New York State Thruway Authority "Loses" $4.5m

Glenn Swanson
by Glenn Swanson

According to Albany’s Times Union, the New York State Thruway Authority failed to collect some $4.5m in unpaid tolls from persistent E-ZPass scofflaws using highway I90. Thruway Executive Director Michael Fleischer defended his agency. "We have been working very cooperatively to get a contractor on board to collect the small fraction of the tolls that go unpaid." That has state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's auditors questioning the authority's "management culture." Maybe it's got something to do with the Authority's proposed toll hikes for 2008, 2009 and 2010. The auditors get the connection: "Toll increases should not be a substitute for sound management practices." Meanwhile, in the tiny town of Halfmoon, officials are deciding how to deal with a large puddle at an intersection, which sometimes causes motorists to travel into the path of oncoming traffic; good thing they’ve scheduled a defensive driving class for February 16th. And in Guilderland, we learn that snow plowing a cul-de-sac is “quite a science.” And now you know the news.

Glenn Swanson
Glenn Swanson

Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)

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  • Peteinsonj Peteinsonj on Jan 30, 2008

    Last summer - about half way - driving to NC (from NJ) on vacation, I realized that my EZPass was not working. (at that point I started going through the cash tolls). When I finally contacted the miserable customer service dept at EZPass -- they told me that having the transponder really doesn't matter. And given the age of my box, the battery is likely dead. When the camera takes a picture of the license, its automatically matched against a list of EZPass owners -- and the account charged. And that's what happened -- tolls on the NJ Parkway, Thruway, and the bridges I went over all showed up on my statement. In other words -- if you don't want to have the transponder in your car, don't bother. /p

  • Jazbo123 Jazbo123 on Jan 30, 2008
    In other words — if you don’t want to have the transponder in your car, don’t bother. When my transponder doesn't register I sometimes get billed for going all the way to the end of the state... about $8.50. Just found one today - but to their credit (and mine) they always adjust it out.
  • Maggot Maggot on Jan 30, 2008

    DiNapoli also said the Thruway Authority failed to collect $27.5 million in unpaid tolls and penalties over a six-year period, pointing out that one out-of-state trucking company was cited for 2,226 violations and owes $59,159 in unpaid tolls. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2008/01/21/daily54.html

  • Peoplewatching04 Peoplewatching04 on Jan 30, 2008

    I'm so ecstatic that something from the Times Union made it onto the site. I was raised in Albany- and yes, people there actually think the cul-de-sac science is real news that the nation should care about. It should make sense that the same people "losing" 4.5 million dollars are the ones reading and writing the cul-de-sac articles.

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