Major Change Coming For Maine E-ZPass Users – Don’t Worry, It’s a Good Thing!

It feels like E-ZPass transponders have been around forever.

For those who are unfamiliar, the device is a plastic box that is about the size of a granola bar.  It allows people who frequently travel on Maine's toll roads to zip through the toll booths without having to stop to pay their tolls with cash.

About a decade ago, traveling Maine's toll roads got even easier.  That was when the state's most traveled toll roads got new high-speed EZPass readers that allowed drivers to scream through the toll at about 60 MPH.

Now, it looks like E-ZPass users will soon have a new transponder option.

What Are E-ZPass Stickers?

According to and article on the WMTW website,  the Maine Turnpike Authority plans to begin offering sticker-style E-ZPass tags sometime in late spring or early summer.  The new stickers will be an alternative to the familiar hard-case transponders that many drivers already keep mounted to their windshields.  Those traditional devices are not going away, though.  Officials say drivers will be able to choose whichever version works best for them.

The new sticker tags will work with the same scanners currently used across the E-ZPass system.  That means drivers will still be able to travel through toll plazas at highway speed anywhere E-ZPass is accepted, and the discount benefits tied to the program will stay exactly the same.

Officials with the Maine Turnpike Authority say the final price for the sticker tags has not been announced yet.  However, they expect the stickers will cost less than the standard hard-case transponders.

There is one important difference.  The sticker tags are designed for a single vehicle. Once they are removed from a windshield, they stop working and cannot be reused.  The transponders, on the other hand, can be fairly easily moved from car to car.

The authority says the goal is simply to give Maine drivers another convenient option.