MDX To Pay Cash Back To "Loyalty Program" Members

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Drivers who enrolled in the MDX customer loyalty program will have a rebate check just in time for the holidays.

The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, known as the MDX, announced Tuesday its board approved a 30-percent rebate for customers already enrolled in the rebate program. Spokesman Mario Diaz said the checks will go out in December, with an average amount of $100. The program lowers a customer's overall daily toll rate from 70 cents to 50 cents on a SR 836 mainline gantry.

"Of the more than 112,000 SunPass transponders registered in the program, 48% qualify for a rebate, effectively lower tolls rates on average to below 50 cents for those members. The other 52% of the members may have paid tolls on I-95 express lanes, the Turnpike, Rickenbacker and Venetian which are State and County roads, but since they spent less than the $8.50 a month on MDX toll roads, they did not qualify for MDX's Cash Back program," said Louis Martinez, Chair of the MDX Board of Directors.

Eligible MDX customers don't have to do anything to receive the money, which comes from a $5.5 million pool of surplus cash from the 2016 budget year, which ended June 30. The MDX relies on tolls to maintain five highways. They are SR 112/Airport Expressway, SR 836/Dolphin Expressway, SR 874/Don Shula Expressway, SR 878/Snapper Creek Expressway, and SR 924/Gratigny Parkway.

There were enrollment periods in 2015 and 2016 for the toll-rebate program. The next open enrollment will start in January and end in March.

Tolls paid on Florida's Turnpike, I-95 Express Lanes or the new Palmetto Express lanes do not qualify since these expressways are not MDX expressways.