Good to Go shuts down for two weeks for maintenance starting Friday night
Jul 1, 2021, 5:13 AM | Updated: 8:59 am
Sign showing toll rates for drivers with a Good To Go! Pass and Pay By Mail customers on SR 520. (Photo courtesy of WSDOT/Flickr)
(Photo courtesy of WSDOT/Flickr)
Good to Go account users have just over a day before the system goes dark for about two weeks.
WSDOT finishes crucial phase of Puget Sound Gateway Project
Good to Go was supposed to shut down in mid-June for a system update, but the state found a problem with it and gave the vendor a few weeks to get it right. The state’s Jennifer Charlebois said the issue was with the customer statements they would have received once the system was back up and running.
“The issue that we saw would have been confusing for customers when they got their first statements from the new system, and that wasn’t a situation that we wanted to put our customers in,” she said. “We took that pause to make sure that it was corrected.”
At 6 p.m. on Friday, July 2, the Good to Go website and call center will go dark for about two weeks as the new systems are put in place.
Patty Michaud is in charge of the call center. She is expecting a lot of last minute calls up until the closure.
“We will be busy right up until Friday, right up until we shut down customer service, just wrapping up calls and customer inquiries,” she said.
Customers are still being asked to check all their information online before the closure. People without accounts are encouraged to pay their bills, but Charlebois said you will be able to settle things once the new system opens.
“If customers don’t get to that this week, it’s not a big deal,” she said. “That can all be taken care of on the other side of the transition. We’re just asking customers, if they have time this week, to get that out of the way because we are expecting there to be quite a few people wanting to take care of those activities once we reopen.”
Once the systems reopens, Charlebois said all two million Good to Go users will need to log-in and make some initial changes.
“That’s a really important reminder for folks to make sure that they do have access to their username and password because those will be necessary to be able to log into their new account,” she said.
What is that large contraption on I-5 in Tacoma?
You will have to change your password once you log in. You will then be able to opt-in to some new features, like text alerts or pay-as-you-go instead of carrying a balance. The state has put some videos together to walk you through those steps.
At the call center, Michaud said they’re happy to be busy.
“It’s very busy right now, and I think the staff is pretty excited,” she said. “I think they’re looking forward to meeting our customers and helping them out and getting familiar with the new system. It’s kind of an exciting time at the call center.”
Drivers will still be tolled during the two-week system closure. Bills won’t go out until the system is back online, and you will have more time to pay them.
The reason for the upgrade is that the system is more than 10 years old, and it doesn’t have the functionality users now expect. The goal is to allow customers to handle most of their business on the web, leaving the call center to handle more difficult issues.
Check out more of Chris’ Chokepoints.
