Andrea Downer, Features Writer

A pile-up of vehicles, leaving the Portmore Toll Plaza, trying to find one of the three lanes on the Portmore leg of Highway 2000 heading into Kingston. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

Several users of the Portmore leg of Highway 2000 are being severely inconvenienced due to glitches with the computerised T-tag system which is one of two payment options to access that roadway.

In addition, chaos could descend on the Portmore toll road point of sale office in a few weeks when the problem is rectified, as, due to the malfunctioning system, some customers are being granted unlimited access to the T-tag lane even after their balances have been depleted.

A sales representative at the point of sale office told The Gleaner that the accounts of such persons will be debited with the outstanding amounts once the problem is fixed.

An irate holder of the T-tag pass, who was observed visiting the toll plaza's point of sale office last Thursday, complained bitterly that the T-tag affixed to his car was not working properly. The man, who gave his name only as Jacob, told The Gleaner tha that he had added $500 value to his T-tag account, he kept getting a 'low balance' reading at the automatic toll booth indicating that he was required to add credit to his account.

The point of sale representative verified that the warnings were inaccurate after checking the man's account and calmly advised the motorist that he should ignore the warnings as his balance was, in fact, not low. The representative then further advised the motorist that he would be able to access the T-tag lane for as long as the problem remained; however, his account would be debited with any amount owing when the problem is fixed.

No topping up

Another frequent user of the T-tag lane at the Portmore toll booth told The Gleaner that she has been able to access the T-tag lane for almost two weeks after topping up her account with $500, an amount which usually lasts for just one week, excluding weekends.

"I noticed that I have been let through even though I am getting a 'low balance' reading!" she exclaimed when she was made aware of the computer malfunction.

An employee of Jamaica Infrastructure Operations, which issues the T-tag on behalf of TransJamaican Highway Limited, operators of the Portmore toll road, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, admittedly told The Gleaner yesterday that the problem surfaced on October 12, just under two weeks ago.

She disclosed that motorists with the problematic T-tags will have to join the manual line and be subject to a much lengthier process than those who pay cash.

"They will have to use the manual lane and after showing their receipt as proof of adding funds to their accounts, they will be issued two receipts, one of which they will sign and return to the cashier and the other they will have to keep for their records," she explained.

She said their accounts will not be updated until after the problem has been fixed. She told The Gleaner that the problems are being experienced by only those T-tag holders who topped up on or after October 12, but does not apply to persons who purchased a pre-charged account (new account holders) during that period.

According to the employee, the problem should be sorted out sometime this week.