The alphabet soup of what letter appears first on some license plates has been stirred up and a sharp eyed reader wants to know why.

In the old school world of Jersey license plates, there were a few constants. A plate beginning with X would be found on a commercial vehicle and a plate starting with T was always bolted on a trailer.

Our reader spotted license plates with the letter X on a passenger vehicle and wanted to know why the license plate system changed.



Q: "Has that been changed or modified in any way?"



A: Our eagle eyed reader is correct, New Jersey license plates have changed, and letters that were off-limits are now allowed to be used on passenger vehicle tags, said Mairin Bellack, a spokeswoman for the state Motor Vehicle Commission.



Why did they change? There were too many different types of vehicles that had omnibus license plates, ranging from cabs, limos and buses to many other passenger carrying vehicles.



In July 2014, the MVC changed those plates to reduce confusion by the public and law enforcement, Bellack said. That was done under the PVT or Passenger Vehicle Transportation initiative, she said.

Seven different categories of passenger hauling vehicles now have their own plate. The license plate also indicates the type of vehicle that it is registered as where "Garden State" would be on passenger vehicle plates, Bellack said.

That means plates on taxicabs begin with OT, limousines with OL, hotel buses with OH, ambulances carry OA plates, jitneys use OJ, para-transit vehicles have OP tags and OM is for mobility assistance vehicles, she said.

A new O2 category and license plate was created to cover other passenger hauling vehicles from city buses to medical transport, recreational transport or employee transportation vehicles.

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While an X preface on a license plate still means a vehicle is registered as a commercial vehicle, the letter X also is allowed to appear on passenger vehicle tags under the 2014 change, Bellack said. The same situation applies for the letter T, she said.



License plates have resulted in some questions that have resulted in a lot of interest, from whether it's legal to have a plastic cover over license plates to how many people get summons for a missing front plate. What is your question? It doesn't even have to be about license plates.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.