BALTIMORE — In two weeks, unpaid tolls for Maryland drivers are going to get a lot more expensive.
Maryland Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted to extend the grace period enacted back in February.
RELATED: MDTA Board votes to temporarily waive late fees for outstanding toll bills
On December 15, MDTA will begin assessing a $25 fee per toll costing customers hundreds— if not thousands of dollars.
Traffic was flowing smoothly through the Fort McHenry Tunnel toll booths, but just on the other side of the highway, what drivers don’t see, is a major back up.
The lines packed out with customers extend beyond the wall of the E-ZPass Customer Service Center in Baltimore Wednesday.
Some customers were bundled up for the long wait with comfortable shoes, others with lawn chairs.
This was still not enough to calm frustrations.
“My hands are numb, my feet are numb. I’ve been sitting here holding the phone for almost three and half hours, it makes no sense. It’s ridiculous,” said Jennifer Kane.
Some customers compared the wait to their own eight-hour shifts at work.
SEE MORE: MDTA Board has extended the deadline to pay tolls to December
“It’s been almost about five hours. I pulled up at 7:45 this morning and I’m still outside. I haven’t been able to go in yet and have a few people ahead of me,” shared Bernita Hayward.
“For about five hours almost, the line wasn’t too bad when I got here, but now it’s a little insane,” another customer shared.
“With the waiver of the toll citations and civil penalties, something around 1,200,” Shane Richardson said.
Richardson's $1,200 balance is the result of about 224 video tolls and if those aren’t paid by Dec. 15, he’ll be charged an additional $25 per toll.
That takes his current $1,200 balance and adds $5,600 bringing his new balance to nearly $6,800.
But there’s a long wait between him and avoiding thousands in fees.
For Makisha Holmes, configuring her balance is not as clear cut.
“I talked to somebody a couple of days ago and she gave me an amount and told me how much it was and then I said okay I’ll go online and pay, but when I went to go pay, it was nothing found. No records no nothing. So I said I gotta get up, come talk to somebody and get everything straight,” she said.
Kane is on double duty waiting hours in line and on hold with customer service reps.
“Three hours and 16 minutes trying to find out why the price that I owe keeps going up and I’ve been standing out here for four hours,” Kane told WMAR-2 News.
She had similar discrepancies determining what she owes.
“It was $640. Now they’re saying I owe over $1,000 and the lady I just talked to said that she’ll let me go for 200, but now the systems overloaded and she has to call me back later,” said Kane.
When asked about her frustrations from a scale to 1 to 10, she responded saying “100.”
As of Sunday, MDTA waived about $137 million in civil penalties for about 750,000 drivers and businesses.
Starting Dec 15, drivers will face a $25 penalty per toll.
To find out if you an outstanding balance click here.
