Wow! You’ve been driving exclusively on small roads and goat trails in Florida for 30 years! I remember the old computer card toll system. The computer card system must have gone away many decades ago! The manned toll booths are gone or going away, just like the street corner telephone booths!
It’s a no brainer to get a SunPass toll transponder. I hate the new ugly bright green SunPass design. I wish they still sold the less loud colored SunPass mini transponders.
You get a discount on the tolls using the SunPass. For example, the Sunshine Skybridge that connects St Petersburg to the south costs $1.50 cash, but only $1.07 with the SunPass. I don’t know if the EZ pass offers the same discount.
Once in awhile, there are miles of cars lined up to pay the cash tolls on the Sunshine Skybridge. You can avoid the hassles of waiting in line in the cash lanes. Avoid the hassles of carrying a pile of coins in your car, and get a discount on the tolls. Plus you can avoid being charged the administration fee. So, it’s a no brainer to get the toll transponder. But I still see tons of cars in the cash lanes. Some people never learn!
We’re averaging a little under $10 a month in tolls. If we lived in the Orlando area, it would probably be at least $100 a month, because Orlando has so many toll roads. We opened the SunPass account with about $30, and later added $100. It’s a lot less hassle to add $100, since the balance will last a long time, on the roads we normally travel.
I suggest if you can’t figure out how to setup your SunPass online account or SunPass toll transponder, then find a tech savvy person to help you get started. Then start the SunPass account with $100, to make the balance last longer. You can also periodically check your balance on your smart cellphone or computer. You’ll get a reminder email when your balance gets low.
We drove through southern Illinois a couple months ago. The manned toll booths were there on the trip up north, but gone on the trip back south. It’s the sign of the times. But the brain dead State of Illinois government didn’t bother to put their Internet URL address on their signs, to pay the toll online. But a quick search found the State of Illinois toll payment website, which made up for the lack of intelligence from the State of Illinois government people in charge of the toll system, which failed to post the website payment Internet address on the signs around the toll plaza.
After you get setup with the SunPass system, you’ll have less hassles in your life, and you’ll save some of your hard earned money.
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