How to install your MRD*

How to install your MRD*

July 6, 2015 | OReGO Communications

*That’s short for Mileage Reporting Device, in case you didn’t know

Plug in your device. Drive. It’s that simple.

Pioneers throughout Oregon are now enrolling as participants in OReGO. Shortly after they sign up online, they’ll get their free mileage reporting device in the mail.

Installing your device is a snap! Here’s how to set up your device before hitting the road with OReGO. It should take less than five minutes and it’s easy as 1-2-3:

  1. After your device arrives in the mail, open the box, where you’ll find your personal MRD and installation instructions.
  2. Next, find your car’s OBD-II port, usually located under driver’s side dashboard. Plug your MRD into the port and wait for the lights to flash. In some cases the lights may be green; in others the lights may be red (depending on your account manager). This tells you your MRD is connected and ready to go.
  3. Start driving. Your car’s MRD will automatically report the miles you drive and the amount of fuel you use to your chosen account manager.

And with that, you’re all set! Pretty simple, right? Here’s ODOT’s Tom Fuller showing just how quick and easy it is to get started with OReGO with Azuga. Stay tuned for a video about how to install with Sanef:

Once your MRD is installed, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that every mile you drive helps contribute to a long-term solution for maintaining and improving Oregon’s roads and bridges.

Remember to stop by myOReGO.org to be among the first in line to enroll as an OReGO pioneer.

OReGO: Better roads. Happy drivers.

23 thoughts on “How to install your MRD*

    • Michelle Godfrey says:

      The OReGO system will calculate it for you automatically. You will see a credit for gas tax you paid on your statement.

    • Steven Ingham says:

      It means people who care about climate change and are trying to do something about it get screwed. That would be you. The guy with the gas hog will love this program

      • Michelle Godfrey says:

        Actually, the road usage charge could be considered the greener option for road funding. Currently, we depend on fuel sales to collect gas tax to pay for maintaining our roads. The road usage charge decouples our transportation funding from the consumption of fuel, severing the cord of dependency.

      • Michelle Godfrey says:

        What is often missed in this topic of discussion is, who drives the “gas hog”? More often, low mpg vehicles are older model cars. They are often driven by people who cannot afford a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle — low income drivers. These drivers share the road with affluent drivers, are consuming them at the same rate, yet they are paying many times more for maintaining that road than the new car driver. Or, take the small business owner who drives a lower mpg cargo van or pickup truck to conduct business. She may also be paying many times more than the high mpg commuter vehicle next to her on the road. Should the small business owner be penalized for conducting business? Because that is how the equation ends up with the current gas tax.

        The new law that created OReGO seeks to establish a fair and sustainable solution to the problem that closely follows Oregon’s long-standing “user pays” principle of charging consumers for their use of Oregon’s roadways. In this way, we can ensure that our children and grandchildren will continue to benefit from a safe, efficient, well-maintained road network — something we all depend on, whether we drive or not.

        Later, when the OReGO system is demonstrated to work and future policy is evaluated by the legislature, there will likely be discussion of what rate should be charged to drivers of different vehicles, perhaps based on mpg rating, or model year, or size, or driver income, or perhaps some other factor(s). OReGO is the first step toward an alternative, but it is not the final answer.

        Thank you Steven, for your comments!

        • Chris jackson says:

          Thank you Michelle for your excellent commentary. As people move towards less dependence on fossil fuel we do not move towards less dependence on infrastructure. Side note, where is my flying car we were promised by now? We still need roads to drive on people! And we need a fair – level playing field if you will – to pay for them. If you use the road you should help pay for the road whether you drive a bicycle or a Sherman tank! Thanks

        • David Black says:

          Michelle,
          What you are typing is typical bureaucratic smoke and mirrors. You paint the rich people as driving the most efficient cars while the impoverished drive the land yachts that get gallons per mile instead of miles per gallon. Can you please quote your source?

          Visually, I see a lot of seemingly less affluent people driving compact cars. Most of these cars (that I see) get > 20 mpg. That being said, 20 mpg is the “break-even” point according to your website.

          Furthermore, you are painting older cars as getting worse gas mileage than newer while that simply isn’t the case. Back in the day, I drove a 1993 Geo Metro. It got 53 mpg in the city and 58 mpg on the highway (on average). Heck, the 1978 Honda Civic got 35/38 (city/Hwy) mpg. So, where are these behemoths you speak of where the “average” person is getting screwed at the pump?

          According to the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/420f08024.pdf) “Fuel consumption is based on the estimated average in-use fuel economy: 24.1 miles per gallon (mpg) for passenger cars and 17.3 mpg for light trucks.” Now, this was a 2008 publication. The average fuel economy across the board has surely since improved. So, the average person will be paying more. Right? I mean, if you are an average person driving an average car getting 24.1 mpg driving 1,000 miles in a month, currently, they would pay $12.50 in taxes at the pump whereas under OReGO, they would be paying $15.00. Or, am I missing something? There may yet be a smoke screen or mirror you have yet to show me. I do love a good magic show.

          Based on the information I have provided and what you have provided, it is better to screw the people who make good choices on their vehicles and reward the people who make bad choices on theirs. Right?

          I have a better solution; Let’s stop giving all of you raises on tax payer dollars until you learn the live within your budget. I have to live within mine.

          • Michelle Godfrey says:

            Hi David,

            When I said, “more often, low mpg vehicles are older model cars,” I was considering the trend reported by the EPA of significant annual increases in overall fuel efficiency of vehicles: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fetrends.htm. I suppose it would have been more precise to say that older model cars are, on average, less fuel efficient than newer cars. But there are always “high” and “low” ends of averages that perform very differently than the norm – your Metro and Civic, for instance.

            Yes, if a driver currently gets better than 20 mpg, s/he would pay more in road charge with OReGO than gas tax. The Oregon Legislature determined 20 mpg to be the break-even point when they created the program in 2013. But only two years later, it already seems to be a low mpg rating.

            Averages — such as that which the 1.5 cents per mile rate was based and the 20 mpg break-even point results — help us set policy to address a large group of vehicles and the most common pattern of drivers. But they are lousy at understanding individual behavior. That’s why we put a calculator on MyOReGO.org for drivers to compute their own impact. It can help a driver decide whether OReGO is the right choice for them: http://www.myorego.org/about/calculator/

            Because every driver/vehicle is a little different. As you pointed out, sometimes a lot different. But every one depends on good roads.

  1. Christopher Nintzel says:

    I just received my MRD in the mail here on Saturday. Device serial 5060841046, from Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, Inc.
    When I plugged it in, and checked for being securely installed, I see initially a flashing red light on the MRD. Soon after the light changes to steady red. It stays steady red when I start the car engine, and then when I turn off the ignition. Now five minutes later, there is no light on at all.
    Your video and instructions speak to a green light, although on a different MRD at least in appearance.
    Is my red light OK, or is there something wrong that I need guidance to make right?
    My email is above, also my cell phone is 503-804-5573.
    Thank you, S/Chris Nintzel, Beaverton OR.

    • Justin Rogers says:

      Did you sign up for Azuga or the ODOT/Sanef MRD? I signed up with Azuga, their MRD is green and that is what the above video shows. If you signed up for ODOT/Sanef, then your light may work differently from the above video. I read in another place online of the exact same issue you are explaining. I don’t think that it is an issue though. I would plug it in and leave it until you can confirm that on Monday. I bet it is working.

      • Chris jackson says:

        No, you should pay for the wear and tear your leaf still imposes on the road surface just like everyone else who drives. Last I looked, leafs don’t hover ala Star Wars land speeder

  2. Steven Ingham says:

    Great. Every one driving gas hogs destroying the environment, and adding to climate change get rewarded and those trying to do something about climate change get penalized. How much revenue are you going to get out of 600 EV’s? Maybe enough o pay a few DOT employees ? How much did the oil companies pay our legislators to push this program? I’m calling my Legislator. Whats next? sell the roads to corporations?

    • Chris jackson says:

      And once the majority of us stop destroying the environment and there is no money to repair the roads how do you propose to go save the planet then? Everyone bitches about how bad the roads are but nobody seems to realize where the money was coming from all these years to pay for them. Fuel tax! More fuel burned = more money to pay for the ability to burn more fuel. Duh.

  3. My experience installing Azuga was not smooth as shown in the Video. Fedex delivered the Azuga device about 1 PM in the afternoon last Saturday. I installed the device in my car with no problems, but when I attempted to log into my account I received a popup message that the device had not been shipped yet! Azuga would not let me into the account to finish the process. I attempted to contact Azuga support by phone, but just got a recorded message that they were only open Monday through Friday.

    About 5 pm on Saturday I received an automated message from Azuga informing me that my device had been delivered. I then tried accessing my account again, and this time was successful. The rest of the process went fine.

    My advice to Azuga and Orego: tell the users to wait to install the device until the “device delivered” email is received from Azuga.

  4. Hi, I got my device and installed to my 2015 Prius. I commute to work about 50 miles one way. so in 1 day as regular basis I drove 100miles. My Prius give me average 45MPG on both city and highway drive. can you explain to me, how do I benefit from this program??? and do I able file tax credit from this Program to get money back on 2016 tax return?

    • Justin Rogers says:

      Lol wow. I would say you failed to read anything about the trial. No you will not get moneyt back on your income taxes. SMH

      • Chris jackson says:

        But thank you none the less for stepping up to participate in maintaining the road we all travel, regardless of whether we drive a hummer or a tesla. Because while we don’t burn the same amount of fuel, on average both cars cause about the same wear and tear on the road. And no, I don’t work for odot – just sayin. We can’t all have something for nothing.

  5. Frank Smith says:

    It is a real shame that our state leaders value the quality of asphalt roadways over the health of our citizens. A carbon tax to curb driving, or at least fund health care, would benefit both our impact on climate change, and the huge cost of respiratory and other health problems caused by vehicle pollution. Focusing on maintaining excellent roads will encourage more driving, and more pollution. This is not good for the state in the long run. Focusing on lowering pollution from travel would be much different (i.e. high MPG cars would be charged less then low MPG cars, not more). If our roads deteriorate perhaps people will start driving less. Then we would leave each of us more money to pay toward our health coverage!

  6. I install the device. My credit card got a charge of $20 after almost a month now. What is the deal? Can the money get refunded?

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