PHILADELPHIA – HELP Inc., the non-profit public/private partnership that provides PrePass weigh station bypass, announced its new ElitePass transponder, which expands PrePass Plus electronic toll payment services to California and Kansas, with Oklahoma, Texas and others coming soon.

In an announcement at the American Trucking Associations' annual Management Conference & Exhibition, Help Inc. President and CEO Karen Rasmussen showed off the new transponder.

Expanded PrePass Plus adds hundreds of tolling locations, including those in California managed by Bay Area Toll Authority, Transportation Corridor Agencies and the South Bay Expressway. Also included in this expansion are locations managed by the Kansas Turnpike Authority.

The newly added tolling systems are in addition to the already existing PrePass Plus toll payment services throughout the E-ZPass network. E-ZPass encompasses 15 states: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.

More than 530,000 qualified trucks from more than 45,000 fleets are enrolled in PrePass services. HELP Inc. is nearing a milestone of 670 million actual weigh-station bypasses since 1997, which adds up to cost savings of nearly $4.8 billion to motor carriers based on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s estimate of $8.68 per bypass.

In addition, new weigh-in-motion scales will soon be provided by HELP at many existing PrePass sites as well as the ones being built into new locations.

With the advanced ElitePass technology, subscribing fleets can use one device and one account from one service provider to bypass hundreds of weigh stations in more than 30 states and electronically pay tolls in nearly 20.

“Nobody likes paying tolls,” said Rasmussen. “But in reality, tolls are a fact of life and will continue to be a growing part of how roads and bridges are funded in the future.”

HELP will begin rolling out the expanded PrePass Plus service on Monday, October 19, to pre-enrolled PrePass customers. New customers can begin signing up for PrePass Plus at www.prepassnow.com.