RICHMOND – John L. Smith won’t have to go check his transponder number should he need to make any changes to his Smart Tag account. That’s because his number is easy to remember – 1,000,000. Smith was issued the 1 millionth transponder at the Midlothian Smart Tag Service Center on May 24.

Smart Tag/E-ZPass, the electronic toll payment system in Virginia, presented a gift bag of Smart Tag goodies to Smith. He will also have some free automatic replenishments added to his account, and he will be invited to throw out the first pitch at the Richmond Braves game on Aug. 29, which Smart Tag is sponsoring.

Smith lives in Richmond, but commutes to Infineon Technologies in eastern Henrico County near Richmond International Airport for work.

“After stopping to pay the tolls on the Pocahontas Parkway for a month, I said, ‘enough,’ and came in to get my Smart Tag,” he said.

Smith says taking the Pocahontas Parkway (Route 895) shaves about 10 minutes off of his commute. He was pleased to learn that the Smart Tag also gives him a 25 cent discount on the $2.25 toll. He occasionally uses the Powhite Parkway and was tickled to find out that he will also receive a 10 percent discount there.

“I feel lucky today,” he said.

Smart Tag first became available for use on the Dulles Toll Road in April 1996, and now is accepted on seven toll systems in Virginia as well as New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Maryland and Illinois.

For more information, call 1-877-SMARTAG (1-877-762-7824) or go to https://smart-tag.com/

Page last modified: May 25, 2006