Houston EZ Pass Question
 

I am going to be in Houston for a week. I have meetings that will take me between the West Loop (I-610) and Katy. I would very much like to take the Westpark Tollway back and forth, but I note on the TX highways website that the road is "EZ Pass Only." No coin/dollar toll booths or toll takers.

Here's my question --- is there any "temporary" EZ pass solution? If I go to one of the EZ Pass stores, can I get an EZ pass right then that can be used for a week or so and then returned? Is there any other solution?

Thanks for any advice you can give. Casimir.

My quick answer, I don't think so. Then again, you have to figure if it's worth your time going through the motions getting the tag (they're "EZ Tag"s). You can find more information at www.eztagstore.com.

If you rent a car from Hertz, they have an agreement that'll let you use the toll roads and Hertz will bill you. They caught up to me for a rental I had when my wife's vehicle was being repaired from an accident.

Thanks for the quick reply Duhey2 ^ . I will be renting from Hertz, and a little research yields that the name of the program is PlatePass and all Hertz, Avis and Budget cars are automatically enrolled in it.

The cameras on the Houston toll roads take a picture of the rental car's plate. The plate is then matched to the car's plate in their database. The rental car companies register all of their cars' plates with this database. Having matched the plate to the database, the toll charge is matched to the car, which in turn is matched to your rental agreement. Then, the charges are automatically billed on the credit card you use to rent the car.

Very clever; it allows you to pay cash for tolls if you wish, but to use fast lanes if you wish without stopping. The only downside is that apparently the lights flash when you go through the fast lane as if you were beating the toll charges.

I don't wish to belabor this but -- does anyone know if PlatePass works for the entire Westpark Tollway, including the part in Fort Bend County??? I assume it does as the Houston tollway authority administers Ft. Bend's roads, but does anyone know for sure?????

The front page of Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority's web site says "Call HCTRA [Harris County Toll Road Authority] at 832-601-7802 with questions about toll road violations." I suggest calling them and if they don't know call a local Hertz office (either one of the airport locations or a HLE location). Someone should be able to answer, and I'm sure the good people of Flyertalk would like to know the answer too! :)