Santa Receives Global E-ZPass for Smooth Christmas Commute

To make his Christmas night commute run a little smoother, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation gifted Santa Claus with a "universal" transponder Monday.

The transponder is the first of its kind issued by MassDOT and allows for both interstate and international travel without the burden of having to open an E-ZPass account everywhere he goes (imagine those bills).

St. Nick and his associates were on hand at the Prudential Center to mount the E-ZPass – no easy feat when your windshield is made up of reindeer. Rudolph presumably balked, so the decision was made to fasten it to the front of the sleigh.

MassDOT is letting Santa skirt the E-ZPass rules a bit this year. While state law requires both vehicle and trailer to be registered to an account, the rule was waived for Santa because he's kind of a big deal or something. And we'd be here until next Christmas registering nine reindeer.

But perhaps the biggest perk of delivering toys to the entire world is the zero cost to Santa on Christmas night. MassDOT has pre-loaded his E-ZPass account – probably at the taxpayer's expense – so that he's only charged if he flies low enough to pass underneath one of the toll gantries.

And I don't know about you, but Santa doesn't strike me as a guy who sits in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Pike.