The following are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about tolls. If you don't see your question addressed below, please feel free to contact us directly to speak with a Mobility Authority representative.
If you have an electronic tag account but you do not have enough money in your tag account to cover your tolls, you will receive a statement in the mail that includes tolls charged at the higher Pay By Mail rates. The statement will also include a mailing fee. You will continue to be charged at the Pay By Mail rates until your electronic tag account is replenished. By signing up for AutoPay, your account will be automatically replenished when it gets to a preset low balance amount. You could also receive a Pay By Mail bill if your electronic tag was not detected on the toll road and your license plate does not match an existing tag account.
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority operate, maintains and collects tolls on the 183A Toll Road in northwest Williamson County, the 290 Toll Road in eastern Travis County, the MoPac Express Lane in western Travis County, the 71 Toll Lane in south Travis County, 45SW Toll in southern Travis and northern Hays counties, and 183 Toll in east Austin. The Mobility Authority is an independent government agency created in 2002 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis counties. Their mission is to develop, deliver, operate and maintain high-quality roadways and related transportation solutions.
ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute) is a private corporation that processes Pay By Mail toll bills for the Mobility Authority for toll transactions beginning November 18, 2018.
ViaPlus is the toll payment processor for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. ViaPlus can assist you with questions related to your toll bill or notice of toll violation and can process your payment.
ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute) has a Customer Service Counter located at TxTag's Burnet Road and Ridgepoint Drive locations that are open:
You can contact ViaPlus by phone at (833) 762-8655 (toll free) or (512) 410-0562 (local)
TxTag is operated by the Texas Department of Transportation. It manages all toll transactions on Loop 1, SH 45 N, SH 45 SE and SH 130 in the Austin area and TxTag tag transactions anywhere in the state. TxTag toll bills can be resolved by visiting TxTag.org or by calling 1-888-468-9824.
There are three easy ways to get a TxTag or open an account:
Online: TxTag.org
Call: (888) 468-9824
Visit: TxTag Customer Service Center 12719 Burnet Road Austin, TX 78727
or
2420 Ridgepoint Drive Austin, TX 78754
TollTag is operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority in Dallas. Learn more or contact them here.
EZ TAG is operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority in Houston. Learn more or contact them here.
K-Tag is operated by the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Kansas. Learn more or contact them here.
Pikepass is operated by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in Oklahoma. Learn more or contact them here.
SunPass is the electronic Prepaid Toll Program operated by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise under the Florida Department of Transportation. Currently SunPass is accepted on Mobility Authority and NTTA operated toll roads. Learn more or contact them here.
ExpressToll is operated by Colorado's E-470. Learn more or contact them here.
Toll bills are mailed to drivers who use Central Texas toll roads without having a valid TxTag, TollTag, EZ TAG, K-TAG, Pikepass, SunPass, or BancPass account. If you received a toll bill, a vehicle registered in your name recently traveled on a Central Texas toll road. Be advised that if you loan your vehicle to someone else, Texas law dictates that the registered vehicle owner is responsible for paying any tolls incurred by that vehicle. Failure to pay a toll bill can result in additional fees and court fines.
Toll bills are part of the Pay By Mail Program. Cameras on the toll road take a picture of a vehicle’s license plates, and that information is used to identify the registered owner of the vehicle. A toll bill is then sent to the registered owner’s address.
Pay By Mail customers have 30 days to pay their bill either in person, via check, online, or over the phone.
Drivers who want to travel on toll roads operated by the Mobility Authority but do not have a TxTag, TollTag, EZ TAG, K-TAG, Pikepass, SunPass, or BancPass simply drive the road and wait to receive a bill in the mail. There's no need to prepay or register.
Cameras on the toll road will take a picture of your license plate and that information will be used to identify the registered owner of the vehicle. A bill for the tolls is then sent to you in the mail.
Pay By Mail customers have 30 days to pay their bill either in person, via check, online, or over the phone. Pay By Mail customers are charged a $1 processing fee.
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority operates the 183A Toll Road in northwest Williamson County, the 290 Toll Road in eastern Travis County, the MoPac Express Lane in western Travis County, the 71 Toll Lane in south Travis County, 45SW Toll in southern Travis and northern Hays counties, and 183 Toll in east Austin. The Mobility Authority is an independent government agency created in 2002 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis counties. Their mission is to develop, deliver, operate and maintain high-quality roadways and related transportation solutions.
TxTag is not affiliated with ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute) or the Mobility Authority's Pay By Mail program. Funds you add to your TxTag account will not be applied to toll bills issued by ViaPlus.
Toll bills issued by ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute) are received because a vehicle registered in your name used a Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority facility without a valid TxTag, TollTag, EZ TAG, K-TAG, Pikepass, SunPass or BancPass.
Toll bills issued by TxTag are received because a vehicle registered in your name used one or more of the following toll roads without a valid tag: SH130, Loop 1 Extension or SH 45. ViaPlus is not affiliated with TxTag, TollTag or EZ Tag, and payments made to these accounts cannot be applied to toll bills issued by ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute).
You have been issued a Notice of Non-Payment, because Texas Motor Vehicle records indicate a vehicle you own has used a Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority facility and you have not paid a toll bill that was previously sent to you by the stated due date.
Southwest Credit Systems (SWC) is a collection agency for the Mobility Authority. They are responsible for collecting against outstanding invoices that have remained unpaid after one year. SWC can assist you with questions related to your past due toll invoices and can process your payment. Contact SWC at 877-936-5684 or visit their website at: www.swcconsumer.com.
Penn Credit is a collection agency for the Mobility Authority. They are responsible for collecting against outstanding invoices that have remained unpaid for less than a year. Penn Credit can assist you with questions related to your toll bill or Notice of Toll Violation and can process your payment. Contact Penn Credit at 800-900-1361 or visit their website at: http://account.penncredit.com.
Customers needing to resolve a court summons should contact the courthouse listed on the summons.
Yes. You received a toll bill because Texas Motor Vehicle records indicate a vehicle you own was photographed using a Mobility Authority facility, and a valid TxTag, TollTag, EZ TAG, K-TAG, Pikepass, SunPass, ExpressToll, or BancPass was not detected. As the owner of this vehicle, you are legally responsible for the toll charges for which you have been billed, regardless of who was driving the vehicle, unless the vehicle was stolen or sold. Click here for information regarding vehicles that have been stolen or sold.
Under Texas law you may be able to dispute these charges if you meet one of the following criteria:
If you believe your bill was issued in error, contact ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute) to request a review of your account.
If the address shown on your toll bill or notice is not current, or if you have recently moved, you must update your address through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Click here to learn how to file your change of address.
Customers in rental cars are required to pay for travel on Mobility Authority facilities and should contact their rental agency regarding payment. Most rental car companies now offer rental car customers the opportunity to use toll roads, but the programs can vary by agency and involve fees beyond those charged by ViaPlus (formerly Cofiroute).
Mobility Authority roads are modern, all-electronic toll roads, meaning drivers don’t have to stop — or even slow down — to pay their tolls. Customers can either pay through their electronic tag account or pay by mail.
Electronic tags are an electronic payment method that automatically pays for tolls as you drive on toll roads.
Once you sign up for an electronic tag (see accepted tags below), the tag provider will then send a tag that you mount to the inside of your windshield behind the rearview mirror. When you drive on a tolled facility, an electronic reader above the toll road will read the microchip inside the tag and cameras take a photo of your license plate.
If you have an active account (information is up-to-date and sufficiently funded), the price of the toll will be debited from your account. Toll roads in Texas are interoperable, meaning all toll transactions should appear on one invoice.
Electronic tag customers receive a 33% discount over Pay By Mail bills.
The Mobility Authority currently accepts NTTA’s TollTag, HCTRA’s EZ TAG, TxDOT’s TxTAG, Kansas Turnpike Authority's K-Tag, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's Pikepass, Florida Turnpike Enterprise's SunPass, E-470's ExpressToll, and BancPass/PlusPass. The Mobility Authority is continuously working to become interoperable with other agencies.
*Please note, different electronic tags may need to be installed differently. Check with your tag provider for instructions.
The Mobility Authority is not a tag provider. We accept several electronic tags on our facilities, you can visit their website to learn more and to sign up for a tag. See below for a list of electronic tags we accept. Any of these tags will work on all Texas toll roads.
TollTag from the North Texas Tollway Authority in the Dallas area
EZ Tag from the Harris County Toll Road Authority in the Houston area
TxTag from the Texas Department of Transportation in the Austin area
K-Tag from the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Kansas
Pikepass from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in Oklahoma
ExpressToll from Colorado's E-470
The Mobility Authority also accepts SunPass from Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and the PlusPass app.
Toll bills are received by drivers who use Central Texas toll roads without having an active electronic tag account.
Toll bills are part of the Pay By Mail program. Equipment on the toll road takes a picture of a vehicle’s license plate, and that information is used to identify the registered owner of the vehicle. A toll bill is then sent to the registered owner’s address.
If you received a toll bill, a vehicle registered in your name has recently travelled on a Central Texas toll road. Be aware that if you lease or loan your vehicle to someone else, Texas law dictates that the registered vehicle owner is responsible for paying any tolls incurred on that vehicle. Failure to pay a toll bill can result in additional fees and criminal charges.
Toll rates for Pay By Mail customers are higher than for drivers with a tag to offset the cost of processing license plate information and mailing the toll bill. In addition, each bill comes with a $1.00 processing charge.
Pay By Mail customers have 30 days to pay their bill before late fees are assessed. Customers can pay their bill via mail, online by visiting PayMobilityBill.com, in person, or call (833) 762-8655.
Depending on which toll roads you use, you may be issued toll bills from separate operating agencies.
This response is specific to TxTag, if you have a different accepted electronic tag, check your account with your tag provider.
Although you had an active TxTag at one time, TxTag has declined payment for certain transactions on Mobility Authority roads, which has resulted in you receiving a Pay By Mail bill. Since TxTag changed backoffice providers (a backoffice provide is the third-party company responsible for consolidating toll transactions, sending your toll bill and taking your payment), TxTag has experienced data issues and as a result, many TxTag customers became Mobility Authority Pay By Mail customers. As a reminder, TxTag is not owned nor operated by the Mobility Authority and the Mobility Authority does not have access to TxTag account details.
When a driver uses our roads, toll gantries use radio frequency technology to “read” a transponder, in this case TxTag. If a TxTag is detected on the vehicle, the Mobility Authority sends the information to TxTag, who then either accepts the transaction and it posts to the users’ TxTag account, or declines the transaction. The Mobility Authority typically resubmits the declined transaction three times in a good faith effort to ensure the rejection is accurate. For this round of bills, as additional quality control, we have submitted the transactions a fourth time, and have still received a decline from TxTag.
The Mobility Authority doesn’t have access to TxTag’s system, so we can’t see why a transaction was declined, only that it was declined. There are several reasons a transaction might be declined, so we encourage all TxTag customers to log into their TxTag account at TxTag.org to ensure their account has a positive balance; a valid payment method is associated with the account; the license plate is correct; the correct tag is matched to the license plate; and the tag is valid (not labeled damaged or lost but still associated with the vehicle) to ensure their accounts are in good standing to avoid receiving a Mobility Authority Pay By Mail bill in the future.
We cannot retroactively add transactions to a TxTag account. All Pay By Mail bills will need to be paid to the Mobility Authority directly.
TxTag has experienced data issues since changing back-office providers. The Mobility Authority paused billing all electronic tag transactions declined for payment by TxTag to allow time for TxTag quality control issues to be resolved. TxTag has assured us, and other Texas toll agencies, that those quality control issues have been resolved and any declined transactions from their system are appropriate. Based on this assurance, we have resumed Pay By Mail billing for transactions incurred beginning May 1, 2022. This pause impacted all tag transactions that were declined by the tag provider, including TollTag and EZ Tag. As an added quality control measure, the Mobility Authority submitted your transactions four times over a period of several weeks rather than the standard three submittals, and the transactions were declined by the tag provider each time.
The Mobility Authority doesn’t have access to your tag provider’s system, so we can’t see why a transaction was declined, only that it was declined. There are several reasons a transaction might be declined, so we encourage all tag customers to log into their tag account online to ensure their account has a positive balance, the license plate is correct, a valid payment method is associated with the account, the correct tag is matched to the license plate, and the tag is valid (not labeled damaged or lost but still associated with the vehicle) to ensure their accounts are in good standing and avoid receiving a Mobility Authority Pay By Mail bill in the future.
As mentioned above, we don’t have access to your tag provider’s system so we can’t see why your tag provider declined the transaction, resulting in a Pay By Mail bill. Please contact your tag provider to learn more about your account status.
Before sending a Pay By Mail invoice, the Mobility Authority attempted to post this toll to your tag account four times. Each time your tag provider declined payment. The Mobility Authority is a separate agency from your tag provider, and we do not have the ability to access your account to retroactively process charges, nor can we see why a transaction was declined by your tag provider.
Due to the volume of transactions we are invoicing and the different background processes involved, it is possible for charges to be delayed. We encourage customers to monitor this situation at paymobilitybill.com and to sign up for electronic notification of any new bills so that you won't miss any payment deadlines. Paying your bill by the due date will ensure no late fees are charged. Please contact your tag provider if you have any questions about your electronic tag account status.
Yes, however, please be advised that partial payments will be applied to the oldest outstanding toll linked to your license plate. Failure to pay any remaining balances for toll bills in your name will result in additional fines and late fees.
There are several ways to pay your toll bill or notice of non-payment. Payments can be made online, by phone, by mail or in person at the payment lobby. Click here for additional information.
Cashless (or all-electronic) toll collection has been implemented on toll roads throughout Central Texas. Cashless toll collection is more cost effective, improves safety, speeds up traffic, reduces vehicle emissions, and conserves fuel by eliminating the need to stop and pay a toll. It also makes the toll you pay cheaper. Although cash payment at toll booths on the roadway is not offered, customers who prefer to pay their tolls in cash can still do so in the following ways:
First, make sure no one else was driving your vehicle. As noted above, toll payment processors can only charge the owner of the vehicle, so if someone in your family or a friend was driving your vehicle, you will still get the bill. Keep in mind that you may receive a Pay By Mail bill if your electronic tag account is not active (up-to-date information and funded). If you feel you have received a bill in error or received the same bill twice, call the customer service number toll-free at (833) 762-8655 or (512) 410-0562.
Toll bills are received by drivers who use Central Texas toll roads without an active electronic tag. Failure to pay a toll bill can result in additional fees and criminal charges.
Pay By Mail customers have 30 days to pay their bill either in person, via check, online or over the phone.
The Mobility Authority’s mission is to develop, deliver, operate and maintain high-quality roadways and related transportation solutions.
New toll roads and lanes in Central Texas have been projects identified for decades as part of the region’s transportation plans, but have never been funded. We need additional capacity on our existing roads and need to build new roads where possible. Today, Central Texans do much of their driving on roads that were built years ago. For example, major highways like I-35 and MoPac had not been updated in decades, and the region’s growth has been so rapid that the road network has not been able to keep pace with demand. We need to build the next generation of highway projects now to serve the region as it continues to grow.
With toll financing, we can build projects more quickly than under the traditional gas-tax-funded, pay-as-you-go system, because toll projects receive full funding commitments prior to construction start.
We also need to build those projects before it's too late – while right-of-way is still affordable and before corridors are developed and would require displacing and disrupting businesses, homes or schools.
We also build more than toll roads. As part of each of our projects, we build bicycle and pedestrian facilities along the corridors where feasible, enhancing multimodal connectivity. We also incorporate aesthetic and landscaping enhancements and improve the non-tolled travel lanes. Only new lanes that we build are tolled; the same number of taxpayer-funded, non-tolled travel lanes that are available today will remain after we are finished with construction. Toll financing helps pay for these added improvements.
No. Tolling is a voluntary user fee paid by customers (commuters) for a service when they need it. Paying taxes is not a choice. Drivers have the option to pay tolls or take alternate routes while taxes are mandatory and charged to everyone.
Without the ability to use tolling as a funding source, local and state agencies must rely on existing or increased tax-funded sources. Again, state gas tax rates have remained static since 1991 even though fuel costs have risen.
The Mobility Authority does not determine which roads to build. The Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) develops a long-range transportation plan for the region, prioritizes projects, estimates cost per project, and determines the most viable funding options on a case-by-case basis. All Mobility Authority projects begin as recommendations in the CAMPO plan. These projects are usually long-term projects, which can be done more quickly through a tolled option.
Toll Road Authorities execute regional plans that have been developed by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). No entity can build roads that are not a part of the regional plan. In addition, the MPOs decide which roads will be tolled or not. Based on what financing is available, no road can be tolled without it being in the regional plan as a tolled road.
Roads don’t simply become free once construction debts are paid off. Costs for operations and maintenance continue throughout the entire lifecycle of a road. Use of roadways degrades them, and without regular maintenance, our roads would eventually need to be fully reconstructed, rather than simply repaired. Furthermore, the cost of maintenance over time is three-to-four times greater than the initial cost of building the road. By the time construction debts are paid off, a road is often near the end of its lifespan, when rehabilitation and possible expansion are needed. A continuous funding stream is needed to maintain the road, and this can only be paid through increased taxes or toll revenue.
Because the state’s transportation tax revenue barely covers existing highway maintenance, it is difficult for the system to absorb new road maintenance costs. Additionally, surplus revenue from toll transactions can be used to build and enhance future transportation infrastructure. As more roads are built, a greater share of available funding goes to maintenance.
The current mobility crisis in Texas is bad for everyone – bad for the environment, for the economy, for public safety, and for quality of life. All new roads, including those that are tolled, give drivers more choices and allow them to spend less time on the road. A more efficient road network also helps with improving air quality.
Toll roads will also reduce the threats to public safety now caused by crowded highways and cut-through traffic in neighborhoods.
No. Texas state law prohibits adding tolls to existing, taxpayer-funded roadways. While many of the new toll roads are to be constructed in existing highway corridors, the existing capacity must be preserved or enhanced. The toll roads will be built in the middle of or alongside the existing roadway, which will remain non-tolled.
The job of toll entities is to improve the flow of traffic. Whether it's a toll road or a frontage road, our mission is to keep traffic moving. When congestion is heavy, less traffic diverts from the toll roads. When capacity is available on the general-purpose lanes (non-tolled frontage roads), more drivers take the general-purpose lanes. When toll agencies are implementing projects, we have to follow the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s long range plan which includes forecasts for traffic growth 20-30 years into the future. In addition, toll agencies conduct annual safety and congestion assessments to determine if any concerns need to be addressed.
There is extensive oversight required of toll entities. Numerous audits and reports are generated to help ensure accountability to the regions they serve and to the state of Texas. Many of these reports are required by federal, state and local regulatory entities. In addition, many toll entities provide expansive reporting above and beyond what is required as an additional commitment to transparency. As evidence, Texas A&M Transportation Institute has cited the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority as a standard for transparency and accountability and encourages others to follow its lead.
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