Toll roads are one of the unavoidable consequences of having a fully-developed state highway system. You want nice roads? Then you’ve gotta pay a few tolls here and there. Luckily, many states including our own Lone Star State offer prepaid electronic toll passes which allow users to drive right through toll roads for a yearly or monthly premium. Passes like the EZ TAG and TxTAG are popular among Texas drivers who frequently drive on toll roads and want to avoid the long lines which sometimes build up at toll stations. While these passes usually save drivers time and money, a recent mix up at the Texas Department of Transportation has resulted in some EZ TAG holders being charged for toll transactions they never made in error. Are you being overcharged for toll road use?
The mistake was the result of a system error at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Some EZ TAG customers who drove toll roads like the Grand Parkway have received bills for tolls which should have posted directly to their EZ TAG accounts. That means many customers were charged multiple times for the same toll, and some of them might have ended up double paying. Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) spokeswoman Roxana Sibrian says the HCTRA is working with the TxDOT to resolve the issue quickly:
Customers who have HCTRA EZ TAG accounts and who use TxDOT’s Grand Parkway (or other TxDOT-operated toll roads) may have again received bills in error for toll transactions which should have posted to their EZ TAG accounts. A similar issue occurred last year and HCTRA worked diligently on our customers’ behalf to resolve the issue with TxDOT.
The error applies to tolls collected between January and April 2018. If you are an EZ TAG holder who drove through toll areas during those times, you might want to go over any TxDOT bills you received and double check with your EZ TAG statements to make sure you haven’t been double charged.
