WSDOT fails to bill thousands of toll customers on time
Apr 20, 2016, 3:17 PM
Imagine a future where all roads are tolled. Now the driver has to consider the value of each trip. (Washington State Department of Transportation file image)
(Washington State Department of Transportation file image)
The Washington Department of Transportation failed to bill thousands of toll customers over a year-long period.
The computer glitch dates back to March 2015 and WSDOT spokesperson Emily Pace said the error impacts 8,200 vehicles.
Katrina Snow is one of those drivers. She lives in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood and works in Bellevue. Snow pays to cross the 520 bridge, which adds up to about $8 per day. But she said she didn’t realize her Good-to-Go pass expired. If it did, she assumed she would get bills in the mail.
Last week, her bill came in at about $1,600 — the sum of her trips from the previous year.
The bill was due in two weeks.
“I mean, that’s a really expensive toll,” she said. “I’m paying every month for you to get your stuff together.”
Snow said the late billing is a double-standard for government.
“I’m pissed because in my professional life I can’t render a service and payment a year later,” she said. “It’s on me to be the person requesting payment to be agile in my invoice.”
Related: John Curley plans to keep driving on 520 despite another possible toll hike
Pace says the mishap included 160,000 trips out of about 43 million — a small chunk of the trips over the 520 bridge, Tacoma Narrows and the 405 roadway. She says the problem can be traced back to a server issue with WSDOT’s vendor and that the bills were finally sent out at the beginning of March.
Now, Pace says, she’s doing everything she can to help customers.
“We’re giving everyone extra time to pay their bills and some customers who owe us a higher amount, we’re giving them longer time to pay,” she said.
That applies to Snow. Since she owes more than $1,000, she gets 180 days. But nothing explaining the grace period or the discount came with Snow’s bill. Snow says she only found that out when she went in person to a Good To Go Customer Service Center. And, she doesn’t really trust a verbal agreement.
“You can tell me everything but unless it’s in writing, it doesn’t really make me feel better,” Snow said.
Pace acknowledges no letter went out with the bills when they were finally sent.
“Again, we’re very, very sorry about this,” Pace said. “And we know it impacts people.”
