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Tracking The Trends
Toll
What invoicing
method works best
for your fleet?
CONTROL
By Cliff Abbott
There’s no question that technology has changed
the trucking industry in numerous ways, including
payment methods for toll roads and bridges. Gone
are the days when drivers carried enough cash for
weeks of toll payments. These days, it’s as simple as driving
under a toll gantry — usually without even slowing from
highway speeds.
Two primary types of open road tolling are used by tolling
authorities, RFID (radio frequency identification) and toll by
plate.
By far, the most popular tolling option for carriers is RFID.
A transponder unit is required for each vehicle, which communicates
with an RFID reader installed at the tolling location.
However, the purchase and installation of the transponders
can cost more than some carriers are willing to pay.
Tolling by plate requires less of an initial investment because
transponders aren’t needed. However, tolling costs
can be considerably higher and billing errors more frequent.
Smaller carriers whose drivers don’t frequently encounter
tolling situations, sometimes choose this route.
Toll management systems like Bestpass, PrePass, and
E-ZPass are helping fleet operators untangle the confusion
of working with different tolling authorities, and saving companies
money at the same time.
“We’ve been involved with Bestpass since it started as
the New York State Trucking Association toll on discount
program. So, we’re longtime members,” said Ken Johnson,
executive chairman of Farmington, New York-based Leonard’s
Express. “The best part about it is its simplicity over
having to deal with each state individually.”
Luis Guzman, CFO for PGT Trucking, based in Aliquippa,
Pennsylvania, expressed similar sentiments.
“We use PrePass for all our tolling and for weigh stations,”
Guzman said. “At PGT Trucking, we are 50% company-
owned trucks and 50% owner-operators. We have
transponders in our company trucks, and then we also offer
them to our owner-operators.”
According to Michael DeMateo, PGT’s supervisor of
driver support services, says the carrier currently has 800
transponders.
“One thing that’s good about PrePass is that we have special
reporting that allows us to see whenever, for example,
we run the course of a full toll which is a significant amount
of money, and we usually almost never do that,” DeMateo
said. “They dispute those for us. It would require a lot of
work to try to catch that stuff.”
Since toll gantries are usually equipped with photographic
equipment and RFID readers, occasionally errors are made
in which a truck owner is billed once through the transponder
and then again through the plate number. Carriers have
even received one invoice for a tractor’s plate, another for
the trailer’s plate, and a third for the transponder. Thankfully,
those instances are rare. Occasionally, a plate reader
will misread a digit in the plate number and automatically
18 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024