If you have Onstar and Pikepass

[heironymouspasparagus]

Roads are paid for by our gasoline taxes not income tax. Texas has NO Income Tax- and Texas has  fine roads. Texas even has no sales tax on food items is it any wonder why Texas is growing so fast. Mary Fallin needs to cut taxes a lot more.

You obviously have not been to Texas lately.  I just drove to Dallas when Duncan arrived with Ebola....the first 4 miles inside their border on I-35 is great!  Then it becomes just another raggedy-a$$ road.  And the construction IN Dallas - that has been going on since 1968 - will make a nice set of roads...  if they ever get them done.

Overall, Texas roads are better than Oklahoma.  But not anything like you would want people to believe.

Think your fragile mental state can stand a little more road reality??  Let's see, shall we...??

We are taxed for roads to the tune of OVER $1.2 billion each year.  We have spent about $200 million per year of that money on actual roads!  We spent more in 1985 on roads than we did as recently as 2004.  During the administrations of Nigh, Bellmon, Walters, and Keating.  A stellar bunch of Governors if there ever was one!  THEN, when Brad Henry became Governor he made transportation a priority and put pressure on the legislature to spend more of the road tax money on roads!   We increased to $300 million...then 400, then as high as about $600 million in fiscal 2011.  Almost half the road taxes going to roads!!  Wow!!

During that 30 year time, traffic increased by more than 50%.

But then, you remember what happened in 2011, don't you?  We elected Mary Failin'.....and road funding promptly was cut to $490 million.  That is the reality of your good buddy, Failin'.  The reality that escapes you on so many levels is that Brad Henry actually was the administration that implemented another plan you try to credit Failin' with....good job, sauer...have another drink!!

So, to summarize - you are clueless....Failin' fails again!  She is right up there with Jim Inhofe for being bad for Oklahoma!!

We have improved the roads in the state - and we are ONLY 30+ years behind in doing it!!  Wouldn't it have been nice if Failin' had continued with improving situations rather than making them worse??



And just to put the cherry on top of the sundae, Oklahoma is apparently the only state - putting us #1 in another bad category - that does not match Federal road funds with state funds!  Yay, team...!!  (Sarcasm, in case anyone missed that.)

[sauerkraut]

You obviously have not been to Texas lately.  I just drove to Dallas when Duncan arrived with Ebola....the first 4 miles inside their border on I-35 is great!  Then it becomes just another raggedy-a$$ road.  And the construction IN Dallas - that has been going on since 1968 - will make a nice set of roads...  if they ever get them done.

Overall, Texas roads are better than Oklahoma.  But not anything like you would want people to believe.

Think your fragile mental state can stand a little more road reality??  Let's see, shall we...??

We are taxed for roads to the tune of OVER $1.2 billion each year.  We have spent about $200 million per year of that money on actual roads!  We spent more in 1985 on roads than we did as recently as 2004.  During the administrations of Nigh, Bellmon, Walters, and Keating.  A stellar bunch of Governors if there ever was one!  THEN, when Brad Henry became Governor he made transportation a priority and put pressure on the legislature to spend more of the road tax money on roads!   We increased to $300 million...then 400, then as high as about $600 million in fiscal 2011.  Almost half the road taxes going to roads!!  Wow!!

During that 30 year time, traffic increased by more than 50%.

But then, you remember what happened in 2011, don't you?  We elected Mary Failin'.....and road funding promptly was cut to $490 million.  That is the reality of your good buddy, Failin'.  The reality that escapes you on so many levels is that Brad Henry actually was the administration that implemented another plan you try to credit Failin' with....good job, sauer...have another drink!!

So, to summarize - you are clueless....Failin' fails again!  She is right up there with Jim Inhofe for being bad for Oklahoma!!

We have improved the roads in the state - and we are ONLY 30+ years behind in doing it!!  Wouldn't it have been nice if Failin' had continued with improving situations rather than making them worse??



And just to put the cherry on top of the sundae, Oklahoma is apparently the only state - putting us #1 in another bad category - that does not match Federal road funds with state funds!  Yay, team...!!  (Sarcasm, in case anyone missed that.)

Inhofe & Mary Fallin are good for Oklahoma. I take issue with some of those numbers.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Inhofe & Mary Fallin are good for Oklahoma. I take issue with some of those numbers.

I'm sure you do.  Reality is tough for some people.

[patric]

A 22-year-old Philadelphia woman, whose abduction off the street Sunday was captured on surveillance video, was back with her parents Thursday.
Her resistance started almost immediately as she kicked out two windows on her abductor's car after she was dragged off a brightly-lit street Sunday night three blocks from her home in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood.

A critical element of the case fell into place when police found that the suspect's car was equipped with a GPS device that had been attached by a car dealer who feared it might need to be repossessed because of the owner's bad credit report, the Inquirer said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/06/philadelphia-nurse-video-abduction-gps--rescue-maryland/18584483/

[sauerkraut]

The streets around metro Detroit are really the pits, like driving on the moon. The I-275 Loop around Detroit is really bad. The big issue there is road salt and the colder winters they have been getting in Michigan are hard on the roads and streets.  Michigan has been getting record cold winters for the past few years.. Texas is growing so fast they can't build  new roads fast enough and still keep up repairs on the current roads. I-35W is pretty bad north of Fort Worth - or it was the last time I drove it about a year ago.

[heironymouspasparagus]

The streets around metro Detroit are really the pits, like driving on the moon. The I-275 Loop around Detroit is really bad. The big issue there is road salt and the colder winters they have been getting in Michigan are hard on the roads and streets.  Michigan has been getting record cold winters for the past few years.. Texas is growing so fast they can't build  new roads fast enough and still keep up repairs on the current roads. I-35W is pretty bad north of Fort Worth - or it was the last time I drove it about a year ago.

Whew!  Where to even start...well, let's go to Michigan, shall we?  As for their temperatures - they are among the states that have the highest increases in average temperature, so it is getting warmer there, too.  Another place you never visit, I'm guessing....

http://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/heat-is-on/HeatIsOnReport.pdf


But, but, but,....what happened to the "perfection" of Texas...??  They don't have a state income tax, so how can roads possibly be bad??   They can't if what you say is true.... so, obviously you are even admitting to yourself - at least privately, and now publicly with that comment - that you are wrong about Texas....the lack of an income tax is irrelevant to their growth.

Especially, since their overall tax burden is higher than Oklahoma in great part due to property taxes!

I-35 has been "under construction" since the 60's.  It is the EverlastingGobbStopper of road projects!  It is even worse than the Oklahoma Transportation Authority and their Turner Turnpike nonsense!

[Vashta Nerada]

Makes sense.  I dont intend on abandoning my PikePass account, but it's interesting the system can and does work without the stickers.
About the only reason to have the RFID might be to prove to a LEO that at one time you had an account.   

Glenda Recess's license plate was stolen off an old car she used to own and now she is facing threats from the Turnpike Authority and the state to pay tolls for trips she's never taken.   
She's been asked to pay upwards of $175 in unpaid tolls. Recess told FOX23 that the state has threatened to take her license away.

http://www.fox23.com/news/news/local/stolen-license-plate-leads-unpaid-tolls-tulsa-woma/nmGJC/

[patric]

OnStar app hacked.

http://www.cnet.com/au/news/ownstar-onstar-hack/

[patric]

Given what we know about the transponder decals, they shouldnt work unless they are attached to a windshield (thereby completing a capacitive circuit) but this story implies otherwise.  Maybe they were actually referring to the Pikepasses that attach with Velcro?

Some Pikepass customers charged by mistake

We take steps to try to prevent it. It's in a hard plastic case. But every now and then, an anomaly happens. We don't know why it happens. We can't explain why it happens. But, every now and then, one will, for some reason, read in transit in the mail carrier."

Some Pikepass customers who got their new sticker tags in the mail have been charged by mistake, The Oklahoman has learned.
"I was annoyed," said one customer, Doug Potts, who was charged $9.95 for tolls in Oklahoma early Sept. 23 while he was in Wisconsin.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority credited his account for the error when he called to complain.

He said he was told his sticker tag probably was read by the system while en route to him in a postal truck.
He questioned why he was not mailed the sticker tag in a metalized bag and how many times this has happened to other customers.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority insists the instances are extremely low.
"We really don't see this a whole heck of a lot. So, this is really rare," said Jack Damrill, director of communications for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
"We take steps to try to prevent it," he said. "It's in a hard plastic case. But every now and then, an anomaly happens.

"We don't know why it happens. We can't explain why it happens. But, every now and then, one will, for some reason, read in transit in the mail carrier."
He said the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority issues around 420,000 new Pikepasses every year, about half through the mail.
"We probably take care of ... less than 15 customers a year when something like this happens," Damrill said. "So it's an extremely low number considering the number of Pikepasses we issue in a year."

Damrill, however, did acknowledge that the only instances the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority knows about are from customer calls.
Potts only found out by happenstance.
Potts is the owner of a Dallas-based business that services the music industry.
He has a Pikepass because he travels through Oklahoma on his way to and from Wisconsin, where he spends his summers.

He saw he had been charged in error when he went online to look for an alternate place to put the sticker tag on his new SUV so it wouldn't be in the way of a safety feature involving a camera.
"I wouldn't have known," he said.
Potts said he was annoyed at the time he had to spend correcting the mistake.
"I also was annoyed that the person I talked to didn't seem like this was a big problem," he said.
He called the mistake another example of governmental incompetence.
"You know, if this was a private business, they would have been in real trouble by now," he said.

[Hoss]

Given what we know about the transponder decals, they shouldnt work unless they are attached to a windshield (thereby competing a capacitive circuit) but this story implies otherwise.  Maybe they were actually referring to the Pikepasses that attach with Velcro?

Some Pikepass customers charged by mistake

We take steps to try to prevent it. It's in a hard plastic case. But every now and then, an anomaly happens. We don't know why it happens. We can't explain why it happens. But, every now and then, one will, for some reason, read in transit in the mail carrier."

Some Pikepass customers who got their new sticker tags in the mail have been charged by mistake, The Oklahoman has learned.
"I was annoyed," said one customer, Doug Potts, who was charged $9.95 for tolls in Oklahoma early Sept. 23 while he was in Wisconsin.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority credited his account for the error when he called to complain.

He said he was told his sticker tag probably was read by the system while en route to him in a postal truck.
He questioned why he was not mailed the sticker tag in a metalized bag and how many times this has happened to other customers.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority insists the instances are extremely low.
"We really don't see this a whole heck of a lot. So, this is really rare," said Jack Damrill, director of communications for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
"We take steps to try to prevent it," he said. "It's in a hard plastic case. But every now and then, an anomaly happens.

"We don't know why it happens. We can't explain why it happens. But, every now and then, one will, for some reason, read in transit in the mail carrier."
He said the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority issues around 420,000 new Pikepasses every year, about half through the mail.
"We probably take care of ... less than 15 customers a year when something like this happens," Damrill said. "So it's an extremely low number considering the number of Pikepasses we issue in a year."

Damrill, however, did acknowledge that the only instances the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority knows about are from customer calls.
Potts only found out by happenstance.
Potts is the owner of a Dallas-based business that services the music industry.
He has a Pikepass because he travels through Oklahoma on his way to and from Wisconsin, where he spends his summers.

He saw he had been charged in error when he went online to look for an alternate place to put the sticker tag on his new SUV so it wouldn't be in the way of a safety feature involving a camera.
"I wouldn't have known," he said.
Potts said he was annoyed at the time he had to spend correcting the mistake.
"I also was annoyed that the person I talked to didn't seem like this was a big problem," he said.
He called the mistake another example of governmental incompetence.
"You know, if this was a private business, they would have been in real trouble by now," he said.

Having had mine for about six years now (the ones that adhere directly to the glass), are they being made smaller now?  I noticed one yesterday while I was out that appeared to be barely a half inch tall.  Same width though.

[Red Arrow]

Given what we know about the transponder decals, they shouldnt work unless they are attached to a windshield (thereby competing a capacitive circuit) but this story implies otherwise.  Maybe they were actually referring to the Pikepasses that attach with Velcro?

I have a couple of "portable" passes that attach with suction cups.  I occasionally haul a trailer.  So far,  haven't had a billing problem.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I have a couple of "portable" passes that attach with suction cups.  I occasionally haul a trailer.  So far,  haven't had a billing problem.

When we got ours, they told us how to shield it to avoid the charge - basically put it in the glove compartment.  I would probably wrap a shield around it - aluminum foil or copper.   (Have only used the portable one a couple of times and it worked fine.)

I drag a trailer quite a bit and it is easiest for me to just drive slowly through the regular pay gate and they make note as you go through of the extra axles...have to slow down, but don't have to mess with any special passes.

[rebound]

Given what we know about the transponder decals, they shouldnt work unless they are attached to a windshield (thereby completing a capacitive circuit) but this story implies otherwise.  Maybe they were actually referring to the Pikepasses that attach with Velcro?

I haven't looked into the specifics of the toll tags, but in general a passive RFID tag (that's what the new toll tags are) doesn't have to be affixed to anything to work. The new tags don't don't do anything besides modify and "bounce" the incoming signal back to the reader telling the reader the serial number (and therefore the car ID) of the tag.  They are readable at the point of manufacture.  I am surprised though, that these passive tags were read inside a metal delivery vehicle.   Generally, they need a direct shot to the reader.

And yes, the new tags are smaller.  Same width, but narrower top to bottom.  Just got a new one for my son, and it is the new smaller format.  I assume this is due to a redesign of the antenna in the card.  The antenna takes up most of the area of the card, and a smaller antenna makes for a smaller card.  The actual memory piece is only a very tiny "dot", usually in the middle of the card.

[patric]

I haven't looked into the specifics of the toll tags, but in general a passive RFID tag (that's what the new toll tags are) doesn't have to be affixed to anything to work.

If thats the case then theres really no functional need to "permanently" apply it to your windshield. Just use a piece of tape or just leave it on the dash if you plan on moving it from vehicle to vehicle.
Anyone tried that?

[rebound]

If thats the case then theres really no functional need to "permanently" apply it to your windshield. Just use a piece of tape or just leave it on the dash if you plan on moving it from vehicle to vehicle.
Anyone tried that?

That's true, and I thought about doing that.  I was going to use a piece of hard plastic, affix the tag to it, and then use velcro to attach the plastic piece to the car.  (The tags are a bit fragile and do need to be affixed to hard surface or the antenna will eventually break.) That way I could move the tag from car to car, and also take it down if I didn't want to use it.  But now they take a picture of your plate every pass and compare it to your tag, and the tag is supposed to be car-specific so I decided not too.   

I don't think the earliest tags (the big plastic boxes) were car-specific.  When I lived in Dallas years ago, we swapped out toll tags all the time.   And if simply collecting a toll was all that mattered, they wouldn't care now, either.  But as has been noted, they now use these tags to track the car as well, and so have put the kibosh on all of that...