The I.O.U. Tollbooth

The Northwest Parkway in Denver has very little traffic in the wee hours, so officials decided to experiment with I.O.U. forms left at the booth.

1 minute read

April 9, 2009, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

"Doug Watt, a visitor to Denver, was not impressed by service on the Northwest Parkway. "You are the most rinky dink operation I have seen in my life," he declared in an email to the Parkway. Watt said he "sat forever in a line of cars" as each driver tried to figure out an IOU form that is left in a rack beside a booth for motorists using the tollroad between 10pm and 6am when the mainline plaza is unmanned.

Steve Bobrick, operations director readily admits they have problems still, though he insists the problems arise with a small percentage of the mere 200 motorists who use the tollroad during what he calls the graveyard shift.

"98 percent of our customers find no difficulty at all. We've got work to do on how to handle the remainder (2%)."

Since December they've been without toll collectors in the mainline plaza booths 10pm to 6am.

Bobrick says laughing: "I'll accept the blame" when I ask him whose idea it was."

FULL STORY: NW Parkway leaves mainline plaza unstaffed overnight to experiment with cashless

Monday, April 6, 2009 in TOLLROADSnews

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