Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Restoring Trust Protecting Revenue

Transcription

1 Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Restoring Trust Protecting Revenue Peg Terry Senior Vice President and General Counsel

2 Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Background 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

3 Cashless Tolling: Cautious to Cashless in Less Than a Year 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 (HHB gateless Jan. 2011) TBTA President Michael Ascher Henry Hudson Bridge Cashless Nov MTA Chairman Jay Walder NY Crossings Project Jan to Sept N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo 3

4 What We Didn t Account For: A Loss of Customer Trust Problem Result Goal Solution High E-ZPass violation rate High E-ZPass complaint volume Lost trust of E-ZPass customers Lost trust of elected officials Regaining customer confidence Protect revenue and support to transit Help customers avoid violations and fees Improve customer service 4

5 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 ,646,000 E-ZPass violations in % 1.60% 1.40% 1.20% 1.00% 0.80% 0.60% 0.40% 0.20% 0.00% Violation Rate as of Feb

6 A Rude Awakening: E-ZPass Violation Complaints and Calls Spike 80,000 Customer Service Center Call Volume More and longer E-ZPass violation calls at Customer Service Center (CSC) More E-ZPass violation complaints 1.5/month average in /month average in /month average in 2018 Proposed legislation Violation fee amnesty Caps on violation fees 60,000 40,000 20,

7 The Three Types of E-ZPass Violators Low Information Customers Victims Cheaters I thought I d get a toll bill But I mailed my payment Stop me if you can Can be taught Benefit from better customer service Need to be deterred while others not unduly punished 7

8 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 8

9 Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Minutes 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 8:00 7:00 6:00 5:00 4:00 3:00 2:00 1:00 0:00 Average CSC Phone Call Wait Times General E-Zpass Call Unit Violations Call Unit 9

10 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 10

11 A Critical Piece: E-ZPass Market Share 100% 94% 80% 73% 74% 74% 75% 77% 80% 81% 84% 84% 86% 86% 60% (End of Year) 11

12 Old Focus: Switch to E-ZPass and Save 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 12

13 Old Focus: How to Avoid Toll Bills Mount your tags to avoid toll bills blast 13

14 New Focus: Helping Avoid Negative Balances Credit Card Updater Program Transaction 10-day retry policy Low balance s and texts Account maintenance alerts Mail, and text Declined or rejected cards Rejected ACH payments 14

15 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 15

16 Mobile Alerts and Inserts

17 Avoid E-ZPass Violations - Print

18 E-ZPass Violations & Insert

19 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 19

20 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 20

21 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 21

22 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 22

23 E-ZPass Customer Card

24 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 24

25 E-ZPass Violation-Related Customer Complaints 30 Weekly E-ZPass Violation Related Complaints /2/2018 1/30/2018 2/27/2018 3/27/

26 Tangible Service Improvements at CSC Marked improvement in call wait times January 2018 March 2018 Percent Decrease E-ZPass Related Calls 416 seconds 16 seconds 96% Violation Related Calls 436 seconds 10 seconds 98% 26

27 Tracking Account Management Indicators Big jump in sign-ups for mobile alerts in 2017 and , ,000 Mobile Alert Sign Ups By Year 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 75,000 50,000 25, YTD

28 Cash Replenishments with MTA Reload Card 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 28

29 Measuring E-ZPass Violation Rates 1.80% 1.60% 1.40% 1.20% February 2018 (CR) April 2018 (RAAS) 1.00% 0.80% 0.60% 0.40% 0.20% 0.00% 29

30 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 30

31 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 % recovered for transactions from 1/2017 to 8/ % of all tolls and 7% of all fees paid Total support for transit depends on revenue recovery 31

32 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 32