After fielding thousands of complaints, Virginia officials on Monday said only new E-ZPass holders would be charged a monthly fee and not those who already have such passes.
The compromise means new customers will have to pay 50 cents a month for each standard transponder or $1 a month for each Flex transponder, which allows carpooling drivers to use express lanes for free, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. Drivers would begin paying the fees Sept. 1.
Existing customers who replace their transponder or add a new one would have to pay the same fees, but would not be charged for their current transponder.
The action comes three years after Maryland instituted a $1.50 monthly fee on all its E-ZPass holders and makes Virginia the 15th state to impose such a fee.
VDOT Commissioner Greg Whirley said the new fee structure helps manage the demand for both standard and Flex transponders without penalizing existing customers.
“The fee structure was established after careful consideration of public input balanced with the need to cover VDOT’s rising costs to provide Virginia’s E-ZPass program,” Whirley said. “I directed VDOT to consider several options and chose the one that was the most reasonable, splitting the costs between the customers and the toll facilities.”
The agency’s announcement that it was considering a $1 fee prompted a tidal wave of protests from residents this spring. By the June 12 deadline, more than 20,000 had people emailed VDOT regarding the proposal. Some residents questioned the need for the fee, pointing out that VDOT made $13.5 million in 2011 from E-ZPass transaction fees and interest, but spent only $10.7 million maintaining the program.
The agency says it needs the fee to meet the expected increase in demand for the devices once the new Beltway Express Lanes and other toll facilities open this year.
