MDTA talks customer assistance plan, toll transaction backlog, refunds with Eastern Shore Delegation

The presentation from Pines, which was originally scheduled for the Feb. 26 delegation meeting, explained the newly implemented customer assistance plan, updated legislators on the toll transaction backlog and discussed the possibility of customer refunds.

The MDTA board approved a customer assistance plan on Feb. 24, which aims to address three of the main requests the agency hears from customers, Pines said: giving customers more time to pay outstanding tolls, allowing customers to pay outstanding tolls without further consequences of late fees and providing timely call center assistance.

Gov. Larry Hogan, hearing Marylanders’ complaints, asked the MDTA board to provide relief for customers facing late fees on toll bills that accrued during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the four-component plan.

The plan immediately discontinues the referral of toll bills to the state’s central collections unit and the MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, providing customers with a grace period to spread out payments of unpaid video tolls at the customer’s convenience while avoiding further escalations, Pines said. The grace period, which runs until Nov. 30, essentially acts as a worry-free temporary payment plan for customers to stretch out their payments over the course of nine months.

Secondly, with “some exclusion,” the plan establishes a civil penalty waiver grace period that waives civil penalties for all customers who pay all unpaid tolls by midnight on Nov. 30.

“For every unpaid video toll transaction that’s paid in full, the corresponding civil penalty will be waived,” Pines said. “This plan would open up the potential for civil penalty waivers for payments on any outstanding video tolls during the grace period, including historical tolls; so things that even predated the pandemic, the actual pandemic backlog, and the day-to-day current transactions that customers incur.”

“Under the proposed plan, customers will remain responsible for paying their outstanding toll amount in full with only the associated civil penalty amounts being waived during the grace period,” he continued.

The MDTA board has limited statutory authority to provide waivers, but the elimination of tolls or free passage is prohibited by the MDTA Trust Agreement. The toll payments are a condition of the civil penalty waivers to ensure toll payments are actually made.

As another part of the plan, the MDTA will work to increase the number of customer service agents to reduce call and web chat wait times. The agency now has over 200 call agents, a significant increase from fall 2021.

At the Jan. 21 delegation meeting, Mike Arntz, the community liaison for U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md-1st, shared that during Pines’ hour-long presentation that Friday, he had moved from the 187th person in the queue of customer service requests on the website to number 136.

After sharing the staffing increases, Pines did acknowledge that the MDTA recognizes there’s a lot more to be done to reduce the call wait times. The wait times are declining, but implementing the new customer assistance plan will further boost that, he said.

As a final aspect of the plan, the MDTA is going to start to working on a longer-term option to offer a payment plan opportunity, Pines said. However, implementing such a plan would require approval from the MDTA board, the state Board of Public Works, agreements with vendors, and the establishment of additional regulations.

Overall, the new customer assistance plan is a positive to the MDTA and customers: it’s financially affordable to the agency, meets the MDTA Trust requirement of not offering free passage, and offers other financial benefits beyond customer service benefits, including further customer education on paying video tolls, using the DriveEZ website and learning about the 15% early payment discount, Pines said.

Customers who pay their video tolls before the notice of toll due is mailed will save 15%, for a maximum of $5 per transaction.

Addressing the backlog that caused many Marylanders to express frustration and scrutiny toward the MDTA, Pines stated that the agency is “well on its way” to eliminating the backlogged toll transactions.

Backlog processing is 99% complete for E-ZPass transactions and 91% complete for posting video and image toll transactions to customers’ accounts, he said. All notices of toll due are expected to be sent out by this summer.

Pines also addressed concerns voiced by Sen. Jason Gallion, R-35-Harford, and Del. Kevin Hornberger, R-35A-Cecil at the Jan. 21 delegation meeting about constituent complaints with tolling technology and incorrect billing.

Pines stated that the MDTA had checked equipment accuracy and customer billings for the Hatem Bridge toll on Route 40 in Cecil County and found that the equipment was reading transponders accurately 99.96% of the time. The agency also found that many customers have opted to use a E-ZPass discount plan that’s only valid at the Hatem Bridge, which leads to customers draining their accounts and being tolled by video at other E-ZPass facilities.

Pines encouraged Upper Shore legislators to help their constituents understand the difference between the two Hatem Bridge discount plan options. Additional details on the differences between the bridge’s discount plans can be found on the DriveEZ Maryland website.

Following Pines’ presentation, Sen. Steve Hershey, R-36-Upper Shore, first thanked him and the MDTA for their work before inquiring about refunds for his constituents.

Hershey explained that many people have called his office saying they were “forced to pay the civil penalties based on backlog and a number of errors that were really no fault of theirs.” Acknowledging the grace period that went into effect Feb. 24, he asked if there was any way to retroactively provide that same grace period or reimburse individuals who had to pay civil fines.

In response, Pines said that like legislation, any policy the MDTA puts forward must have an effective date, and they couldn’t have something be effective before it was approved on Feb. 24.

The MDTA does already have the ability to issue refunds on a case-by-case basis if customers believe they were mistreated, were erroneously charged, had challenges with the postal system or other issues, Pines said. The agency evaluates requests on a case-by-case basis and has a “strong track record” of issuing credits to customers.

Pines added that MDTA board also didn’t elect to include a retroactive refund because of so many different circumstances with their customers, from large commercial accounts to customers with serial debt accruals to court involvements with debts.

“I’m not in any way trying to say we will not consider refunds; we absolutely will issue refunds on a fair basis with customers, but we do need to evaluate those on a case-by-case basis,” he said.