Post on 16-Jul-2020
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority
Restoring Trust Protecting Revenue Peg Terry
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel AuthorityBackground Information
• 1933 – Created
• 1968 – Joined MTA
• 9 tolled crossings in NYC• 7 bridges, 2 tunnels
• 310M transactions in 2017
• Generates toll surplus: • $1.9 billion in toll revenue
• $1.1 billion in transit support
2
Cashless Tolling:Cautious to Cashless in Less Than a Year
3
• E-ZPass early adopter with gated lanes at all but HHB until 1/2017
• Gateless in 1/2011 and cashless in 11/2012 at HHB
• Cashless at remaining 8 facilities from 1/2017 to 9/30/2017
Gated
E-ZPass Lanes
1996 to Sept. 2017
(HHB gateless
Jan. 2011)
TBTA President
Michael Ascher
Henry Hudson Bridge
Cashless
Nov. 2012
MTA Chairman
Jay Walder
NY Crossings
Project
Jan. 2017 to Sept. 2017
N.Y. Governor
Andrew Cuomo
What We Didn’t Account For: A Loss of Customer Trust
Problem
• High E-ZPass violation rate
• High E-ZPass complaint volume
Result
• Lost trust of E-ZPass customers
• Lost trust of elected officials
Goal
• Regaining customer confidence
• Protect revenue and support to transit
Solution
• Help customers avoid violations and fees
• Improve customer service
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An Unpleasant Surprise: A Surge in E-ZPass Violations
• Unlike tiny violation rate at Henry Hudson Bridge
• 0.4% at HHB for 2016 violations as of 12/31/2017
• Unlike low violation rate in gated E-ZPass lanes
• 160,000 retained CSC tags in 2016
• 1,646,000 E-ZPass violations in 2017
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0.00%
0.20%
0.40%
0.60%
0.80%
1.00%
1.20%
1.40%
1.60%
1.80%
Violation Rate as of Feb 2018
A Rude Awakening:E-ZPass Violation Complaints and Calls Spike
• More and longer E-ZPass violation
calls at Customer Service Center
(CSC)
• More E-ZPass violation complaints
• 1.5/month average in 2016
• 4.75/month average in 2017
• 55/month average in 2018
• Proposed legislation
• Violation fee amnesty
• Caps on violation fees
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0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000Customer Service Center Call Volume
2018
2017
The Three Types of E-ZPass Violators
Low Information Customers
“I thought I’d get a toll bill”
Can be taught
Victims
“But I mailed my payment”
Benefit from better customer service
Cheaters
“Stop me if you can”
Need to be deterred while others not unduly punished
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Explaining the Surge in E-ZPass Violations
• Low information: • No toll bills for negative balance violations• Didn’t think to “bag their tags”
• Most violations from negative balances• At risk accounts without automatic replenishment • Declined or rejected payment methods
• Absence of in-lane feedback• Gates• Low balance lights• Tag retention
• Retaining tags lowered violations in region
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Complaints Reveal The Reasons
• Performance problems at Customer Service Center
• Long call wait times• Terminated calls• Untimely violation payment
processing• Late violation notices • Not meeting performance
standards
• Willing to pay tolls but not violations
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0:00
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
Ja
n-1
7
Feb
-17
Mar-
17
Ap
r-1
7
May-1
7
Ju
n-1
7
Ju
l-1
7
Au
g-1
7
Sep
-17
Oct-
17
No
v-1
7
Dec-1
7
Ja
n-1
8
Feb
-18
Mar-
18
Min
ute
s
Average CSC Phone Call Wait Times
General E-Zpass Call Unit
Violations Call Unit
Old Focus:E-ZPass is the solution, not the problem
• Widened the gap between cash or
Tolls by Mail and E-ZPass
• Easier for customers to switch to E-
ZPass
• Pay Per Trip to pay tolls daily from
checking account
• MTA Reload Card to replenish
account with cash at retail outlets
• 1 million On-the-Go tags sold in lanes,
now at DMV
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A Critical Piece: E-ZPass Market Share
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73% 74% 74%75%
77%
80%81%
84% 84%86% 86%
94%
60%
80%
100%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
(End of Year)
Old Focus: Switch to E-ZPass and Save
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• “Save money with E-ZPass” TV ad
• Multi-media, multi-lingual
• Print, radio, website and social media
advertising
• Cash lane handouts and door knob
hangers
• Direct mail and E-ZPass statement
inserts
• Pop-ups at public libraries, street fairs
and shopping centers
Old Focus: How to Avoid Toll Bills
• “Mount your tags to avoid toll bills” email blast
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New Focus:Helping Avoid Negative Balances
• Credit Card Updater Program
• Transaction 10-day retry policy
• Low balance emails and texts
• Account maintenance alerts• Mail, email and text• Declined or rejected cards• Rejected ACH payments
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New Focus: Account Management Education
• Promote enrollment in mobile alerts
• Low balance alerts
• Information about credit or debit cards
• Educate customers about account management
• Replenish account after inadvertent violations
• Consider automatic replenishment
• “Next: “Bag Your Tag” campaign
• Includes read prevention bag
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Mobile AlertsEmail and Inserts
Avoid E-ZPass Violations - Print
E-ZPass ViolationsEmail & Insert
New Focus:Improved CSC Customer Service and Oversight
• Strengthening customer service at CSC• Added staff and redistributed call overflow to Endicott
• Improved call line capacity
• Improving timeliness of violation notices
• New performance standard for violation payment processing
• Developing new tools to track CSC customer satisfaction
• Next: improved online access to E-ZPass account data
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Old Focus:Violation fees are the solution, not the problem
• $50 violation fee effective in 2011
• Violations to deter toll evasion and protect revenue and support to transit
• Works as intended at HHB with low tolls and no trucks
• Too soon to tell for last three facilities with higher tolls and trucks
• Increased violation fee to $100 in 2017• Kept $50 fee for HHB and Rockaway Bridges
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New Focus:Teaching customers to avoid violations and fees
• New 30-day grace period for first E-ZPass violation• No fee if tolls paid within 30 days
• Better than sending toll bills to E-ZPass violators
• Minor impact on revenue
• Better than fee amnesty program or capped fees
• Pilot to measure how it educates customers, deters toll evasion and protects revenue recovery
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New Focus:Educating customers through the violation notice and direct outreach to at risk customers
• Revised 1st notice and added insert
• Avoid violation fees by paying tolls within 30 days
• Direct mail to at risk customers
• Reminders about automatic replenishment and mobile alerts
• Customer card
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E-ZPass Customer Card
Are We Regaining Customer Trust?
• Too soon to tell, but some signs are good• Only 6 months after agency-wide Cashless Tolling• Brand new fee policy change
• In the Legislature• Fee amnesty and capped fees not in the Budget• Session extends to end of June
• Developing metrics and baselines, tracking performance and responding as needed
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E-ZPass Violation-Related Customer Complaints
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1/2/2018 1/30/2018 2/27/2018 3/27/2018
Weekly E-ZPass Violation Related Complaints
Tangible Service Improvements at CSC
• Marked improvement in call wait times
January
2018
March
2018
Percent
Decrease
E-ZPass
Related
Calls
416
seconds
16
seconds96%
Violation
Related
Calls
436
seconds
10
seconds98%
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Tracking Account Management Indicators
• Big jump in sign-ups for mobile
alerts in 2017 and 2018
• For others, track against 1/2018
baseline• 79% with automatic replenishment• 5% decline rate for credit cards• 3% decline rate for debit cards
• Slow, uneven rise in MTA Reload
Card use
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-
25,000
50,000
75,000
100,000
125,000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 YTD2018
Mobile Alert Sign Ups By Year
Cash Replenishments with MTA Reload Card
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Measuring E-ZPass Violation Rates
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0.00%
0.20%
0.40%
0.60%
0.80%
1.00%
1.20%
1.40%
1.60%
1.80%
February 2018 (CR)
April 2018 (RAAS)
Developing New Payment Metrics
• Developing new metrics for payments:• Used overall violation rates for HHB, with low initial rate and
steady improvement over time
• Need “snapshots” to make month to month comparisons
• Assembling baseline data for 3/2018:• Percentage of tolls paid after 1st violation notice
• Percentage of tolls and fees paid after 2nd notice
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Measuring Revenue Recovery
• On average, 6 months to achieve 100% revenue recovery• Faster at the Henry Hudson Bridge• Slower at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, with one-way tolling
• Overall revenue recovery as of February 2018• 102% recovered for transactions from 1/2017 to 8/2017• 95% of all tolls and 7% of all fees paid
• Total support for transit depends on revenue recovery
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In Sum, Expect the Unexpected
• Keep educating your customers – before, during and after
• Develop “snapshot” performance standards and track them over time
• Be prepared to pivot
• Cashless Tolling is not just a construction or technology project; it is a people project
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