Speedpass – gas, burgers, and more!

Got to add 35 miles to the motorcycle log this partly sunny Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t as sunny as forecasted but still a very nice day. I am not much of a naturalist but the leaves in New England this time of year are beautiful. My ride took me to Home Depot and Stu Leonard’s to pick up a few necessities and then across I-84 and down Route 7. The last stop on the way home was at the Mobil station to get some gas. For some reason, my Speedpass didn’t work. After getting home I went to their web site to see if there was information on what to do about the problem and their web site didn’t work either. No excuse for a major outfit like this to have their site down — but I’ll forgive them this time. I called and the customer service representative was very nice. She told me that the expected life of a Speedpass car tag is two to three years. I have had mine since May 1998 — one of my early gadgets — so it is likely that it is time for replacement.

In spite of my problem today, I think Speedpass is a really great thing. It definitely saves time when getting gas — especially when on a motorcycle. Speedpass works using an RF (radio frequency) signal similar to WiFi. The system has an antenna and a transponder. There are two types of transponders — one that attaches to your rear windshield and one that you can attach to a key ring. The transponder delivers a serial number to the Speedpass system and then a database lookup tells them which credit card you specified at enrollment. Your charges show up just like any other charges to your card.

The potential of Speedpass seems extraordinary to me. (read more)