[murd0c]

I have a friend in Calgary and Washington and none of them had to pay a toll ever or have seen a bill. Translink only has access to information from BC plates so there for they can not charge out of province and country drivers. Sounds like to me they say that but don't really want anyone to know so people start doing that. My friend from washington is down here all the time and for the past 2 years he has never received a bill and he cross's the bridge a couple times a week.

Here's a fourm where I remember seeing the article saying how they can't charge tolls right now

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...487313&page=21

By Jeff Nagel - Aldergrove Star

Published: July 22, 2009 12:00 PM

Although tolls are now being charged on the new Golden Ears Bridge, some motorists will continue to cross it for free – perhaps indefinitely.

Vehicles with out-of-province plates won't be charged because TransLink doesn't have a system in place to obtain billing addresses for motorists from Washington State, Alberta and beyond.

To 70-year-old Surrey resident Ingeborg Kuehn, it doesn't seem fair.

"In California, you go through the toll bridges and you pay no matter where you come from," she said. "They have tolls and everybody pays. Why do just we have to pay?"

It's a serious issue for B.C. Trucking Association president Paul Landry.

His members with B.C.-plated trucks will pay close to $9 to cross the Golden Ears Bridge while competing rigs with Alberta or Saskatchewan plates – plenty of which are based here – scoot across for free.

"We think everybody should be paying their fair share," Landry said.

"If B.C.-plated carriers are required to pay, so should non-resident carriers."

He said some interprovincial carriers have large numbers of trucks that never leave B.C. yet have Alberta or Saskatchewan plates because the company is based out of province.

Those trucks include ones that "compete side-by-side" with local B.C.-registered trucks.

"One would pay the toll, while the other one wouldn't," he said.

"It might actually create an incentive for companies that are able to plate in other jurisdictions to do so."

After a month of free crossings, the tolls took effect on the new bridge on July 16.

The span has no toll booths, but rather sets of overhead cameras that capture licence plates.

Large numbers of bridge users – nearly 20,000 so far – have signed up to rent transponders for $1 per month so they'll be automatically detected as they drive over and get a reduced rate of $2.75 per crossing for regular vehicles.

Those who don't get a transponder but sign up and provide their credit card billing information pay $3.30.

Anyone else who simply uses the bridge is being charged $3.90 each way.

Those who ring up an unpaid bill of $25 or more will eventually be unable to renew their driver's licence or vehicle insurance until they pay up.

That's a simple way to enforce against B.C. motorists – because everyone here has to deal with ICBC – but it's not as easy to go after out-of-province drivers.

TransLink could pay a company to get billing information for cars and trucks with non-B.C. licence plate numbers that use the bridge.

But spokesman Ken Hardie said that may often cost more than the unpaid tolls that might be recovered, and any collection agency that's used would also get a cut of the proceeds.

It would be simpler if ICBC and other jurisdictions could simply swap information, but no such arrangements are in place.

However, Hardie said it will be possible to track out-of-province users and potentially go after those who ring up large toll bills.

"If you get a frequent flyer it becomes economically viable to pursue them," he said.

Motorists who deliberately try to register their vehicles outside B.C. to beat the tolls may end up with bigger problems than dodging bill collectors.

Someone primarily driving their car in B.C. but registering it in Alberta would run afoul of their insurer and TransLink may well blow the whistle on them using data gathered by the bridge cameras, Hardie said.

"They are essentially uninsured and that's against the law," he added.

In the case of heavy trucks, Hardie said TransLink may ask the province to require all trucks using the Golden Ears Bridge to carry a transponder.

He said the tolling system would automatically detect trucks that pass without a transponder and could then signal police, allowing enforcement either on the spot or later through a mechanism like photo radar.

"It's a measure that can be brought in if necessary," he said, adding it's not yet clear it will be a large enough problem.

TransLink didn't anticipate many out-of-province vehicles would use the Golden Ears Bridge, he said.

A better solution to the problem of out-of-province vehicles skirting bridge tolls may be needed when the new tolled Port Mann Bridge opens in 2013, he added.