AASHTO Journal - MassDOT Highlights ‘Pay-By-Text’ Fuel Program

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is joining forces with PayByCar, Inc., to highlight new “pay-by-text” payment options at fueling stations across Massachusetts.

[Above image via Wikipedia Commons]

That joint information campaign seeks to educate motorists about a “low-touch fuel payment” solution offered by PayByCar across the Bay State through the “Driven by E-ZPass” program developed for the 19-state E-ZPass Group.

That program allows customers with an E-ZPass transponder to perform contactless payments for fuel at participating locations without ever having to touch the pump screen or use cash, credit cards, or mobile apps.

PayByCar noted that it does not apply fuel purchases to a customer’s toll account. Rather, they apply them to the payment card customers use when enrolling on the PayByCar website www.mypaybycar.com. Drivers without a toll transponder can request PayByCar to provide a free PayByCar Smart sticker, a non-toll Radio Frequency Identification or RFID tag, the company said.

“MassDOT is always looking for ways to make our drivers and travelers safer and more secure,” explained Jonathan Gulliver, MassDOT’s state highway administrator, in a statement.

“The ‘Driven by E-ZPass’ secure pay-by-text mobile payment method, by eliminating the need to touch the keypad at the pump, allows drivers to more safely fuel up while minimizing physical interactions and transactions,” he added.

“We’re also proud that it was a local start-up company – PayByCar – that developed this idea for a multi-state ‘Driven by E-ZPass’ pilot with the 19-state E-Pass Group,” Gulliver noted. “We like that the idea came from Massachusetts’ own impressive start-up community and that the first-in-the-nation deployment is here in the Commonwealth with a retailer here in the Commonwealth.”