New data: Toll leads to usage drop-off

— Fewer drivers have been willing to pay to use the new toll lanes running through Cobb and Cherokee counties compared to the days when the lanes were accessible for free.

Early data from the State Road and Tollway Authority reports a dropoff in usage following the lanes’ twoweek period where no tolls were assessed, though more than 300,000 drivers used the lanes in less than three weeks of operation.

The $834 million reversible toll lanes opened Saturday, Sept. 8, and were free for the first two weeks to any driver with a Peach Pass — a sticker with a transponder that automatically deducts tolls with no need to stop and pay.

The first seven days saw 108,800 drivers use the lanes, which increased by nearly 26,000 drivers to 134,625 in the second week to total 243,425 drivers over the first two weeks.

Despite multiple requests from the MDJ, SRTA has only released usage numbers through Wednesday, Sept. 26 — just 19 days of the lanes’ operation and only five of which saw tolls imposed. In all, 308,928 drivers took to the new roads over those 19 days.

The data shows that enacting of tolls led to fewer drivers using the lanes: Saturday, Sept. 22 — the first days of the tolls — saw less than 5,000 drivers on the new lanes. Sunday, however, saw an uptick to 7,519 drivers, the highest total of the lanes’ first six weekend days.

The first weekday where tolls were assessed saw 16,136 drivers on the lanes, which was the second lowest weekday total of any of the 13 weekdays for which SRTA provided data.

The two other weekday usage numbers released by SRTA did show increases as the workweek continued, however, with 17,192 and 19,724 motorists taking to the lanes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 25 and 26, respectively.

Toll prices have averaged from $1.19 to $1.31 per trip during the five days of data provided by SRTA, or an average of $1.27 per day. With 65,503 drivers using the lanes those days, their trips generated nearly $83,189, or less than one ten-thousandth of the total cost of the managed lanes.