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Sorry folks, this is a long one--but it's mostly for the spiders who search for this article.
If you ride a motorcycle, DO NOT get a SunPass Mini! The Mini is not compatible with motorcycles because of the Plexiglas windscreen. The Mini uses the glass of a car's windshield to amplify the RFID signal it exchanges with the transmitters at the plazas.
I found this out after purchasing one and affixing it to Lorelei. Here is a copy of the correspondence I had with a representative of Florida's Department of Transportation; I had originally written the state about the debacle that is 95 Express--but I'll save that for another entry. This one is more important.
Good morning Ms. Lena.
Thank you so much for your very rapid response to my concerns about 95 Express. I sincerely appreciate the time you spent responding to me, and appreciate also knowing that every once in a while, I do have a voice in my government.
Thank you also for informing me that the SunPass Mini is not compatible with my motorcycle. You have the dubious honor of being the very first person in the employ of the state of Florida to tell me so. Until I received your correspondence this morning, I hadn't the slightest notion that my new SunPass Mini was compatible with my bike.
It would have been nice to know that the SunPass Mini was not designed for motorcycles and does not work on motorcycles before I purchased one and affixed one to my BMW K1200LT's Plexiglas windscreen, threw its packaging away, and filled it with prepaid tolls. Nowhere on the packaging or in the product literature that I received with the Mini did it indicate that it is incompatible with motorcycles. Nowhere on the SunPass website does it indicate that the Mini is incompatible with motorcycles--not even while I was registering it and filling it with tolls on SunPass.com. In fact, the instruction booklet that came with the SunPass Minis that I purchased at my local Publix in Lake Worth is the same instruction booklet that comes with the hard-case transponders.
After calling the SunPass service center, I was informed that I must now remove the Mini from my motorcycle--lest it interfere with the operation of my hard-case transponder. Unfortunately, this is far more difficult than one might expect. Motorcycle screens are Plexiglas that is specially with a couple of different coatings to resist ultraviolet light, trace chemicals in "acid rain," and scratches and discoloration from dirt, bug-strikes, and other road hazards. Were I to attempt to remove the Mini, and the powerful adhesive that holds it in place, this coating would come off with it--creating a SunPass-Mini-sized hole in the coatings that would very quickly yellow, haze, and scratch as the bare Plexiglas is exposed to the elements--even though it is on the "inside" of the shield. The replacement cost of a new windshield for my BMW K1200LT is $404.87.
Had I been informed by the website on the packaging that the Mini comes in that it did not work on motorcycles, I would never even purchased one for my bike--much less installed it.
I spoke to a member of management at SunPass Customer Service explained to her what I just explained to you, and asked them to reimburse me for the shield, as well as the SunPass Mini. She was nice enough to open a case for me and it is being reviewed as I compose this. Maybe something will come of it; maybe it won't. Maybe they'll tell me to go pound sand. I'm a realist, but I'm also reasonable--I know that the folks at SunPass won't fall all over themselves to cut me a check, so I told them I'd settle for toll credits equal to that amount. But I do expect the State of Florida to make good on my shield somehow.
Despite all this, I actually consider myself fortunate. I may have only realized that my Mini was incompatible with my bike after I'd gone through the SunPass lanes a few times with it and gotten a $100 toll violation. At least now I have the opportunity to take care of this now, before I broke any laws and potentially put myself and a State Trooper at risk, pulling me over--and for that, I thank you.
If the SunPass Mini is, in fact, incompatible with motorcycles (I have not yet had the opportunity to try mine), would you please please have somebody change the packaging the Mini comes in--or at the very least have them stick a big red label on the existing packages that say "Warning--incompatible with motorcycles!" to it. A similar message should go up in equally bold type on the front page of the SunPass.com website--before more riders ruin their windscreens affixing incompatible Minis to them, go through the plazas with them, and become toll violators.
Sincerely,
[Corsair2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lena, Maribel [mailto:Maribel.Lena@dot.state.fl.us]
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 8:52 AM
Cc: Udvardy, James; Hollingsworth, Lora; Dodge, Jeffrey; Keaton, Patricia; OHagan, David; Merrell, Warren; Turnpike PIO
Subject: FW: 95 Express Toll Collection is dangerously flawed
Good Morning Mr. Pius:
Thank you for your recent comments regarding 95 Express toll exempt travel. I apologize for any misunderstanding about the SunPass Mini. In your instance, your 95 Express registered hybrid vehicle does qualify for toll exemption regardless of the number of passengers in the vehicle. I would like to share with you that we are currently exploring means to automatically handle the toll exemption within SunPass, as you suggest in your e-mail. This solution does not work for the carpoolers since we have no way of knowing how many people are in the car, and not all days would the carpooler be toll-exempt. The disabler or hard case transponder would provide the customer a choice. SunPass is coordinating with our partners, and SFCS will have the latest information regarding the correct solution for toll exempt travel on 95 Express. SFCS is tracking customer issues and will provide the correct solution for each specific situation. It is our highest priority to satisfy your needs and we value your feedback. If the solution is to utilize the hard case transponder, please be assured that there will be no additional cost to you the customer for obtaining the hard case transponder. If the solution is a disabler plate, SFCS will provide you this device (when available) with instructions at no additional cost to you. A similar type device was recently introduced in Washington State for their HOT lane project, but does not meet our needs. Again, we are currently exploring solutions for registered 95 Express hybrid users only, whereby SunPass would automatically filter customers who qualify for toll exempt travel regardless of the number of occupants in the vehicle. In regards to your motorcycle, please be aware that the SunPass Mini does not work on Motorcycles. Motorcycles do qualify for toll exemption on 95 Express. It is the customers responsibility to make sure that the hard case transponder is properly shielded. Please remove the SunPass Mini from your motorcycle and return it to the retailer for a full refund. We thank you again for your continued interest in the 95 Express project, and your patience and understanding as the project team is working towards a mutually beneficial solution for registered toll exempt travel on 95 Express. Maribel Lena Public Information Officer Florida Department of Transportation -Dixtrict Six 1000 NW 111 Avenue, Room 6134 Miami, Florida 33172 305-470-5277 office 305-470-5820 fax From: Gregory Pius [mailto:gregory@gregorypius.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:00 PM
To: fdot@dot.state.fl.us; 'Jeffrey Dodge'; 'Lora Hollingsworth'; Udvardy, James; 'Patricia Keaton'; 'David O'Hagan'; 'Warren Merrell'; turnpike.pio@dot.state.fl.us
Cc: 'Lawrence Pius'; 'Laura Pius'
Subject: 95 Express Toll Collection is dangerously flawed Dear Sirs/Madams, In my opinion, the proposed toll-collection system for 95 Express is ridiculous, ill-conceived, highly inconvenient at best, and highly irresponsible and dangerous at worst. I myself own two vehicles exempt from paying tolls on 95 Express: a 2007 Toyota Prius, and a 1999 BMW K1200LT motorcycle. Both are equipped with the new SunPass Mini--and as you are no doubt aware, being a sticker, it cannot be removed from the windshield and placed in an RF bag. The 95 Express website, www.95express.com, makes reference to a "SunPass Mini Disabler Shield" (http://95express.com/#HwhoCan); I assure you that I received no such shield in the materials that came with my SunPass Mini stickers--and after talking to a SunPass agent after calling 1-888-TOLL-FLA (and after she talked with her supervisor), I was informed that no SunPass Mini shielding device actually exists (and if it does, it's news to the folks at SunPass). Ultimately, my research led me to call the 1-800-234-RIDE number and speak to two people before I was finally able to confirm that no, a SunPass Mini shield does not exist and that I had to scrape my Mini off my windscreen and replace it with an standard electronic transponder.
In the first place, having driven on other freeway systems employing this concept of this type in Los Angeles, I can quantitatively say that the Expressway-Within-an-Expressway concept is a dangerous, ill-conceived failure. Compounded by this is the fact that a good job has not been done at all getting the word out to the driving public about 95 Express. A mailed flier should have gone out to every licensed driver in Metro-Dade and Broward county in English, Spanish, and Creole alerting them to this new driving paradigm at the Golden Glades and directing them to your 95express.com website and 800-234-RIDE numbers.
Since its introduction, there are already many accidents every day because people panic as soon as they hit the entrance to 95 Express, and completely ignore the advice of your own office to simply ride it out to the Glades--probably because they don't know that they can, thanks to the sub-par public information campaign (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbexpress0715sbjul15,0,237246.story). Once actual tolling starts occurring on 95 Express, adding to the already-dangerous melee of the uninformed will be drivers of toll-exempt vehicles saying "Oh, snap--I forgot to take the SunPass transponder down," attempting to pull it off their windshields and bag it while at freeway speeds. Drivers who forget altogether to take down their transponders will be calling the SunPass office on a regular basis for 95 Express refunds, potentially overburdening the SunPass customer-service system, and drivers who forget to un-bag their transponders and re-affix them to their windshields risk becoming toll violators--or worse, in a scramble to get their transponder back up on their windshield, cause an accident at Turnpike speeds. This is hardly the way the SunPass toll-collection system was designed to work and certainly not the way it was proposed to work. Finally, did the introduction of 95 Express have to coordinate almost precisely with the introduction of the SunPass Mini (without informing anyone that the folks with the Mini will still be charged for 95 Express even if they're in an exempt vehicle)? The agencies responsible for this debacle couldn't possibly have timed the introduction of the Mini and 95 Express any worse--and then not communicated with each other (or us) about it. Imagine, the ridiculous notion of a model, fully-automated, state-of-the-art toll-collection system having to rely upon its own users to do anything to their toll-collection equipment other than affix it to their windshields. A far more elegant toll-collection solution would be to simply record the transponder numbers of qualifying vehicles and not charge them tolls on 95 Express rather than inconveniencing the driving public--this should be easily implementable under the SunPass toll-collection system. Your toll-collection scheme, as designed, would penalize drivers for driving exempt vehicles, effectively negating a large part of the convenience of driving on 95 Express for those of us who drive exempt vehicles.
I can only hope that as 95 Express is phased in, its toll-collection will improve. Please reconsider adding a database of 95 Express-exempt transponders to the SunPass database and spare us at least that much dangerous inconvenience. It is only a matter of time before someone is killed because a hybrid owner forgot to pull their SunPass off their windshield and causes an accident doing so--it is tragic beyond words to think that a life could be irrevocably altered, or perhaps even be snuffed out, over a $2.50 toll.
Sincerely, Gregory Pius
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
561-512-5333
gregory@gregorypius.com ___________________________
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