

[AY4B]

But do you still have an accout and get charged the lower rate?

Yes, The cameras now read license plates on all motorcycles and if you have an account and that motorcycle is on the account and updated then you get charged the discount rate. I have a car and a truck and you still need a toll tag on those but the licence plate is the backup system for those.

[bhern]

Yes, The cameras now read license plates on all motorcycles and if you have an account and that motorcycle is on the account and updated then you get charged the discount rate. I have a car and a truck and you still need a toll tag on those but the licence plate is the backup system for those.

I'll see if the TxTag folks are doing the same. Wouldn't mind having the option, but just don't want to deal with the "special" motorcycle tag, deposit, etc. that they state is required (still).