CLEVELAND — It’s been more than nine months since the Ohio Turnpike Commission made the switch to its new tolling system, and as motorists got used to it, especially those without E-ZPass, the Turnpike Commission has cut them some slack in paying their unpaid toll bills, but that courtesy is coming to an end.
When it came time to put in a new toll collection system, the Ohio Turnpike Commission decided not to go with a completely no toll booth open road tolling system like Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois, where drivers are tolled by plate through the mail if they don’t have an E-ZPass.
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Instead, they went with a hybrid system, allowing those with E-ZPass to drive without stopping and those without it to pay at a toll booth.
They knew some drivers without E-ZPass would inevitably be confused and pass through the E-ZPass-only high-speed checks. Those drivers have their plates read and are later billed in the mail.
However, from April through December of last year, nearly 347,000 of those transactions remain unpaid.
In mid-August 2024 – as a courtesy to its customers – the Commission suspended all late fees, collections, and vehicle registration holds to allow more time for its customers to become familiar with the new open road tolling system. The initial suspension lasted 60 days but was extended again to give its customers more time to adjust to the new system.
Beginning Feb. 3, 2025, the Commission will start issuing late fees for unpaid tolls.
Customers who incur an unpaid toll by driving through an E-ZPass lane and who do not pay the first unpaid toll invoice within 30 days will have a $5 late fee added to the second mailed invoice for each unpaid toll.
Beyond that, beginning Feb. 10, 2025, the Commission will send any unpaid tolls incurred since April 10, 2024, to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for collections and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) for a hold on vehicle registrations.
Mailed invoices and notices that remain unpaid for 90 days from the issue date will be sent to the AG’s Office for collections and/or the BMV for vehicle registration holds.
The Turnpike Commission can only suspend the vehicle registrations of Ohio motorists, not those from other states.
While 347,000 is a large number of unpaid tolls, that’s out of 44 million transactions, so that’s less than 1% compared to the industry average of 6% in states that are 100% open road tolling.
