"Please Note: Beginning July 1st 2015, users who have not used their Flex transponder for HOV transactions on Express Lanes for any prior six month period will be required to exchange their Flex transponder for a standard transponder (at no cost) or be subject to a one-time transponder functionality upgrade fee of $10. This only applies to transponders issued after October 1st 2014."

http://www.ezpassva.com/StaticPages/FAQ.aspx#four

Read #2 under the FAQ

So just use it once in a six-month period in HOV mode and you won't have a problem. Or don't get a Flex if you're not likely to take an HOV-3 trip that often (really, if you might take only one HOV trip in a six-month period, the toll you'd pay with a standard transponder is minimal in the overall scheme of things).

So, basically the HOV lanes aren't really free for carpoolers like they have been telling us all along.

jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, basically the HOV lanes aren't really free for
> carpoolers like they have been telling us all
> along.

Oops nm, read too fast. Read it as tolled transactions not HOV transactions. ....still sucks about the fee tho.

jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, basically the HOV lanes aren't really free for
> carpoolers like they have been telling us all
> along.


Yes. They will charge you!

spics and niggers dont pay:

1) city smart cops work the "pay route" and are biggots

2) DC hands out free passes to "under privelaged minorities"

meaning your a nigger or a foreigner going to obama to get some of that 9x the cash he counterfeiting

that's always been how DC METRO and things have been: free tickets for niggers

why would you think EZPASS would be any different ?

fooling no one

"users who have not used their Flex transponder for HOV transactions on Express Lanes" What constitutes a 'transaction'? Does using the HOV as HOV count or does it have to be a monetary transaction?

The flex transponder is free for actual hov drivers. If you don't use the hov feature at least once in six months you shouldn't get it free. They're just trying to make sure people who aren't hov drivers don't get the flex version to game the system.

If they aren't using the HOV mode for a while, e.g. while deployed overseas, how are they "gaming the system?" Looks like an end run around Virginia's law preventing fees for E-ZPass that went into effect last year.

ffx steve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The flex transponder is free for actual hov
> drivers. If you don't use the hov feature at least
> once in six months you shouldn't get it free.
> They're just trying to make sure people who aren't
> hov drivers don't get the flex version to game the
> system.

What a ridiculous straw man argument. Requiring people who get the flex device to actually use it in HOV mode within six months or pay a one time $10 fee is discriminating against our troops serving oversees? The flex device was created for the sole purpose of allowing HOV drivers to use the E-Z pass lanes. If you aren't using it in HOV mode then why would you want it anyway. If you have no intention of using it then return it or exchange it for a regular model.

^ +1 Bunch of whiners.

Why isn't the ez flex the standard? Why are there 2 different kinds of devices, especially if car pooling is encouraged?

Seriously, not being sarcastic, would like to know.

ffx steve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The flex transponder is free for actual hov
> drivers. If you don't use the hov feature at least
> once in six months you shouldn't get it free.

What is "gaming the system" in this case? Who says you shouldn't have that feature on it if you rarely use it?

That's like saying grandma, who has a smartphone but never leaves the house, should be forced to turn it in for an old flip phone because her smartphone has GPS and she never uses it.

And none of what we are talking about is "free"... if any state employee has a role in construction or oversight of the roads or the program, Virginia taxpayers have money in it.

I agree. Got a flex for car-pool situation and was re-assigned. Now got either pay a fee or get a regular one. An inconvenience either way.

What constitutes a 'transaction' Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "users who have not used their Flex transponder
> for HOV transactions on Express Lanes" What
> constitutes a 'transaction'? Does using the HOV
> as HOV count or does it have to be a monetary
> transaction?

You're overthinking it. An HOV transaction means you used your E-ZPass Flex device on either I-495 or I-95 in Virginia's express lanes with the switch in "HOV mode." The system charges a $0.00 toll to your account when you do that.

Regarding the question from "Hdhdhehr" as to why the Flex is not the standard transponder, there are only two E-ZPass facilities where the Flex provides any functionality beyond a standard E-ZPass: the express lanes on Virginia's portions of I-495 and I-95. Everywhere else, the Flex works just like a standard E-ZPass regardless of the HOV switch's position (that is, for example, if you drive on the Beltway express lanes in HOV mode and then you head out the Dulles Toll Road to Reston, you don't have to bother flipping the switch before you hit the DTR toll plaza near Tysons, and you will still be charged the regular DTR toll). But the E-ZPass Flex costs a bit more to manufacture and for the issuing agencies to obtain, so there's no reason for it to become the standard device. The odds of someone who lives in Maine needing an E-ZPass Flex for more than one or two trips a year through Virginia are pretty slim, for example. Virginia and Maryland are the only states issuing the Flex device.

(Regardless of the potential for a $10 fee, Virginia's system is still friendlier to drivers than the high-occupancy/toll lanes in Miami on I-95 and I-595. They require a SunPass transponder, but they do not offer a switchable transponder like the E-ZPass Flex. Instead, you have to "register" your carpool to get free access. That doesn't give you the option of driving solo and just paying the toll if you have special circumstances one day. Virginia's system lets you do that. E-ZPass doesn't work on Florida toll roads, BTW.)

Interesting info 1995hoo. Thanks.

^^^ I do not trust any info a 'hoo' would provide. Doesn't UVa officially condone gang rape? Read an article on that a few weeks ago in Rolling Stone.

GMU'19 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ^^^ I do not trust any info a 'hoo' would provide.
> Doesn't UVa officially condone gang rape? Read
> an article on that a few weeks ago in Rolling
> Stone.

If you're dumb enough to believe an article that's been proven to be a hoax, that's your decision. If you then rely on your delusions to refuse to believe a comment on a traffic-related issue that has nothing to do with the Rolling Stone hoax, then you're just plain stupid.

ffx steve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The flex transponder is free for actual hov
> drivers. If you don't use the hov feature at least
> once in six months you shouldn't get it free.
> They're just trying to make sure people who aren't
> hov drivers don't get the flex version to game the
> system.

How is not using the HOV feature in 6 months 'gaming the system?' Your argument is absurd as anyone NOT using the feature is not by definition gaming anything - they arent using the HOV. What a stupid reply.

Its a defacto fee for people attempting to use the HOV ('free') feature of the hot lanes - that means its not free. 1. anyone wishing to use HOT lanes for 'free' must have a FLEX Transponder. 2. Trading in a FLEX transponder for a regular transponder renders use of the HOT lanes as HOV lanes forfeit. 3. Anyone not using the 'free service' must either pay a fee (hence not free) or forfeit any future free use.

HOT lanes are not free. They were never really intended to be HOV lanes that was a ruse. We have all been tricked.

What about grandma that uses the FLEX once a year? She's getting charged either way. 1. for not having a FLEX or 2. for not using it once every 6 months.

FLEX should be FREE, even if grandma uses it once a year. Carpooling helps the environment and reduces traffic!

This is a transsuburban work around to still charging the FEE. That was suppose to be FREE.

infrequentflexuser Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree. Got a flex for car-pool situation and
> was re-assigned. Now got either pay a fee or get
> a regular one. An inconvenience either way.

Inconvenience? Poor baby! Let me see if I can get Sally Strothers to come over here and tear up for you...

spending a billion plus instead of fixing other road issues in NoVa was a GREATIDEA!!!11!!!!

KVpmL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HOT lanes are not free. They were never really
> intended to be HOV lanes that was a ruse. We have
> all been tricked.

No, just the really stupid people, of which there appear to be several.

Bbbut Dems in NoVa said... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spending a billion plus instead of fixing other
> road issues in NoVa was a GREATIDEA!!!11!!!!

Governor "Jailbird Bob" McDonnell announced the advancement of the 95 Express Lanes project that will run from Garrisonville Road in Stafford County to Edsall Road in Fairfax County on December 6, 2011.

if you forget to use Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about grandma that uses the FLEX once a year?
> She's getting charged either way. 1. for not
> having a FLEX or 2. for not using it once every 6
> months.
>
> FLEX should be FREE, even if grandma uses it once
> a year. Carpooling helps the environment and
> reduces traffic!
>
> This is a transsuburban work around to still
> charging the FEE. That was suppose to be FREE.

The fee is charged by VDOT, not Transurban, since it's VDOT that issues the E-ZPass transponder (regular or Flex).

There are the other toll roads in va that do not have hov option so to get a flex would guarantee the $10 fee