By Ashley Mussbacher (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 4, 2015
If you’ve ever been tolled for crossing the Port Mann or Golden Ears bridges, you’ll know it’s an easy bill to put off paying for a while. I let my $26.36 toll sit since September; I didn’t want to part with my hard-earned cash. Then I received a letter in the mail from ICBC stating they wouldn’t renew my driver’s license or insurance until I paid the fee.
It wasn’t that I was surprised to see a warning like that. I sat on the bill for a while, so the letter was fair enough, and you have to pay any outstanding tickets on your license before you can renew it, anyways. But when I went to pay my bill, I realized paying off my Quickpass debt wasn’t quick at all.
To pay online, stated the letter, go to the TransLink website. Seemed simple enough. I’ve got a Visa debit, so I figured I could just punch in my card number and within minutes I could have this bill off my desk. ICBC would get their money, Treo would get their cut, and everyone would be happy. Nope.
The quote at the top of TransLink’s “Pay Your Bill” page reads: “Your Quickpass invoice can be paid by cheque, credit card or online.” I actually called to ask if I could use the internet to pay my $26.36 balance, to no avail. I thought about asking if I could use my BC ID to pay, but it seemed less likely.
The payment methods are limited. You can pay online with a credit card, by phone with a credit card, through pre-authorized withdrawals from a credit card account, by snail-mail with a cheque, or by showing up in person. It seems that TransLink assumes everyone in the Lower Mainland has a credit card; the only place to go in person and pay in cash or debit is in Pitt Meadows, because Quickpass has only one office.
One office to service the entire population of people of those without a credit card in the Lower Mainland. To top it off, the office is closed on weekends, and evenings after six. So, if you happen to have a nine-to-five job like the majority of the population, you have to hope you can leave work and get to the office in Pitt Meadows in the middle of rush hour before it closes. If you can’t, you should probably get a credit card.
