The opinion sides with WDRB News, which sought a trove of documents from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet analyzing the performance of the Ohio River toll system.
The move comes as call wait times have ballooned to an average of 30 minutes. The goal is to have 80% of calls answered in less than one minute.
Monthly bills for drivers without a RiverLink account and a new customer service center in Louisville are part of Electronic Transaction Consultants' plan for toll collections.
Kentucky and Indiana officials long have wanted to bring a call center for the Ohio River toll bridge system to the Louisville area.
Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray is once more calling on the bistate Tolling Body to consider approving a lesser increase in rates on the three toll bridges between Louisville and Clark County, Ind.
The company that handles billing for the RiverLink toll network has agreed to a $2.5 million class action settlement in a lawsuit about invoicing practices.
Texas-based Electronic Transaction Consultants LLC would take over the toll system’s billing, customer service and collections by the end of 2023.
Electronic Transaction Consultants, known as ETC, also would establish a local call center to handle drivers' questions about toll bills.
Traffic declines during the coronavirus pandemic led to lower-than-expected toll revenue for Kentucky and Indiana.
The move approved Tuesday by the Kentucky-Indiana Joint Board addresses aspects of the toll network that have been under scrutiny for years.