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A new report conducted by the Maryland General Assembly Office shows that more than 82,000 customers were potentially overcharged for using one or more of Maryland’s toll facilities.
According to reports by CBS Baltimore, the complaints were made through the state’s fraud, waste, and abuse hotline. Additionally, some complainants had multiple complaints ranging from being charged the incorrect rate to being multiple times for the same trip.
Also, a data analysis revealed that people who used the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge discount plan had been improperly charged polls.
“Based on our data analysis, we identified approximately $435,000 in potentially improper toll charges related to 10,474 Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge discount plan customers that warrant further follow-up by MDTA,” the report states. “Under the discount plan, customers pay $20 annually for unlimited trips by a two-axle vehicle and should not be charged tolls if the vehicle has a properly mounted E-ZPass transponder.”
Between Dec. 24, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2021, at least 4,465 customers were charged 7,813 tolls for a total of $62, 595, according to the analysis, impacting more than 82,000 customers.
“Based on our review of the related vehicle images taken by tolling cameras for 37 judgmentally selected tolls during the spike period, we believe MDTA should have dismissed 25 of these tolls relating to 23 customers since the vehicle images showed a properly mounted transponder or the image was insufficient to determine if the transponder was properly mounted,” the report states. “For 11 of those 25 tolls where the photographic image was insufficient to determine if a transponder was properly mounted, since the license plate number was associated with the E-ZPass account we believe the burden should have been on MDTA to prove user error by a discount plan customer before charging a toll. Based on our data analysis for all MDTA toll facilities, we identified 82,847 customers that were potentially charged more than once for a single trip through a toll facility,” the report states. “The toll charges (including both potential duplicate tolls and correct tolls) for these customers totaled approximately $645,000. A majority of these tolls (80 percent) occurred at three toll facilities – the Intercounty Connector (ICC), the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial (Bay) Bridge, and the Fort McHenry Tunnel.”
More Than 82k+ Customers May Have Been Overcharged Using Maryland Tolls was originally published on 92q.com
