E-Z Pass New York Website Can’t Handle Increased Traffic

The start of easing traffic on some New York City streets led to a different type of traffic problem for the most popular way to pay tolls in New York.

Monday, January 6th began a new era in travel on New York City streets as it was the first full workday of New York City's new congestion pricing tolling.

New York is the First U.S. Metro to Start Congestion Price Tolling

The new tolling system will charge all vehicles entering the Manhattan zone, including the local streets and avenues at or below 60th Street near Central Park according to the MTA. Most E-Z Pass users will be charged a $9 toll through E-Z Pass and drivers without E-Z Pass will be mailed a bill and have to pay a higher rate (approximately $5 more).

SEE ALSO: Can You Get a Speeding Ticket From E-Z Pass in New York?

To prevent anyone from paying the higher toll by mail, the MTA encouraged drivers to update their E-Z Pass accounts before entering the toll zones to ensure their current license plates are linked with the correct E-Z Pass tag.

E-Z Pass Website Flooded

As with many things, being the first to start something new usually involves hiccups, and that's exactly what happened to the E-Z Pass website on Monday. Users (at the direction of the MTA) flooded the toll-paying website to update their accounts so they weren't charged higher tolls, with the increased traffic causing a brief crash, according to Fox 5.

At approximately 9:45 a.m., users trying to access their accounts on the site were greeted with a message (below) stating the site was "experiencing higher than normal volume." Users were then pushed to a waiting room until the site traffic eased.

The site traffic seemed to ease after 10 a.m. and was accessible around 10:20 a.m. according to Fox.

Why is Congestion Pricing Underway in New York City?

The congestion pricing program is hoping to reduce gridlock in some of Manhattan's busiest areas, encourage commuters to use public transportation, and will help fund approximately $15 billion in transit infrastructure improvements in New York.