I was on the PA turnpike the other day, and put my wallet and toll ticket in the compartment under the radio. When I reached in to get it, it was not there. Later, I figured out that a ticket will slide between the top of the compartment down into the dash very easily. Q: has anyone ever done this and where did the ticket end up? I reached around behind the fairing and found some old receipts, but the ticket is still hiding. I'm not willing to chase after this too far, because it's only $30, but if I knew where to look it might be worth it. Long term solution is in the mail -- an ez pass transponder.
where at in PA are you? if your in the south east that ez pass will be a god send, especially at Mid-county. oh! and the PA Turnpike agency is going to be getting rid of all the people at the toll booths, so that's another good reason to get the ez pass
Never heard that one, I'll have to check for lost $20 bills. Maybe I can retire now. We are always heading back to Pittsburgh to visit, but we have had EZPass for the whole life of the 2006 Prius. We used to live in South Jersey/Philly area, and we must have got EZPass somewhere around 1997.
Yup, lots of things fall back there. It is meant for objects, not paper. CD cases, glasses, phasors, that sort of thing. When I installed my EV button I had to get a wire from the driver side to the passenger side where the HV ECU is. So take off the vents, the glovebox, the console area, unscrew the nav unit and pop it up and over. This exposes the full "inner dash". Look for instructions online on how to do this, it is really easy. I just used a nice butter knife (prying panels) and a screwdriver (unscrewing the MFD). When I opened mine up I found a nice $20 bill and a CD of techno music. (I bought mine used!)
I realized later my mistake was to put the ticket on top of my wallet. I'll probably find some (of my own) money back there too. I had no idea how easy it was to slip a piece of paper back there, I'm thinking about putting some silicone sealant across the small gap to keep this from happening again. I heard they were thinking about this, they will bill the cash customers. They already take your picture if you run the ezpass lane, btdt. Would have saved me the time of digging out my checkbook and paying the toll. My actual toll was $1.25, I was ready to pay that, not $30. I only drive on the turnpike a few times a year, so the ezpass was never that tempting.
Hi unterhausen-- Depending on how far/how often you need to travel on the Turnpike, can I suggest avoiding the turnpike altogether and save some $? I drive to Philadelphia regularly and getting on at New Stanton (exit 75) now cost almost $20 each way - which adds at least a third to my total travel costs. I know for a fact that Routes 202, 30, and 283 between Philly and Harrisburg have mostly been upgraded to four-lane limited access roads and wouldn't add much to the total travel time? (I'm personally tempted to avoid the Turnpike altogether next time I go, although taking 79 to 68 to Hagerstown and then north on 81 to Harrisburg would add at least an hour to east-west travel time.)
the last time I was on the PA turnpike, the road was so bad that I thought they should pay you to ride on it. Has it gotten any better?
Rt 202 between all of them is the WORST, even though they just redid it traffic on that road is always backed up. well they are doing major construction on the northeast extension which has caused huge traffic jams. on the parts that are redone its nice, but the rest of it is still shit.
I go from DE to Sandusky, OH about once a year. I avoid the PA TP now at all costs. I weave my way up to I-81 through Harrisburg, Lewistown, State College, etc. I actually know this part by heart, because my grandmother used to live in Phillipsburg (about 45 mins west of State College). There's almost always ways to avoid the TP, the issue is that you might end up taking an extra hour or two in order to reach your destination.
Yeah there are plenty of other ways to avoid the turnpike, and the way that people drive so slow on it time isn't really a factor anymore. I actually grew up in State College, so I'm familiar with Philipsburg. I-99 goes past there and down by altoona so that's a nice quick route to go, especially since you can get on it right off I-80. But I still use the turnpike when I go to see my mom.
We take I68->Rt40->43N PATnpke extension to Pittsburgh almost exclusively from Wash DC now, but from Philly we would still take main Tnpke (I76/I70)
I could avoid the turnpike, but I find 309 to be a little too scary the times that I drive on it. People are nuts, lots of turning traffic, and lots of traffic lights. So all I was doing was avoiding that mess, I figured it is worth $1.25. Not worth $30, but hopefully I'll get that back Found the ticket, didn't have to take the mfd or radio out, but everything else had to go. Also changed the HEPA filter, so it wasn't a dead loss of time
i dont blame you, the northern portion of 309 is crazy, but the end of it is a little better. well...... until it hits the ghetto of north philly. i think you made the wiser choice taking the turnpike.
Don't do the PATP much, but hate this idea even though I have an EZPass because of the Dulles Toll Road in our area. I relented a couple of years ago in getting one after seeing the reduction in cash lanes on the DTR and on other tollways in MD and DE. The move towards automated toll collection bothers me on roads like the PATP. On the surface it one can say that it saves labor cots. But in the end it is just another "tax" for the government and profit center for politically connected vendors. In MD the ICC has a Video Toll Rate for those without an EZPass of "150% of the base rate with a minimum of $1/maximum of $15 above base toll rate" according to their website - whatever that means! The max toll with EZPass is $3.20/$4.00 for the hours that most folks will use the road. So what is PA going to charge those like the OP that don't use the turnpike enough to get an EZPass? Or those that are visitors just passing through? Add to this the growing movement in some states to add fees for the benefit of using the EZPass.
BTW, IIRC there was a post in the GenIII forum about someone losing a cellphone in the steering wheel column.