WASHINGTON 鈥� Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is promising to address a frustration for drivers that鈥檚 been amplified by the rise of express lanes.
Some drivers who only occasionally use the toll lanes 鈥� or HOV lanes that require an E-ZPass 鈥� could have their transponder downgraded or their account deactivated.
Under Virginia’s E-ZPass Customer Service Agreement, drivers who haven’t used their account for a toll payment for six months could have their account terminated.
E-ZPass Flex users who have gone six months without using the device in an HOV lane, when the trip would be free, can be required to switch to a regular E-ZPass or pay a $10 fee.
On 草莓传媒’s Ask the Governor program Wednesday, Northam was asked about this by a listener, who called the policy 鈥渞idiculous.鈥�
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 use it in six months they shut it off, if you don鈥檛 use the HOV option in six months they request it back,鈥� the listener said.
Northam said he was made aware of the issue recently and said he had been affected as well.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 drive anymore and so I had some issues with my E-ZPass,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tay tuned. We鈥檙e going to take care of this.鈥�
Northam added that he had asked the state transportation secretary to look into the issue.
The Virginian-Pilot has reported that of the 16 states that use E-ZPass, Virginia and New Hampshire are the only two that deactivate accounts for nonuse in such a short amount of time.
