Transportation Gone Wild: Nickel and Dimed at the Toll Plaza

Some Mass Pike toll takers allegedly thought they could get rich by skimming some of your grubby quarters. The Suffolk County DA's office announced that 10 people were charged for misclassifying cars that went through the toll and pocketing the difference. Here's the full scoop on their clever schemes:

The most common scheme involved the intentional misclassification of taxi cabs and other commercial vehicles as ordinary cars. As vehicles pass through the tolls, the collector is supposed to hit a switch indicating the type of vehicle passing through and collect the appropriate fare. In most of these instances we’ve charged, toll collectors would classify some of the taxi cabs or other commercial vehicles as ordinary vehicles, but charge the drivers the higher toll rate and pocket the difference. “Another scheme involved toll collectors manipulating the timing switch used to count cars so that two vehicles would be counted as one. Again, the toll was collected from the uncounted vehicle but pocketed by the toll collector. The dollars stolen from the Turnpike by misclassifying or miscounting vehicles could range anywhere from $20 to $150 per toll collector, per shift, and amount to thousands of dollars.

This is yet another poke in the eye for commuters. Why didn't these allegedly nefarious toll takers just reach into the drivers' windows, swipe change straight from our cupholders, and make a run for the nearest Wendy's value menu? Remember, the toll takers used to pack heat.

[DA's Office, WBZ]

All charges alleged until proven by law. Toll booth image by Flickr user jglazer75. All charges alleged until proven under law.