If you have a Massachusetts E-ZPass – you won’t like what we’re about to tell you.
Hank: “Do you think drivers know this?”
John Paul, AAA: “I think for the most part, not.”
When you go through the tolls in another state, say New Hampshire, using your Mass E-ZPass transponder, it’s like you don’t even have one.
Once you cross the state line, you lose your E-ZPass discount and you pay the full cash toll.
Drive through the tolls at Rochester. If you have an E-ZPass issued in New Hampshire, you’ll pay only $2.46.
But with your Mass E-ZPass, you’re paying $3.50!
It happens at every toll in New Hampshire. Head to Concord with your Mass E-ZPass and you’ll pay two dollars. If you had a NH E-ZPass you’d only be paying $1.40.
Driver: “It’s misleading. When you buy the E-ZPass you think you’re a getting a discount.”
That’s why AAA calls it, well, we’ll let them say it:
Paul: “That’s what we call E-ZPass’ dirty little secret.”
That dirty little secret means when you drive outside the state where you got your E-ZPass you won’t always get the biggest possible discount – and you’re often paying more than lots of the other E-ZPassers on the road with you.
It happens in Maine: If you drive the length of the Maine Turnpike from York to Augusta with a Maine E-ZPass you pay $6.45
But if you have a Mass E-ZPass you pay $7.
Massachusetts drivers we found in New Hampshire, paying more than their Granite State pals, admit this discount deception gives them a little road rage.
Driver: “I had no idea.”
Driver: “It’s terrible.”
And it also happens for drivers in Massachusetts if your E-ZPass is from another state — you’re paying more here too.
And we found there’s only one way to make sure you’re paying the lowest toll: Get a different transponder for every state you drive in!
Paul: ” There needs to be a better solution to this.”
AAA says the current system is unfair. They say drivers who use the same highways and bridges and pay the same way, should be charged the same amount. They’re now calling for an immediate review by the US Department of Transportation.
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