BUFFALO, N.Y. — As 2 On Your Side continues to hold people in power accountable, we're following up on a story from last summer regarding New York State Thruway tolls.
You may recall the Thruway Authority acknowledged that 59,000 people were overcharged at the Lackawanna electronic toll gantry.
After hearing from some more E-ZPass with complaints, we decided to take another look.
2 On Your Side is once again looking at the ability of motorists to raise questions about their E-ZPass bills if they feel there is a problem, and we also learned about what may happen in Albany and New York City to eventually help them.
You may recall the Thruway Authority converted completely to a cashless, electronic system in November of 2020. Then-Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul even took a whack at the old Williamsville barrier.
So now with more follow-up requests for us to take a second look at troubling issues for E-ZPass customers since that transition, we heard from people like Mary Stepanian. She related what amount she says E-ZPass incorrectly charged her. Mary said "836 dollars and 54 cents. Wow ...Yeah."
Her problem, as a nicely documented folder shows, was she was getting constant charges to her credit card linked E-ZPass account for someone else with a similar license plate.
And her constant contact with their customer service got this determined, persistent, and very nice lady this response: "I think after that we got back one back credit of $11.75 cents ... and that there were still more charges "
Again, she is not alone as we're hearing again. As we reported in the summer, there is a Thruway Office of Tollpayer Advocate. We are still waiting to learn more about it from the Thruway Authority.
Other customers tell us with the new overhead transponder readers and sequencing it is harder to read your E-ZPass bill now to see where you got on and got off to check your charges. Some are also confused with the difference in transaction and then posting dates.
Of course, with all these issues and problems for people who use the Thruway, one line of defense may be something called the Tollpayer Protection Act, which has come up in the legislature before, and it's coming up again. There may be more momentum this time around with a new governor and something going on downstate.
You can look it up on line as a State Senate Bill now in committee in Albany. The measure's stated purposes and procedures include the idea of an actual hearing if a user wants to challenge their E-ZPass charges, just like for parking and other traffic tickets.
State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti of Westchester County, who has introduced the bill now and in the past, says: "To give toll-payers some options and some protection, and to ensure that the state is not taking advantage of people either unwittingly or intentionally. We passed this bill quite some time ago. Governor Cuomo vetoed it. And we're hopeful that Governor Hochul will take another look at this and not follow the lead of the former governor."
Remember that in 1998, then-Hamburg Town Councilmember Kathryn Courtney Hochul penned a published letter to The Buffalo News, calling for the elimination of tolls, period, with original bonds financing the highway running out two years before.
So now on the horizon, there's something called Congestion Pricing for New York City. That is charging tolls for vehicles entering Manhattan to help fund and encourage greater use of that city's transit authority.
Abinanti says there is a potential connection for customers with the Thruway issues.
"We really need to have the Tollpayer Protection Act in place when we open up the tolls in Manhattan," Abinanti said. "Otherwise you're going to have total chaos. You're gonna have millions of cars going through these devices, and millions of transactions, and so the state really needs to be prepared, and this will help them get prepared."
And for those who won't be driving into Manhattan but will be on the Thruway, Mary points out: "Something is needed. Again, I can contest my VISA bill right? I can call up and say, 'Hey, I don't think I have this charge,' and they'll look into it. I just feel this goes into a black hole somewhere, and whether it's E-ZPass themselves or some other corporation that owns E-ZPass, it's big bucks, and they're not being accountable."
The Thruway Authority did respond to our request help out Mary, and a spokesman provided their response to the Tollpayer Protection Act.
They say more than 400 million transactions were properly recorded, and the Tollpayer Advocate's office has helped over 2,600 customers after they could not be satisfied through their dealings with customer service. They will not comment on pending legislation and note the Port Authority and MTA may be involved in the New York City Congestion pricing plan.
This reporter will point out that I was one of those 59,000 E-ZPass customers overcharged last year at the Lackawanna toll gantry. I was properly credited as the Thruway Authority and E-ZPass said they would do for all those affected.