City: Drivers of passenger vehicles not taking advantage of toll tag program at ports of entry

The City of El Paso offers Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) tags for toll booths at the Zaragoza and Stanton international bridges with the hope of saving drivers time by not having them stop to pay.

Commercial truck drivers are using the pre-paid passes, but city officials said those behind the wheel of passenger vehicles are steering clear of the technology.

At the Zaragoza bridge, during the fiscal year 2017, 85 percent of the commercial trucks had AVI tags compared to only 13 percent of passenger vehicles.

“For somebody that works in a maquila, who is making 50 to 60 dollars per week, they might not want to invest their money in a tag when they need to buy milk or eggs or groceries for their families,” said Paul Estrow, an assistant director of international bridges.

For other drivers, cost is not the issue. “There is also some misconception of the ‘Big Brother’ issue. They think that we are keeping track of their cars and their crossings but we really are not,” Estrow said.

The City wants to change that by promoting the financial incentive for drivers who use the AVI program.

Driver who purchase the toll tags, place them on their windshield and use the system save about 14 percent compared to those who use cash to pay the toll.

City officials plan to increase marketing for the AVI program. They will be using targeted ads in local media, Mexican radio, the El Paso International Airport and the University of Texas at El Paso.