Toll Collector

Toll Collector

TollBoothGuy

5 Years Experience

Brooklyn, NY

Male, 33

I spent just short of five years as a toll collector on the western end of New York State. Ask me anything, but please don't pay me in pennies.

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122 Questions

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Last Answer on September 11, 2020

Best Rated

Can i pay with $100 bill?

Asked by nie nie almost 9 years ago

My system did accept $100 bills. The only caveat is that we took the license plate numbers of cars that paid with anything larger than a 20. We linked the plate number to the bill and sent in a form as part of the audit.

Got lost ay airport and did not have enough change for booth

Asked by ana over 8 years ago

Sorry, I didn't know how to answer this question 3 months ago. I hope you found your way out.

toll collector job is essential job. what precaution will u take to reach on time?

Asked by jems almost 9 years ago

While roads do close in emergencies and during particularly adverse weather conditions, it is correct that toll roads do need to remain staffed at all times. If relief cannot make it to you, unfortunately you will generally be expected to remain at your post until they can safely make their way to you. In more general terms, you always try to arrive at least 10-15 mins before the official shift start time so that you can relieve earlier shifts by the time they are scheduled to leave. Some lanes will close/open depending on the time of day, but to maintain continuous service collectors generally cannot close their lane before relief is in place.

Has anyone ever given you concert tickets, alcohol or other random things to pass through instead of the American dollar?

Asked by Bill W. almost 10 years ago

Never been offered anything like that. If it were to happen, it's a bit tricky. Collectors on the road that I worked on are audited every shift by both axle count and money totals. Additionally, patrons have a ticket that must be surrendered upon their exit. If you accept something in lieu of money, the axle count will be off, and the processed ticket will add to your money total for the night. If you were to accept something from a driver, you would still somehow need to account for the axles coming through your lane and the money dictated by the exit ticket. So if a driver gave me something instead of his $1.50 toll, I'd still need to account for that money.



Was it easy getting the toll collector job?

Asked by Michael over 8 years ago

I mean, it was harder than walking into places of business and handing them a resume. The authority I worked for tended to hire in classes so you kind of had to just keep calling to gauge if they were hiring a group, especially during the years-long gap in which there was no civil service test offered. Once they exhausted the entire list of acceptable candidates that had taken the test, they would hire off the street, so at the end of the day difficulty is kind of directly correlated to timing.

What happens if the arm of the toll both for the "k-tag" (Kansas) goes up but then smashes into the car it just went up for? Who's falt is it? What happens if that car doesn't stop to make a report?

Asked by Curious over 9 years ago

Did this happen to you? Generally a good idea to stop and make a report when things like this happen. I didn't work in Kansas so I don't have any familiarity with the idiosyncrasies of their system. Without seeing the incident, it's impossible to assign fault. If the gate came down while a car is passing through then MAYBE that would suggest a malfunction but again I can't really say.

if customer is complaining about toll how you will explain them?

Asked by jems almost 9 years ago

What can you say, really? Drivers agree to pay the toll the moment they enter the portion of highway that is designated 'toll road'. I was never given official strategies to deal with customers that didn't want to pay a toll. If they had specific questions about the system or why they were being charged a certain amount I was happy to answer them but if you just drive up and complain about the concept of a toll my general response was something along the lines of 

 ¯\_(?)_/¯