-All motorists who would be using the new I-85 HOT lanes (pricing per mile to be variable with congestion levels) would be required to set up either a "tolled" or "non-tolled" account with SRTA. That answers my question regarding tracking vehicles with 3 or more occupants (including driver) vs. vehicles with "driver only" and "driver plus one passenger". Registration and "refills" would be handled via the Web, telephone, or visiting offices or stores selling the cards (initially dubbed "PeachPass").
Currently, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise sells their SunPass readers (stickers and transponders) via authorized third-party vendors such as CVS and Publix (I purchased our SunPass unit at a Lakeland-area Publix) with actual registration and "refills" of said units done either via the Web or telephone. I would think that SRTA would do good to allow such establishments to sell their "PeachPass" units.
-The new HOT lanes would have no physical access control points (i.e. toll plaza gates or barriers), but the system will have 37 transponder readers spaced at intervals along the HOT lanes.
As for enforcement, I am assuming that there will be cameras to take license plate photos of any vehicles where no transponder is detected (similar to Georgia's current Cruise Card system on the GA 400 tollway).
I still have one question, however...
As a current Cruise Card holder (my wife and I have their stickers in each of our vehicles), will I be required to purchase a separate "PeachPass" sticker for use of the I-85 HOT lanes?
I do not have any hard statistics on the number of vehicles possessing Cruise Cards, but nonetheless, it would not make a bit of sense to me to purchase an additional "PeachPass" card.... especially since it is TransCore's (the current vendor whose systems are used on the GA 400 tollway) technology. In this particular case, I would urge SRTA to "grandfather" the Cruise Cards into not only the I-85 HOT system, but also into the GA 400 tollway (assuming SRTA will "upgrade" its current system to the newer TransCore application) and any future toll facilities they decide to build in Georgia (though I don't advocate the long-term imposition of tolls).
9/23/2009 4:54 PMBryant wrote:
So the HOT/HOV lanes aren't going to be modified, to be physically separated from the regular through traffic lanes? Reply to this
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