Drivers with two toll tags get double-billed

About 800 drivers taking advantage of electronic tolling on the Triangle Expressway were double-billed this month, North Carolina Turnpike Authority officials said Wednesday.

Dane Berglund, director of the NC Quick Pass Customer Service Center, said the issue started Jan. 3 when North Carolina linked its system to other popular electronic toll systems used in other states.

Chad Dunn has an I-Pass from by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, which is integrated with the E-ZPass system used in 15 other states in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The same transponder allows him to electronically pay tolls everywhere and, beginning earlier this month, in North Carolina as well.

However, Dunn said, he wasn't sure NC QuickPass would be linked up, so he added that device to his car as well. That's where the problem started. 

Drivers like Dunn who have transponders for multiple services in their vehicles were billed by each agency.

Berglund said drivers should either remove one of the transponders from their vehicles or seal it in what's called a non-read bag so that it won't register with roadside toll cameras. Drivers with stickers from other states are encouraged to remove them and replace them with an NC QuickPass sticker.

Those who were double billed will get a credit, Berglund said.

About 55,000 drivers use NC Quick Pass, and Berglund estimated about 800 of them have a second transcoder on their car.