Toll hikes a painful rite of summer

There are some things we can count on each and every summer: stifling heat and humidity, complaints about neighborhood fireworks, and a toll increase announcement from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

For the 13th consecutive year, the cost of traveling on the toll highway will increase come January. Drivers with E-ZPass will see a 6% toll increase. For them, the most common toll for a passenger vehicle will increase from $1.50 to $1.60. That might not seem like much, but for those who travel on the turnpike on a daily basis, it adds up. And these increases keep piling up year after year.

But it’s those who don’t have E-ZPass who will really take it on the chin when they travel the turnpike in 2021 and beyond. They will see a whopping 45% increase in tolls. The most common toll for non-EZ Pass customers will rise from $2.50 to $3.90.

Turnpike officials say the increase reflects the cost of adopting the Toll By Plate collection system. Rather than handing cash to an attendant in a tollbooth, motorists will receive an invoice in the mail. Cameras take pictures of license plates as drivers enter and exit the highway to identify the vehicles and determine how much each motorist owes.

Yet another toll increase might be easier to accept if it were connected to the serious problems the commission is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cost the turnpike $160 million in toll revenues due to a sharp reduction in travel.

The pandemic did lead to expedited implementation of Toll By Plate and lost jobs for hundreds of toll collectors and other turnpike employees.

But turnpike officials acknowledge that this toll hike has nothing to do with the current circumstances.

Mark Compton, turnpike CEO, said the toll increases are primarily the result of a $440 million annual payment to PennDOT for transportation operations unrelated to the toll road, most notably mass transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

That’s the same reason the turnpike has given for toll increases for more than a dozen years in a row, walloping the wallets of commuters, truckers and others who drive on the highway regularly.

And there’s no end in sight. Pennsylvania’s Act 44 of 2007 requires the Turnpike Commission to pay hundreds of millions to PennDOT each year through 2057. That means steady toll increases for decades.

Act 44 had been enacted with the understanding that Pennsylvania was going to toll Interstate 80 to fund transportation projects across the state. That never happened, and turnpike users are bearing the brunt of the result. The lingering impact of COVID-19 could well make matters even worse in the future.

Painful as the rising tolls are, many people have no choice but to use the turnpike. And the E-Z Pass system makes it easier to get away with toll hikes, as motorists may not even realize how much they’re paying unless they read their credit card statements carefully. Furthermore, the turnpike is heavily traveled by people from out of state who are in no position to hold Pennsylvania leaders accountable for their decisions.

Once again we must demand that state officials rethink this entire situation rather than allowing it to play out for another three or four decades.

It’s all part of the larger transportation funding mess in Harrisburg. Motorists are paying high turnpike tolls, much of which goes toward work on other projects and to pay interest on debt, and they’re hit with one of America’s highest gas taxes, yet much of that revenue goes toward funding state police instead of taking care of transportation infrastructure.

State revenue losses caused by COVID-19 may well lead to a fiscal reckoning affecting just about every aspect of Pennsylvania government. It won’t be easy, but finally developing an honest, straightforward approach to transportation funding must be part of the discussion.