Driving this summer? Cashless toll updates you need to know
TOPEKA (KSNT) – It’s a change that’s been nearly a decade in the making for highways across the Sunflower State.
It may only be the first full week of March, but summer is right around the corner. The turn of the season brings big changes to how you’ll travel on the turnpike.
27 News Spoke with the Kansas Turnpike Authority Director of Business Services and Customer Relations Rachel Bell. In her almost 24 years with the organization, she says that cashless tolling is definitely the biggest change.
She says that huge update coming for the turnpike was done for three main reasons.
First, the cash collection equipment was showing its age. She says it needed an update.
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Second is customer service. The new systems will be the same as the ones used in Denver and Dallas. Both are areas that deal with a large population of drivers constantly going through those highways. That’ll be a big update for those just passing through the state.
Third, and definitely the most important, is for safety.
“The big thing is that everybody keeps moving,” Bell said. “It’s a safer alternative for us. Anytime you can have traffic moving at the same speed, not have traffic stopped while some other traffic keeps going, it’s just a safe method of tolling.”
For those that already have a K-TAG, the Director says K-TAG users won’t see a whole lot of change with the new system.
If you’re getting an updated license plate this March, the KTA says you’ll need to update your information online for that K-TAG.
The biggest change on the driver side this summer will be using the new toll payment account system, DriveKS. That’s where toll statements will come from. Current K-TAG accounts will automatically be converted to a DriveKS one, once the cashless tolling begins in July.
For more information about the upcoming change, you can read more on KTA’s website here.
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