AS FIGURES reveal Dublin's new barrier-free tolling system failed to operate correctly for some 20,000 vehicles a day in its first week of operation, fleet owners have complained of additional problems emerging, with "second round" fines, writes Tim O'Brien
The figures were released in a review of the first month of barrier-free tolling. While they indicate that the number of failures has since fallen to 10,000 vehicles a day, a Department of Transport source said this was still unacceptably high.
According to the Department, the failure rate encompasses failure to read tags, mis-reads, failures in reading number plates and human error in matching photos of number plates with registered tag holders.
News of the failure rate and on-going problems comes as the National Roads Authority (NRA), which oversees the eFlow tolling system, is to brief media this morning on the situation.
It also comes as "second round" notices of fines have been sent to motorists, some of which encompass a further error in seeking €40 fines, in addition to toll charges, before the rise to €40 should have come into effect.
One major eFlow customer, Merrion Fleet Management, had complained that it was issued a notice of a €40 fine if settlement was not made within 14 days. However, after 12 days, the fine had risen to €40. A spokeswoman said a notice dated September 10th was received by the company on September 19th and by September 21st, the fine had automatically increased - three days ahead of schedule.
This latest issure arises as Easy Pass, one of the tag companies, wrote to its customers advising them: "The problem of notices [of fines] being issued incorrectly is most likely due to the tag not being mounted correctly in the middle of the windscreen or not having the proper vehicle details associated with your tag."
EFlow, which manages the overall system, as well as providing its own tags, also wrote to its customers this week, advising them errors would be cancelled.
Last night, Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd branded the level of failures as "appalling and disgraceful". Mr O'Dowd said motorists had been warned about minor problems, but "in no way could this be branded as teething troubles". He added that the NRA would be before the Oireachtas Committee on transport early in October and he would be seeking answers.
An NRA spokesman said the error had occurred on "about 100" notices during a manual audit. He said the fines would be cancelled. "We are eliminating the errors all the time," he said, adding that when bedded in, the system will be "the finest in the world".