Funny little story about the NTTA

Disclaimer: this isn't an account of a motorcycle ride, at least not on my part....

I just got a bill in the mail today from the North Texas Toll Authority for about $30 in unpaid tolls. For those of you who haven't spotted it yet, I live in Houston. Furthermore, I've never had my bike outside of the greater Houston area.

First I should say, the lady I talked to on the phone was extremely helpful and did not hesitate for a second to look into this for me. She (and/or her manager) looked up the picture and evidently L's on itty bitty motorcycle license plates look a lot like C's and I was excused of the bill.

If any of you are in DFW with an EXTREMELY similar license plate to mine (we did verify it was another motorcycle but she couldn't tell make or model) I hope you have an EZtag or the NTTA equivalent or else you're getting a bill pretty soon. On a side note, it'd be nice if they cross referenced the license to the vehicle but I guess we lowly motorists can't ask too much of those who lord over us with a mighty hand...

I got one better...I get a bill for a motorcycle plate that I did in fact USED to own. Only problem...this plate was attached to a full size pickup. They billed me for some truck using my old moto plate from my motorcycle that I sold 3 years ago. They don't care if the plate matches the vehicle, unless you complain.

Boy some ppl just can't put 2 and 2 together!

Since we are telling stories, I will tell you a new one from the NTTA (my old one is in another thread).

I got a bill from them and it had a picture of total darkness yet my license plate was on the bill. I didn't pay it.

I get another bill with my plate clearly in the picture and the date matched my records (yes, I now mark when I use a NTTA road). I paid the $3.29 toll. Two weeks later, I get a check for that same amount saying I overpaid. Two weeks later, I get a bill for $3.29 and a $10.00 fee for the initial payment being late!?

The times I have tried to reach someone via phone, I was on hold for 20min 2X and never spoke with a live human. They can go.....(well anatomically, it isn't possible).

I haven't ever had a problem with getting a live person at NTTA, but apparently YMMV.

They really don't cross-reference anything except the license plate number they read and the tolltag numbers and the plate numbers they correspond to. They just want to make sure they've charged everyone they should- and that they're not double-tolling folks (tag read + plate read) so that's the total of effort they make.

What's even worse, is that if the computer can't OCR the plate, they give it to a human... and the human can only issue ZipCash invoices. So every two or three months I get a ZipCash bill for $15-40 and have to call in, talk to someone, and have them charge those tolls at the tolltag rate instead, and charge them against my tolltag account. Major PITB that could be solved if they would check human-read plates for tolltag accounts and treat them as expected.

I got a ZipCash invoice from 2011 recently- the guy said it had been mis-interpreted five different times and had taken that long to get the number correct. I looked at the photo and said "No way you can tell that's me" so I call in- and the guy pulls up the photo and is giving me details about my bike, what color, what accessories, "Man you're a big guy", etc. So I wound up paying that one, more than 3 years after the toll was incurred.

Cheez, that is funny man.

AH!! that explains why I just got a zip cash bill for a motorcycle with a toll tag!

I got one last week, in the picture the rider had a GoPro mounted on his helmet, I don't have a GoPro. 3 minutes on the phone with NTTA got it solved.