No E-ZPass? You’ll be paying 56% more
Processing costs cited by officials for hikes starting Sunday
If you travel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and don’t have an E-ZPass, brace yourself.
Starting Sunday, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will raise rates by 10 cents to $1.60 for E-ZPass holders for the most common toll.
But for people paying under the new cashless Toll by Plate system, rates will rise by $1.40 to $3.90 for the most common toll. That’s a 56% increase. The average toll will increase by 45%, according to a July news release.
Turnpike officials cited the cost of processing and collecting payments as the reason Toll by Plate drivers will pay $2.30 more for a common toll, according to the news release.
The turnpike implemented the Toll by Plate system in March to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus among its toll workers and drivers, according to a news release issued at the time.
Instead of toll collectors, a camera takes a photo of the driver’s license plate at the toll booth. A bill is then sent in the mail.
The turnpike had been conducting tests of the program with plans to fully switch over in 2021, said Carl DeFebo, turnpike director of marketing and communications.
The new rate will not be applied at the Toll by Plate facilities converted before 2020 under the pilot program.
In early June, the turnpike made Toll by Plate permanent, a move that led to the layoff of about 500 toll collectors and associated personnel.
The turnpike announced the rate hikes a month later. CEO Mark Compton said Toll by Plate drivers would pay more because the system costs more to operate than E-ZPass, which collects fees via prepaid accounts linked to bank or credit card accounts.
Drivers paying cash at toll booths paid 87 cents more than E-ZPass holders for the most common toll in 2019, according to the news release.
“This balanced approach allows us to maintain a lower rate for those choosing a payment method that is less costly to manage, while those whochoose a pricier payment option absorb those costs,” Compton said.
But that explanation is raising questions among drivers without E-ZPass, such as David Detwiler of Emmaus.
Detwiler said he doesn’t have an E-ZPass because it’s one more thing he would have to manage. He said he only uses the turnpike a few times a year and didn’t mind paying a higher rate to pay cash at the toll booth.
But he questioned the 56% rate hike given the toll collector layoffs.
“If they are no longer working, the savings from significantly less wages being paid would offset the cost by the Toll by Plate method,” he said. “It seems clear this is a shameless opportunistic money grab.”
The turnpike itself has struggled financially for years largely because of the $450 million it must pay the state annually to help pay for public transit under acts 44 and 89, according to a 2019 state audit.
It is also burdened by payments on more than $11 billion in debt that it accrued largely because of the state payments, said the audit titled “Road to Ruin.”
Compton cited the state payments and debt service as the primary drivers of the 2021 toll hike, which also includes an 80-cent increase to $13 for Class-5 tractor-trailer E-ZPass drivers and a $9.30 hike to $26.60 for those who use the Toll by Plate system.
Besides the toll hikes, the 80-year-old turnpike launched a series of mitigation efforts to stem the impact of the coronavirus.
Measures included a hiring freeze on nonessential management, early retirement incentives, a 25% cut in capital spending, reduction of the use of consultants and debt restructuring.
Typically, about 500,000 drivers travel on the turnpike’s more than 550 miles of road each day.
Turnpike traffic plummeted as much as 70% as businesses and schools switched to online operations in the spring. Commercial traffic was down around 20%.
In all, revenues fell more than $200 million between March 1 and June 6, according to Richard Dreher, turnpike chief financial officer.
Noncommercial traffic is now down about 25%, while commercial traffic is back to normal, he said.
As a result, its 2020-21 operating budget of $1.3 billion is $98 million less than 2019-20, according to budget figures on the turnpike’s website.
The turnpike was granted a waiver in making two quarterly Act 44 and 89 payments. It also used $165 million from cash reserves for payments on its more than $11 billion in debt, Dreher said. Further, it secured a $200 million line of credit, which it has yet to use.
“It’s working,” Dreher said. “We are below estimates in terms of expenditures.”
It’s unclear whether Toll by Plate scofflaws are impacting finances.
Turnpike officials told state House and Senate committees in June that 35% of Toll by Plate bills were being sent to a collection agency, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
DeFebo said the turnpike was declining to provide updated figures, preferring to concentrate on the 93% to 95% success rate in all toll collections.
Meanwhile, drivers who take the turnpike but don’t have E-ZPass can act now to avoid paying the higher fees.
Most grocery chains carry E-ZPass GoPaks, which include a transponder that must be registered prior to use. All 17 turnpike service plazas and Pennsylvania AAA offices have them as well. To find a location, visit paturnpike.com/toll/sales.aspx.