Date:
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Contact:
Janet Matkin, WSDOT Communications, (253) 534-4660 Cell phone - (253) 350-9516
GIG HARBOR – Six weeks after tolls began on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, more than 1.9 million vehicles have crossed the new span. The vast majority have either set up their prepaid electronic Good To Go! account or stopped at the toll booths to pay their tolls. Only 2.57 percent of drivers failed to pay the toll.
“The number of drivers who evaded the toll is very small compared to other toll facilities across the country,” said Greg Selstead, WSDOT’s director of Tolling Operations. “Most toll operations experience double digit violations rates, while ours is less that 3 percent.”
Of the 49,056 violations captured, more than 90 percent occurred in the electronic toll lanes. Drivers without Good To Go! accounts are bypassing the toll booths and staying in the electronic lanes, becoming toll violators.
“While this is a good system, we have more to do to work out the bugs,” Selstead said.
Calibration issues remain with cameras in some of the lanes. A little more than 20,000 images were not clear enough to be used to issue citations. TransCore, the toll system operator, made adjustments to the cameras in mid-August that resulted in increased performance. Further optimization will occur during a nighttime lane closure on Sept. 11.
“WSDOT directed TransCore to address this issue and work toward ensuring we capture clear images that can be used to properly identify all toll evaders,” Selstead said. “TransCore is working toward meeting its performance goal that at least 85 percent of the images will be useable. While they have not met that goal yet, we are encouraged by their efforts to take corrective action.”
A total of 16,481 citations have been issued to date, with thousands more still making their way through the review process. Several hundred citations were issued in error during the last month, including some to Good To Go! customers. Those issued by mistake have been removed from the court docket and changes have been made to correct the problems. Good To Go! customers who think they were issued citations inappropriately should contact the customer service center at 1-866-936-8246.
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