Pa. Turnpike Announces Toll Hike in 2014 Wednesday in Bensalem

The following was provided by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission:

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) has approved a 2014 toll-rate increase of 2 percent for E-ZPass customers and 12 percent for cash customers. The increase is largely needed to allow the PTC to meet its funding obligation to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under a 2007 state law known as Act 44. New revenues from the increase will also help fund the Turnpike’s capital-improvement plan, which is focused mostly on completely rebuilding the 73-year-old toll road and widening it from four to six lanes.

The increase — approved by the five-member Turnpike Commission at its July 15 public meeting — will take effect Jan. 5, 2014.

“Our E-ZPass customers have seen lower increases than cash customers  since 2011, and this will be the fourth year we’ve been able to minimize the impact to E-ZPass users,”  said Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. “Since more than 70 percent of our customers pay with E-ZPass today, most customers are taking advantage of these lower rates.”

The PTC charges E-ZPass customers less because of the lower costs of collecting tolls electronically. On average, E-ZPass costs about five to 10 times less per transaction than processing a cash toll.

“Besides being faster and more convenient for motorists, E-ZPass is a more efficient, environmentally responsible way for us as an agency to collect tolls because it reduces idling at the tollbooth and cuts emissions,” Compton said.

PTC motorist research has shown that many people don’t know it’s so affordable to enroll in E-ZPass. The initial cost to open an auto-replenishment account is $38; however, $35 of that is the available balance from which tolls are deducted. “The only cost to E-ZPass customers is really the $3 annual service fee,” Compton said, “which many people can recover in a few trips due to the lower tolls.”

The average Class-1 toll for a cash customer on the Turnpike mainline is $4.49 today. The same toll is just $2.92 with the 2014 E-ZPass discount — for a savings of $1.57 per trip. In view of this, most current cash customers would earn back that $3 annual fee after only two trips (a single round trip) if they switched to E-ZPass.

This increase will be the 11th rate hike in the history of the PTC — and the sixth yearly toll increase implemented after the passage of Act 44. Act 44 directs the commission to make annual payments to PennDOT for off-Turnpike investment in the state’s ground-transportation network.

“We understand that these recurrent annual increases can create an economic hardship for some, and for this reason we ardently support a measure in the general assembly that would modify the funding requirements in Act 44,” Compton said. “If passed, this measure would mean that the PTC could eventually reduce the magnitude of future toll increases.”

Since Act 44’s passage in 2007, the PTC has transferred almost $3.9 billion to PennDOT and will continue to make annual disbursements of $450 million. Of that, $200 million is used for highway and bridge improvements while $250 million is used to support the operating expenses of various public-transit authorities in the state. The PTC’s outstanding Act-44 debt now stands at $4.3 billion with associated debt payments of $226 million a year and climbing.