Thruway toll takers taken to task

By Michael Gormley, Associated Press, 10/16/2003 16:33

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) If you try to give pennies to pay your Thruway toll, or if you don't know what that toll is, you could be in for a rough ride from a few testy toll collectors.

The written complaints by motorists claim a few toll booth operators statewide were vulgar and abusive, sometimes racially insulting, and prone to questioning a driver's intelligence.

According to the complaints filed with the state Thruway Authority, counting pennies seemed to take an especially hard toll on the workers:

One motorist offered five pennies as part of the toll payment, or the only other bill he had, a $100 bill.

''Go (expletive deleted) yourself,'' the toll taker said.

A Connecticut family said they didn't realize there was a toll and had no cash. So they offered 100 pennies.

''Take it to the bank. I don't want your pennies,'' the toll operator said.

''But it's a dollar,'' the motorist responded.

''Don't care.''

A Woodbury toll taker returned five pennies to a customer with a suggestion, ''Here, save these to buy a bottle of hair dye.''

One woman who paid the toll for her daughter, traveling in the car behind her, found the toll taker also took her daughter's 50-cent toll as well, offering ''Sucker!'' as the daughter drove past. The extra toll was refunded, Thruway spokesman Terry O'Brien said Thursday.

A Coxsackie toll taker asked a motorist who drove into the wrong lane, ''What is it, a blonde thing?''

At the Spring Valley interchange a motorist asked what the toll was, and was told: ''What are you, (expletive deleted) brain dead?''

The complaints number just 13 over the last year and all have been investigated or are under investigation by the state Thruway Authority, O'Brien said.

If the vulgar or abusive behavior claimed in the complaints is verified, the employee gets a reprimand letter for his or her file, a refresher course on employee relations, and, if a pattern is proven, the worker is fired, O'Brien said of the authority's ''zero tolerance'' policy.

The complaints were posted on a Web site (http://THEsmokinggun.com) after a request under the state Freedom of Information Law. The posting prompted the New York Post on Thursday to refer to the incidents as ''sleazy pass.''

O'Brien noted that the complaints are a fraction of the 267.2 million Thruway toll transactions each year. He said the authority routinely receives letters of praise for its toll collectors from motorists around the nation, but each complaint is investigated.

There were more than 300 letters of complaint dating to 2000 and two dozen complimentary letters, said Daniel Green, managing editor of The Smoking Gun Web site, owned by the cable network Court TV.

''They were all disciplined, but there's a process you have to go through,'' O'Brien said. ''If there's a pattern of that in their file, the penalties get a lot stiffer up to and including terminations.''

Eight collectors, six of them part-time, have been fired since 1998 for being abusive to customers, O'Brien said. Five collectors were suspended from 10 days to four weeks without pay and two of them were also put on a year's probation.

One resigned during the investigation, which can take 12 weeks before an independent hearing officer. A union representative is also provided.

''Negative responses'' declined in 2002 and 86 percent of customers graded the overall efficiency as good or excellent, according to the Thruway's customer survey. Some drivers, however, said collectors seem ''distracted,'' a comment that lingered from 2000.

''Toll collectors are always on their phones or talking to other collectors when you pass through,'' one driver said in the agency's survey.

Complaint forms are available at toll booths, rest stops and on the Thruway's Web site (http://www.thruway.state.ny.us).

 

I use to live in Buffalo and I hated the tolls.........

 

ny toll suck

 

EZ Pass

 

It's New York. What do you expect.

The toll booth ladies in MI are angels.
"Hello, how are you doing today, sir. Here's your change. You have a safe trip. ba-bai"

 

Showing once again the graciousness and charm so prevalent in the North East.

 

I would probably say the opposite is probably worst! I wonder how many motorists insult toll takers...probably lots!!!!

 

Reminds me of Toll Booth Willie. Anyways, no tolls here, thank god

 

How does that work, I have seen them at toll stations but I don't know anything about them really... I take it, its a little device that you have on / in your car that is scanned when you drive by... I see people don't have to slow down much and also how do you pay... Does it mail you a bill month or ?? Also what happens if someone with no EZ Pass goes in that lane ??

Shawn

 

It looks like you have to prepay. Here is the information on how it works http://www.ezpass.com/static/info/howit.shtml

Oh, if you don't have the tag and you use that lane, they actually take a picture of your plate and send you a warning. My friend got one before...

 

... or most of the time, a police officer is usually there monitoring the cars going through the tolls, stops the "violators", and writes up a ticket for each of them, causing traffic on the affected EZ-Pass lanes

 

Cool, thx for the info... LOL I didn't know I could have just went to ezpass.com... I should have known better

Shawn

 

But I love NY......