Cashless tolls horror stories: 'I wept,' says she uses IRA to pay bill

[ZLoth]

From lohud:

Cashless tolls horror stories: 'I wept,' says she uses IRA to pay bill

Editor's note: The implementation of cashless tolling in the Lower Hudson Valley has brought howls of complaints from drivers who have told us horror stories. Some say they've never received bills, only to face thousands of dollars in late fees. Others told us about strong-arm tactics of collection agencies, about a faceless system that didn't seem to care. Here are two of their stories.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[vdeane]

Seems to me that instead of telling the person at the booth "I don't have E-ZPass" (which implies that she never had one and no doubt confused the toll collector), she should have said "my account was suspended and I was directed to pay cash".  Probably would have avoided a lot of trouble that way.

[1995hoo]

Seems to me that instead of telling the person at the booth "I don't have E-ZPass" (which implies that she never had one and no doubt confused the toll collector), she should have said "my account was suspended and I was directed to pay cash".  Probably would have avoided a lot of trouble that way.

Agreed, plus she should have asked for a receipt after paying cash.

[seicer]

I hated how different agencies handled cashless tolling - especially if a device malfunctioned. I used an Ohio EZ-Pass transponder that failed on a trip last year, and while the NY Thruway just took a photo of the plate and charged my EZ-Pass account, the MTA bridges had physical barriers that prevented me from going through (transponder began working at another gate, only to fail again). So I had to wait while someone manually walked across all of the lanes (from the far side) only to ask what was wrong. And then had to walk all the way back to her office, and then back to me to write down my plate and give me a piece of paper. I had to mail in my payment. That was a stupid 15 minutes that could have been avoided if better procedures and technology were in place then. It's a moot point since it's now high-speed lanes on some of the bridges with more to come.

But considering how often I drive toll roads, the problems are essentially non-existent. That's been the ONLY major issue, other than transponders failing periodically. There are more horror stories about people not having proper payment methods, or not having exact change, or...

[abefroman329]

Indiana has credit card readers at the cashless lanes, though I'm not sure if those are there for a malfunctioning transponder, a transponder with no money on it, malfunctioning equipment that can't read the transponder, or all three.  It's still not quite a perfect solution when each car in the lane has to spend 5-10 minutes on the phone completing the transaction.

We've had an EZ-Pass for 6 years and I dread to think what will happen when the battery dies and we don't know it's dead.

[1995hoo]

The Dulles Greenway in Virginia has credit/debit lanes (no cash) at the ramp tolls, though I don't know how it works because I use E-ZPass.

Regarding the battery, until I replaced our transponders last fall I made a point of going through a "conventional"  toll plaza every few months to verify that our transponders triggered the lights properly.

[Brandon]

Indiana has credit card readers at the cashless lanes, though I'm not sure if those are there for a malfunctioning transponder, a transponder with no money on it, malfunctioning equipment that can't read the transponder, or all three.  It's still not quite a perfect solution when each car in the lane has to spend 5-10 minutes on the phone completing the transaction.

We've had an EZ-Pass for 6 years and I dread to think what will happen when the battery dies and we don't know it's dead.

I guess the Toll Road ones are there for the folks who get in the wrong lane.  I had a vehicle doing that in front of me one morning.

ISTHA will send you a letter when you've had your transponder for about 10 years, directing you to trade it in a Jewel-Osco for free for a new transponder.  They do this due to the time the batteries last in them.

[kalvado]

Good point in that article about toll agencies often having little oversight. Almost nothing you can do in case of a problem.

[Avalanchez71]

We don't do toll roads in Tennessee. 

[seicer]

It's also why we won't be seeing I-69 completed in Tennessee any time soon.

[leroys73]

More than one place in Oklahoma I ran across a correct change/toll tag only without a changer or person there.  The sign informing a person of the fact was after a person could turn around.  I had no toll tag and no change as in 60 cents.  I blew through it as I was from out of state.  I received a threat in the mail.  After calling them they waved it. 

Not long ago Oklahoma did not have a way of tracking me since I was out of state.  They do now.  I found out when my Texas NTTA toll tag was suppose to be read in Oklahoma but for some reason it was not.  Another nasty gram from them and a phone call from me got it waved. 

I ran into a similar thing in Kansas.  Their reader did not read the toll NTTA toll tag on my motorcycle.  It is supposed to be good in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.  I got a bill and a ticket.  I called them.  When the lady heard me say motorcycle she said she had three other motorcycle riders call earlier that day, same problem.  So I assume those readers are not very reliable. 

The cashless I don't have to slow down to 35 or 45 mph and they work are better than stopping, get a ticket, then stopping to pay.  But the correct cash only with no one there and no changer pisses me off.

[abefroman329]

Indiana has credit card readers at the cashless lanes, though I'm not sure if those are there for a malfunctioning transponder, a transponder with no money on it, malfunctioning equipment that can't read the transponder, or all three.  It's still not quite a perfect solution when each car in the lane has to spend 5-10 minutes on the phone completing the transaction.

We've had an EZ-Pass for 6 years and I dread to think what will happen when the battery dies and we don't know it's dead.

I guess the Toll Road ones are there for the folks who get in the wrong lane.  I had a vehicle doing that in front of me one morning.

The one time I went through with an I-Pass that wasn't functioning, several cars in front of us were having the same issue.

ISTHA will send you a letter when you've had your transponder for about 10 years, directing you to trade it in a Jewel-Osco for free for a new transponder.  They do this due to the time the batteries last in them.

We have an EZ-Pass from NJ, I hope they do the same thing.

[seicer]

That's the advantage of high-speed lanes with plate -and- transponder readers. If the transponder or the transponder reader fails, then a picture of the plate is taken and the customer is billed a normal EZ-Pass rate. If the customer doesn't have a transponder, then no big deal. They get a picture of their plate taken and billed a non-EZ-Pass rate.

[kalvado]

That's the advantage of high-speed lanes with plate -and- transponder readers. If the transponder or the transponder reader fails, then a picture of the plate is taken and the customer is billed a normal EZ-Pass rate. If the customer doesn't have a transponder, then no big deal. They get a picture of their plate taken and billed a non-EZ-Pass rate.

Great theory, bro, and it almost always work. Almost.  We can disregard remaining 1% who get some sort of an issue with the system.

[seicer]

And?

Statistically, that's far better than the error rate associated with the first generation EZ-Pass transponder readers. The vast majority of these horror stories are nothing more than anecdotes.

And these tolled facilities are a far easier sell than raising the gasoline tax to build mega-projects like the Ohio River Bridges Project.

[kalvado]

And?

Statistically, that's far better than the error rate associated with the first generation EZ-Pass transponder readers. The vast majority of these horror stories are nothing more than anecdotes.

And these tolled facilities are a far easier sell than raising the gasoline tax to build mega-projects like the Ohio River Bridges Project.

And the thing is that I'm not happy to be punished for being statistical deviation. Unfortunately, punishing for any problem - or non-standard arrangement - is the principal mode of operation for many toll facilities. 

[roadman]

I don't care for any system that nitpicks violations (37 in a 35 - really?) and/or makes it intentionally difficult for you to deal with them to resolve an error.  However, unless I'm missing something, I get the impression from the "I had to dip into my IRA" woman that she just plain disregarded SEVERAL notices, which probably explains why her account was eventually suspended and they were threatening to cancel her vehicle registration.

And, with respect to this woman, I suspect that if she called the toll agency when she got the first notice, it never would have escalated to a $5,000 fine, or to the point of being turned over to a collection agency.

[roadman]

And?

Statistically, that's far better than the error rate associated with the first generation EZ-Pass transponder readers. The vast majority of these horror stories are nothing more than anecdotes.

And these tolled facilities are a far easier sell than raising the gasoline tax to build mega-projects like the Ohio River Bridges Project.

And the thing is that I'm not happy to be punished for being statistical deviation. Unfortunately, punishing for any problem - or non-standard arrangement - is the principal mode of operation for many toll facilities. 

Sad to say, for every person using a toll facility who encounters a legitimate error, I suspect there are probably at least a half dozen or more who are intentionally trying to game the system.  While I don't agree with most of the tactics these agencies use - especially in terms of late fees and fines, I can understand why they often take such measures to collect what is due them.

[kalvado]

I don't care for any system that nitpicks violations (37 in a 35 - really?) and/or makes it intentionally difficult for you to deal with them to resolve an error.  However, unless I'm missing something, I get the impression from the "I had to dip into my IRA" woman that she just plain disregarded SEVERAL notices, which probably explains why her account was eventually suspended and they were threatening to cancel her vehicle registration.

And, with respect to this woman, I suspect that if she called the toll agency when she got the first notice, it never would have escalated to a $5,000 fine, or to the point of being turned over to a collection agency.

From personal experience of dealing with NYSTA on EZpass issues:
if she called the toll agency when she got the first notice, nothing would change.

-I sent all the documents via priority mail, here is my tracking number: ... It was delivered and signed for!
-I'm sorry, but employee dealing with your case no longer works for us, so I have no track of your paperwork.

[seicer]

The issues I had with my transponder that was on the fritz from Ohio, NYSTA was more than willing to work with me to resolve some an issue relating to a charge. And to my surprise, I received no penalties or interest charges. Your mileage may vary, of course.

But considering that someone had to dip into the IRA to pay a penalty, then it's more than likely that the driver was ignoring the letters, or didn't have current contact information registered with the agency, or was refusing to pay the initial penalties.

It's no different than a collection agency being summoned for -well- overdue payments.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

[J N Winkler]

I ran into a similar thing in Kansas.  Their reader did not read the toll NTTA toll tag on my motorcycle.  It is supposed to be good in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.  I got a bill and a ticket.  I called them.  When the lady heard me say motorcycle she said she had three other motorcycle riders call earlier that day, same problem.  So I assume those readers are not very reliable.

I don't know if NTTA requires this for TollTag holders, but in Kansas we K-Tag holders have to register our vehicle license plates with KTA to allow video tolling as a backup.  Before KTA's implementation of video tolling reached its current state where gates and K-Tag read confirmation lights are removed at the ten most heavily used toll plazas, I frequently had problems with the gate staying down when I passed the reader at 30 or faster (speed limit 20).

I suspect, but have not been able to prove, that KTA was trying to use the readers for backdoor speed enforcement:  go much faster than 20 and lose the convenience of having a K-Tag.  (Spec sheets for commercially available readers are on the Web [example] but do not give an idea of how tunable they are.)

It has also been suggested that KTA is using inferior reader equipment "because Kansas is cheap."  Again, I am not sure I could prove this because KTA's construction plans for electronic tolling facilities do not include specs for the reader equipment, which KTA installs itself once the contractor finishes building the gantries etc., and I don't think KTA would have to issue a RFP or bid solicitation if the cost of the equipment falls under a procurement threshold for over-the-counter purchases.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

Periodic financial and technical audit is a good idea.  Besides 1995hoo's suggestion of detouring through a conventional plaza every so often for a "lights check," it is also a good idea to log all turnpike trips on GPS and compare the toll bills to the GPS logs.  I have, for example, a bill from Kansas that says I got on the Turnpike at Haysville/Derby while the GPS log for the same trip shows I got on at South Wichita (KTA effectively gave me three miles for free in this instance, but with glitchy equipment mistakes can go the other way).

[kalvado]

The issues I had with my transponder that was on the fritz from Ohio, NYSTA was more than willing to work with me to resolve some an issue relating to a charge. And to my surprise, I received no penalties or interest charges. Your mileage may vary, of course.

But considering that someone had to dip into the IRA to pay a penalty, then it's more than likely that the driver was ignoring the letters, or didn't have current contact information registered with the agency, or was refusing to pay the initial penalties.

It's no different than a collection agency being summoned for -well- overdue payments.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

If you look at related stories, there are more than a few very nasty situations - mostly  along the lines of "I never saw the bill, and then..". Hard to believe someone living near the bridge didn't have a second thought about those tolls - but toll collectors also play it very hard:
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/15/cashless-tolls-ashlee-delgado/1084058001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/14/cashless-toll-fees-car-impounded/312780002/

Sounds to me as if a commercial operation is not playing honest, while acting under government umbrella.
ANd yes, this is a private for-profit operation. If the goal is to actually collect tolls, a bit of additional effort could be justified. But - behold! - as of right now collection rate is over 100%, meaning fines and fees more than cover whatever goes uncollected. Sounds like a nice way to get extra money..

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2018/01/25/conduent-cashless-tolling/1061583001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2017/12/18/tappan-zee-bridge-cashless-tolls/951540001/

[tribar]

I ran into a similar thing in Kansas.  Their reader did not read the toll NTTA toll tag on my motorcycle.  It is supposed to be good in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.  I got a bill and a ticket.  I called them.  When the lady heard me say motorcycle she said she had three other motorcycle riders call earlier that day, same problem.  So I assume those readers are not very reliable.

I don't know if NTTA requires this for TollTag holders, but in Kansas we K-Tag holders have to register our vehicle license plates with KTA to allow video tolling as a backup.  Before KTA's implementation of video tolling reached its current state where gates and K-Tag read confirmation lights are removed at the ten most heavily used toll plazas, I frequently had problems with the gate staying down when I passed the reader at 30 or faster (speed limit 20).

I suspect, but have not been able to prove, that KTA was trying to use the readers for backdoor speed enforcement:  go much faster than 20 and lose the convenience of having a K-Tag.  (Spec sheets for commercially available readers are on the Web [example] but do not give an idea of how tunable they are.)

It has also been suggested that KTA is using inferior reader equipment "because Kansas is cheap."  Again, I am not sure I could prove this because KTA's construction plans for electronic tolling facilities do not include specs for the reader equipment, which KTA installs itself once the contractor finishes building the gantries etc., and I don't think KTA would have to issue a RFP or bid solicitation if the cost of the equipment falls under a procurement threshold for over-the-counter purchases.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

Periodic financial and technical audit is a good idea.  Besides 1995hoo's suggestion of detouring through a conventional plaza every so often for a "lights check," it is also a good idea to log all turnpike trips on GPS and compare the toll bills to the GPS logs.  I have, for example, a bill from Kansas that says I got on the Turnpike at Haysville/Derby while the GPS log for the same trip shows I got on at South Wichita (KTA effectively gave me three miles for free in this instance, but with glitchy equipment mistakes can go the other way).

The IL tollway gives you the option (or forces you, I don't remember) of creating an account on their website for your transponder/vehicle so you can track every roll your transponder goes through. Not sure if every agency does this but I find this a lot easier than going through the cash lanes every few months.

[seicer]

The issues I had with my transponder that was on the fritz from Ohio, NYSTA was more than willing to work with me to resolve some an issue relating to a charge. And to my surprise, I received no penalties or interest charges. Your mileage may vary, of course.

But considering that someone had to dip into the IRA to pay a penalty, then it's more than likely that the driver was ignoring the letters, or didn't have current contact information registered with the agency, or was refusing to pay the initial penalties.

It's no different than a collection agency being summoned for -well- overdue payments.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

If you look at related stories, there are more than a few very nasty situations - mostly  along the lines of "I never saw the bill, and then..". Hard to believe someone living near the bridge didn't have a second thought about those tolls - but toll collectors also play it very hard:
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/15/cashless-tolls-ashlee-delgado/1084058001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/14/cashless-toll-fees-car-impounded/312780002/

Sounds to me as if a commercial operation is not playing honest, while acting under government umbrella.
ANd yes, this is a private for-profit operation. If the goal is to actually collect tolls, a bit of additional effort could be justified. But - behold! - as of right now collection rate is over 100%, meaning fines and fees more than cover whatever goes uncollected. Sounds like a nice way to get extra money..

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2018/01/25/conduent-cashless-tolling/1061583001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2017/12/18/tappan-zee-bridge-cashless-tolls/951540001/

All I had to do was read one article to find:

"The end of January, Ritchie said she went through the Thruway's cashless tolls amnesty program, paying the $790 the Thruway Authority said she owed to clear away the violations."

So, she had $790 in outstanding tolls that she didn't pay. No reason was given. Considering that the Thruway has no physical barrier to entry, she probably just kept passing through the EZ-Pass lanes even though the yellow light at the booth would have indicated that the EZ-Pass account was in trouble. At that point, she should have consulted EZ-Pass customer care, which is located in the service areas, or by calling them, to resolve the issue before it compounded.

The other issues are irrelevant to the Thruway Authority.

Because she let her account lapse for -so long-, her account went to collections. In essence, her account was sold for pennies on the dollar to a company that will do anything to collect what is owed to them. Find the car, tow the car, and bill her for impound fees, fees for missing payments, fees for anything. Some of it is shady, but it's not on the Thruway Authority, it's on the collection agency.

Towing companies are often suspect, but that's what happens when you are delinquent and your car is impounded because you had $790 in overdue fines. It's never great dealing with towing companies.

She also let her insurance lapse.

[kalvado]

The issues I had with my transponder that was on the fritz from Ohio, NYSTA was more than willing to work with me to resolve some an issue relating to a charge. And to my surprise, I received no penalties or interest charges. Your mileage may vary, of course.

But considering that someone had to dip into the IRA to pay a penalty, then it's more than likely that the driver was ignoring the letters, or didn't have current contact information registered with the agency, or was refusing to pay the initial penalties.

It's no different than a collection agency being summoned for -well- overdue payments.

Just keep your accounts current, keep your information up-to-date and be responsible.

If you look at related stories, there are more than a few very nasty situations - mostly  along the lines of "I never saw the bill, and then..". Hard to believe someone living near the bridge didn't have a second thought about those tolls - but toll collectors also play it very hard:
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/15/cashless-tolls-ashlee-delgado/1084058001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/tappan-zee-bridge/2018/02/14/cashless-toll-fees-car-impounded/312780002/

Sounds to me as if a commercial operation is not playing honest, while acting under government umbrella.
ANd yes, this is a private for-profit operation. If the goal is to actually collect tolls, a bit of additional effort could be justified. But - behold! - as of right now collection rate is over 100%, meaning fines and fees more than cover whatever goes uncollected. Sounds like a nice way to get extra money..

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2018/01/25/conduent-cashless-tolling/1061583001/
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2017/12/18/tappan-zee-bridge-cashless-tolls/951540001/

All I had to do was read one article to find:

"The end of January, Ritchie said she went through the Thruway's cashless tolls amnesty program, paying the $790 the Thruway Authority said she owed to clear away the violations."

So, she had $790 in outstanding tolls that she didn't pay. No reason was given. Considering that the Thruway has no physical barrier to entry, she probably just kept passing through the EZ-Pass lanes even though the yellow light at the booth would have indicated that the EZ-Pass account was in trouble. At that point, she should have consulted EZ-Pass customer care, which is located in the service areas, or by calling them, to resolve the issue before it compounded.

The other issues are irrelevant to the Thruway Authority.

Because she let her account lapse for -so long-, her account went to collections. In essence, her account was sold for pennies on the dollar to a company that will do anything to collect what is owed to them. Find the car, tow the car, and bill her for impound fees, fees for missing payments, fees for anything. Some of it is shady, but it's not on the Thruway Authority, it's on the collection agency.

Towing companies are often suspect, but that's what happens when you are delinquent and your car is impounded because you had $790 in overdue fines. It's never great dealing with towing companies.

She also let her insurance lapse.

This is mostly about open-lane toll on Tappan Zee bridge, no lights no nothing.
And we're talking about plenty of people here:

To date, the DMV has received 8,262 requests for suspensions from tolling authorities and approved 4,976. Of those, 556 suspensions were sought by the MTA; 499 by the Port Authority, and 3,921 by the Thruway Authority......
Under the new state regulation, the DMV can suspend the registration of motorists who fail to pay three or more toll violations within five years, or for commercial vehicles fail to pay $200 in tolls within five years.

Of course, some of those are people who knew they are gambling the system; but some are honestly confused.