Officials at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport say recent troubles at parking plazas are on the mend.
The new automated parking system has been in place for two months, but in that time servers have failed six different times leaving drivers sitting in parking plazas for long periods of time.
“It’s on us. It’s on the airport. The issue has, by and large, has not been with any TollTags. It’s been with our system and for that we sincerely apologize, said David Magana, spokesperson for DFW International Airport.
Scores of drivers have complained that, in addition to their wait times, they’ve been charged excessive fees by mistake.
“About once a month it’s not reading my TollTag. So, when I do exit, it charges me a lot more because it doesn’t recognize the fact that I’ve exited,” said Jolene Hoadley, who parks daily at the airport.
Hoadley said her mistaken bills have exceeded $60, though she said all of it has been reimbursed.
DFW’s Chief Financial Officer Chris Poinsatte told the airport board Thursday, “We were too optimistic before and during the transition phase.”
Poinsatte said several system changes have been implemented in the past few weeks and the average wait time is now 3 minutes. He said servers have been reconfigured and TollTag readers have been replaced.
Last year, the maximum wait time was 3-5 minutes. This year it was between 10 and 15 minutes.
“That’s unacceptable customer service,” Poinsatte said.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings weighed in saying, “This is a world class airport. This was not done in a world class way. We need to recognize when we fall short.”
Right now, as construction continues, 20 lanes are closed. Many of those lanes are expected to open in the coming weeks, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday rush.