MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

The Dolphin just went with tolls going west (towards the airport). Not sure about the Airport Expressway (Rte 112). The rental car companies usually charge you a fee onto of the toll by plate charges. The toll by plate charges can be quite high, for example $2.25 for going across to Key Biscayne.

Recently with my car in the shop I did a rental from Enterprise. They do strictly toll by plate, they do not provide a scanner for rent. The charge to me was over $50 for what could not have been more than $15 in actual toll charges.

iahphx

Yeah, I think I noticed that, too. I haven't gotten a final bill from the rental car agency (do they even send an itemization?). When I lived in Miami -- like 20 years ago -- there was only one toll on the Dolphin. It was 25 cents, heading eastbound in the 20s. Now it seems the whole road is tolled, and it's not cheap with toll-by-plate. I didn't realize this, and got hit going from Red Road to LeJeune (what is that, a mile?) and, of course, had to pay an extra day's user fee.

Bad stuff. I'm surprised there's not more on the web about this. I guess travelers don't really understand what's going on.

Need

I just got my toll bill from Avis at Oralando. I don't see the toll by plate bill was any higher than the Sunpass bill or the cash payment? I remember seeing the signs on the toll road as $1.00 and $1.25, and that was what I was billed. Unless there was cash discounts not posted on the freeway toll sign? I actually paid more on the $3.95 epay convenience fee per day than the actual toll charges. BTW, the $3.95 per day was charged on everyday of the rental period not just one day that the toll road was used.

iahphx

Interesting. Is it possible that Orlando isn't doubling the tolls for toll-by-plate like Miami is? In Miami, as you pass the toll there's a sign that gives the Sunpass rate and also the toll-by plate rate (which is generally 2x).

As far as Avis charging you for every day of the rental, when I look at the published rules, that could be true for certain rentals -- making Avis/Budget a potentially worse deal than National/Alamo. National's language says you pay "$3.95 fee per USAGE DAY (24 hr. interval) that customer incurs tolls, plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)." Avis says you pay "$3.95 fee per RENTAL DAY plus tolls (at posted cash/TOLL-BY-PLATE rates)." but they also limit it to "$16.75 maximum fee per rental month."

National, btw, also has a cap, but it's higher: "$19.75 maximum fee per rental period."

Choose your rip-off, I guess. And there's no way a typical renter is possibly going to understand what they're getting hit up for.

djk7

Sunpass users can get a 5 or 10% discount from the posted rates if they have enough transactions (40 or 80) a month. Otherwise AFAIK, the toll agency charges the same no matter the payment type.

iahphx

Well, that's somewhat "cold comfort" given that tourists still get hit up for the hefty daily use fees, but does this mean that Dade County is unique in also jacking up the tolls for non-Sunpass users (aka tourists)?

I would think there was a single state authority setting the rules for these tolls. No?

Need

Ah I see. Even though the tolls were not bad, on my 3 days rental, I still pay more in tolls + daily fee than paying for gas. It doesn't help when I got to MCO and forgot to fill up the rental. So I got back to the freeway... another $1.25... get out to get gas... back to freeway to MCO.. another $1.25. So I paid the $1.25 3 times to return the car to MCO.

djk7

Not yet anyway. There is an Orange/Osceola County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) that manages most of the toll roads in the Orlando area. Some of the roads (ex SR-417) extend north into Seminole county, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise (i.e. the state)(FTE) manages those parts of the toll roads, but keeps them pretty much in sync with OOCEA policies. The OOCEA had a toll pass system (EPASS) before most of the rest of the state, but FTE introduced their own incompatible system (Sunpass) and strong armed OOCEA into switching technologies over, even though OOCEA still handles the billing and such for their customer base. Of course, messy local politics aren't unique to Florida.

djk7

Just saw in the news, talk is starting about make Orlando area tolls totally electronic:
http://www.mynews13.com/content/news...nsportati.html

iahphx

Hopefully, Orlando will be more image-conscious and not opt to simply fleece the tourists with this -- a la Miami.

Still, electronic tolls seem like the worst development for rental car customers since electronic speed monitoring and cameras.

LowlyDLsilver

In the case of the plaza they removed in Tampa - there physically wasn't enough room to put in express lanes at Linebaugh given there was a left exit, the Sunpass lanes in the middle, and cash lanes on the right. Further north the plazas they didn't get rid of have them.

It does suck for visitors, no doubt.

jrlevine

If you really really hate paying tolls to your rental company, go to http://www.sunpass.com and get your own transponder for $20, which lets you pay the regular toll rate whenever you're in Florida. It has suction cups and is intended to be moved from car to car, and it lasts indefinitely. That's what I do.

Manned toll booths are going away everywhere -- now that license plate recognition works reasonably well, even if they don't collect all the revenue from out of state plates, it's still vastly cheaper than paying people to collect quarters. The newish 407 highway in Toronto has no booths at all, just overhead gantries, and they send you a bill later if you don't have a transponder, even if you live in the U.S.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Most tourists wouldn't know about Toll By Plate until they pick up a rental car. I have to say Florida is getting a little out of hand on the tolls. There is now a toll on the Dolphin going East and its not cheap. A couple days ago I got on at 12th St and essentially you just cross right over 836 to the left exit to 95. That tiny stretch of highway had a toll of 30 cents. Better to SW8th all the way down to 95 from Coral Gables instead.

iahphx

Does it work? My understanding is that in Florida, unlike other places (like the Golden Gate Bridge in SFO) you are not allowed to use your own Sunpass transponder in a rental vehicle -- you will be charged anyway.

BamaVol

Go to the website and see if you can figure it out. There's something in there about a start and stop date. Maybe you have to enter the specific rental car data every time you rent.

Based on this thread, I decided to open a sunpass account and buy a transponder. We don't get far enough south to need one often, but I'm getting tired of Mrs BamaVol coming home with a couple envelopes every time she visits her Dad in Leesburg. The Tpke exit there is unmanned and she never has change. To get the transponder and account, I had to enter data for both family vehicles, so it is definitely transferrable.

No matter what, don't buy the $5 sticker. That one is definitely not portable.