Are emergency crews only using free tags to get to emergencies?

(6/28/07 - HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- We have new information on a story we first broke last week -- free rides on the toll roads for hundreds of county employees. Now, we are getting a broader look at just where all the free rides are going.

Thousands of dollars in tolls have been given away, some of it for legitimate reasons. But we've found hundreds of trips the toll road may have problems with.

We are really getting a good look at who is getting a free ride on the same road you pay for and it's not just toll road employees. They're losing their free commute, but we're now finding all sorts of people who still have it and most of these people not only get free commutes, they're driving government cars from home.

The toll roads need to allow access for emergency vehicles. When something goes wrong on or near the toll road, no one wants a fire truck or ambulance or police car waiting at a toll booth. But hundreds of cars owned by fire departments or police departments or county agencies get free rides under what might not be emergency conditions.

When that happens, the toll road's policy is pretty clear: "Non-revenue (free) passage does not apply under non-emergency conditions."

So we dug into the massive list of free rides just this year and looked at what time people are using the toll roads. And it might not be a big surprise, but the bulk of these free trips given to supposedly emergency vehicles happen during times that everyone else is commuting.

Peak hours are from 6am until 9am and from 4pm to 7pm.

The Harris County Fire Marshall's office uses their free EZ tag 37% of the time during those hours. Fifty-four percent of the time, Houston Fire Department administrators or arson investigators use their free EZ tags. It's during those hours, too.

They all get to take their city owned cars home at the end of the day and the fire department told us the free EZ tag is part of the take home deal.

The fire marshal for the Villages Fire Department off I-10 used his EZ tag 98 percent of the time from 6:45am until 7:45am. Department brass there had no problem with it.

Maybe that's when emergencies are happening. Or maybe that's when these emergency vehicles are just going to their office.

"It's just this public agency trying to be helpful in the name of public safety," said Peter Key with Harris County Toll Road Authority.

But the toll road admits it's a tough call. They want emergency vehicles on the toll roads for safety. But at the same time, Key told us Thursday afternoon that non-emergency use of emergency EZ tags is a problem for the agency.

But even though their policy is clear, a trip to the office -- any office -- should be paid for. They admit they may not have the legal authority to tell other departments what to do.

Last week, county commissioners court voted to increase fees on toll roads by 25 cents and double the tolls on the Westpark Toll Road during rush hour. After taxpayer complaints, the peak hour increases on Westpark were repealed.

Keep it on Eyewitness News for the latest developments on the free toll rides and rate increases. The recommendation to increase toll fees came from a private company hired by the county to conduct a traffic study on the toll road system. That traffic study blamed congestion on the Westpark Tollway on three things:

• People moving to Ft. Bend County
• Construction on I-10, pushing people to Westpark
• The congestion during peak hours

You can read that company's report here.

You can also post your comments to the toll road rate hike and you can also find the e-mail addresses for the Harris County commissioners. If you have a comment, you can e-mail them, too.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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