Bestpass, a provider of single source payment and toll management services to commercial fleets, introduced a new Horizon transponder at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). The company also announced that Kansas and Florida tolling authorities have joined its growing nationwide network.
“We’re deploying the Horizon transponder so fleets and owner-operators will no longer have to manage, maintain and pay for up to ten different transponders in order to operate on toll facilities regionally and across the country,” said John Andrews, president and CEO of Bestpass.
In conjunction with its E-ZPass compatible transponder, the new Bestpass Horizon transponder will allow for single-source toll account management for the major toll facilities not currently part of E-ZPass, the company says. The Horizon transponder is currently undergoing testing with early adopter fleets in Kansas and Florida, and once initial testing is complete, fleets including Schneider, Werner, Prime, and many others have committed to deploying the new solution.
The Bestpass Horizon transponder’s introduction coincides with the planned completion of affiliations with tolling authorities across North America. The addition of the Kansas Turnpike and Florida’s Turnpike, including the range of all other SunPass tolled facilities in Florida, will result in a significant number of toll road miles that are heavily traversed by commercial vehicles being added to the Bestpass service.
E-ZPass coverage includes the group’s 26 toll agencies in 15 states. The new Horizon transponder covers the bulk of authorities outside of the E-ZPass electronic toll collection network. Bestpass also works with toll authorities that utilize license plate read systems. Maximizing benefits in those states, Bestpass says it can provide customers with toll discounts for plate reads that are generally not otherwise available.
By August, Bestpass plans to have toll discount and management programs in place with 99 percent of all U.S. tolled miles, excluding only a few bridges and HOV lanes. The company is working to bring its services to Oklahoma and Texas before the end of 2015, and anticipates adding coast-to-coast toll facility coverage in Canada sometime in 2016.
“With the addition of these major tolling authorities to our network, we are further streamlining our single source toll service for our fleet and owner-operator customers,” Andrews said.
