Yesterday was the first day to buy 5 new types of Good To Go toll transponders. Purchase one before April 15th and get $10 dollars of free tolls per transponder. This is all part of the SR-520 tolling roll out which will occur sometime this spring. A specific start date has not been decided on because the legislature still has to authorized the tolls. You can sign up online, at some Safeways or Good 2 Go Service Centers, or over the phone. I’m personally getting the “Switchable Pass” which allows you to turn its readability on and off, which will be important for anyone planning to carpool in HOT lanes.

List and description of transponders below the jump.

40 Replies to “Good To Go Transponders Available, $10 Dollar Bonus”

  1. For people in HOT lanes, you don’t need to pay $12 for the switchable pass, you could just get the $8 movable pass and take it down when you’re in carpool lanes.

      1. I was wondering what the tin-foil hat crowd was going to do…

        If I buy one can they, like, track me from space?

  2. I had no idea there were so many options.

    Have they decided if carpools be tolled going over 520? My decision on switchable or not depends on the answer to that question. Also, are there / will there soon be any HOT lanes other than going out towards Auburn? I rarely head out there, but might use HOT or carpool elsewhere if they install them. (runs back to a STB post earlier this week) Hey, they might install a HOT lane on 405? That might do it for me. I’d hate to install a big “candy bar” sized device in each vehicle just for the rare time I’m driving with passengers on a HOT lane.

    1. And, to make things more screwy, different rules on whether a carpool needs a transponder!

      Fruits and Nuts!

  4. One oddity I found in the setup process was that usernames were limitted to 12 characters. Are the programmers former Compuserv coders?

  5. It’s true carpools on SR520 will be tolled when tolling starts this year. They may allow them to be free once the new bridge opens in approximately 2014. The Good To Go! website says the movable transponder (smaller and cheaper than the switchable) can work for those travelling the HOT lanes once in awhile. The transponder can be removed from the windshield and placed in a bag (presumable a special bag?) when using the SR167 HOT lanes with 2 or more in your vehicle so you won’t be charged a toll. For those who commute on the SR167 HOT lanes (or the future I-405 lanes?)on a regular basis and the number of passengers in the car changes a lot, the switchable tag will probably be better.

    1. For the movable transponder, the shield bag costs $3.23, so if you want both, you haven’t saved much over the switchable transponder. At least if I’m reading the picture above correctly.

      1. That shield says it’s for the old devices. I assume the removable ones come with a bag.

  6. The website that you have to use to sign up is horrible. They need to hire a different designer that has experience developing sites in this decade.

    -10 character password MINIMUM?? (that is a surefire way to have people forget passwords)
    -Security questions need to be at least 4 characters (a lot of my answers were less)
    -tab order set incorrectly and not working (can’t tab from field to field, very user unfriendly.)

      1. True, the character constraints most definitely came from some paranoid security ‘expert’ or PM, but the design and usability of the website is still horrible compared to other sites developed in the last 10 years.

    2. Probably some idiotic internal policy being applied to non-internal processes. Probably not even developed in the US, or else was developed by coder-droids in a windowless state office basement.

      What’s more frustrating than the 10 character password requirement (plus the caps and digits requirement) is the minimum length of the security question answers! My mother’s maiden name is only 5 characters long for chrissakes, what am I supposed to do about that? WFR.

  8. Nobody has mentioned yet that these transponders also work for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Sometimes the toll booths can be a 5 minute or longer wait when the Good 2 Go lanes are wide open. It’s a shame WSF couldn’t get “on board” with this. I mean, they are part of the State highway system! Is the Wave 2 Go pass optical rather than an RF transponder? You must have to stop at the toll booth at least one direction on the Ferry so they can charge for passengers. The other oddity is that you can use ORCA for paying passenger fare but not for car and driver or the bicycle surcharge (which they should just drop).

      1. And looking at the pictures of the Good2Go they have a barcode on them too. Couldn’t the State make this work with WSF? I’m guessing the Wave2Go is placed top drivers side instead of center? Still, a little bias toward the center of the lane with the Good2Go reciever placement and…

  9. Okay, when are people going to start complaining about the social injustice of (1) charging for the Good-to-Go pass;
    (2) using internet technology not accessible to the library-challenged;
    (3) not selling the pass at the corner liquor store;
    (4) making freeways less affordable for poor businessfolk;
    (5) getting taxed twice for our birthright to drive cars on all public rights-of-way;
    (6) charging too much for our birthright to park on freeway shoulders; and
    (7) letting the gubmint have a record of who has traveled on freeways, and when. Somebody, tip off the ACLU, please!

    (Don’t get me wrong. I love the ACLU.)

    1. If a Good-to-Go pass were required to turn from one street on to another I would be complaining about 1,2 and 3.

      1. So I can buy the pass and immediately drive on the bridge?

        Is there anyway to buy a pre-loaded pass with cash and then toss it when it runs out?

    3. I wonder if they can use this technology for parking as well as driving.

      Imagine just having a GoodToGo pass, you pull into a slot, no meters, etc…charges whatever the going rate is…

    1. Zipcar already has a tolling policy. I can’t remember what it is right now, but I promise Zipcar has long dealt with tolls in other states.

    2. Zipcars in the NE and CA have toll transponders for their respective regions and the bill goes to your Zipcar account. I imagine Zipcar will start equipping their vehicles with Good 2 Go passes at some point.

  12. I already have my Good To Go pass, but unfortunately I bought mine about 2 weeks before they rolled out all these options. Hence I have a clunky looking square sticker with the attachable metal shield. I’ll be using it on both the Tacoma Narrows and on SR520…

    But I have what might be a slightly off-topic question:

    Q: If SR520 will eventually be replaced, and if tolls will be part of the funding package for that replacement, and if early (pre-replacement) tolls make sense as part of that funding package, then why aren’t early tolls being considered for the Columbia River Crossing Project? After all, the situations are nearly identical: Eventual bridge replacement, eventual tolls as part of the funding project, similar total price tags, etc.

    It only seems fair, and my Good To Go pass would work on the CRC too.

    I’m just asking……

    1. Oh, and don’t forget the viaduct replacement project — early tolls would work there too.

      And of course the tolls would need to come off once the project is paid for.

  13. Can you use the motorcycle pass on a car? It’s the only one that isn’t a blight on my windshield, besides the front license plate one, but I don’t like putting holes in my bumper for a plate, so i’m not going to do it for a transponder)

    I know I can pay by mail with just my license, but I’d obviously prefer to pay the lower rate charged with a pass.

    Could I take the semi-clear motorcycle sticker and mount it low on my windshield, so I can still pay the toll, but it doesn’t obstruct my view or look ugly in the process?

    1. Yes, on 167 and 405 single occupancy vehicles are free to use the HOV lane after 7PM but not on I-5, I-90, 520, etc.

      1. SR 520 has 24 hr HOV lanes west of Bellevue Way, but otherwise it (and I-90) comply with the 5am to 7pm restriction. Didn’t we stupidly pass some initiative related to that?

      1. HOV lanes on the east side of Lake Washington are all open to SOV traffic between 7pm-5am, except for the SR 520 exception noted above.

  15. Upon perusing the website a bit, I noticed something I hadn’t heard of before: the Pay by Plate option. Apparently you can register your license plate, not buy a chunky transponder for your windshield, and the toll is automatically deducted from your prepaid account. Interesting. I read in the FAQ’s that there “will likely be a $.25 fee per transaction” for using Pay by Plate, but still cheaper than the extra $1.50 for not signing up at all. I wonder why I haven’t heard more about this?

  16. I have two questions:

    First, if I have a motorcycle pass, will HOT lane sensors recognize that it’s a motorcycle pass and skip tolling me, or do I need to disable it?

    Second, have the privacy implications of these transponders been considered? They’re essentially gathering a record of someone’s movements. How will this information be stored, how will it be secured, and who will have access to it?

    1. Your movements are already tracked given the fact that you have a license plate on your car and cameras exist which read those plates very well.

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