Letter to the Editor: How a $6.75 Toll Became a $57.50 Bill

Like most folks living in south Orange County I never drive OC's toll roads ever. They're too expensive for the few minutes TCA says they'll save me getting from point A to B.

But how could my visiting granddaughter (from Seattle) know, when borrowing my car (Tuesday April 8th) to drive to JWI to pick up relatives for a week of sun and family fun here in San Clemente?

GPS advised her - take I-5,to State Highway 73, to the 405. State Hwy 73 is a toll road she soon discovered, idling at the toll booth absent $6.75, and they don't take credit cards.

Back in San Clemente, she clicked on TCA's website to pay, but first you have to buy a monthly pass. Frustrated, she went backto family fun. TCA's Catch-22 toll-scam faded from her memory and I just received the bill: $6.75 Toll. Late fee: $57.50 (and we're still in April?). I have till May 8th to pay…or else.

But how much else? $57.50 on a $6.75 toll, in just 16-days? That's some fast computing. Imagine what 30-days out, or 45-days out, or 60-days = $230? If left unpaid for a year, could it be a gut-wrenching $1,380 on a $6.75 toll?

And now they've removed the toll booths, with summer driving millions of tourists here looking to GPS for the shortest routes Point A to B, on OC's State Highways, where 51-miles of OC's State Highways are Toll Roads, with no toll booths to alert out-of-staters of their toll? And they won't be back in their home states for a month?

Welcome to Orange County America. The happiest place on earth until you get home and check your TCA mail - Hi, Remember Us! 

Paul Carlton