toll increases

2012-10-30: Maine Turnpike Authority board at its October meeting agreed on new deeper discounts for frequent users following strong protests about the phase out of a deep discount plan as part of the toll hike Thursday (November 1.)

2012-08-02: The Maine Turnpike Authority is responding to some of the criticism of its proposed toll increases, cutting some proposed hikes but keeping others. Under a new schedule approved by the Turnpike board E-ZPass tolls will rise only 10% from 6.7c/mile to 7.4c/mile for cars compared to the initial proposal of a 20% increase to 8c/mile.

"Poor management" of the Maine Turnpike occurred under the former chief executive Paul Violette, according to the state governor Paul LePage. In an interview with the Bangor Daily News the governor said: "There are good reasons why Paul Violette is gone and we put in Peter Mills to run the turnpike."

Actually it wasn't his management that caused Violette to "go," though perhaps it should have been.

Friday August 19 was Capitulation Day at the Port Authority New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ).

Facing serious shortfalls in revenue Port Authority New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) staff are proposing major increases in tolls in September. Peakhour roundtrip toll rates for cars on the six New York-New Jersey crossings would rise from $8 now with an E-ZPass account to $12 or by 50% while off-peak tolls, now $6, would go to $10 or 67% up.

Cash tolls for cars would increase the most, going from $8 now to $15 or 88%.

Illinois Tollway staff and consultants are proposing big toll increases for cars to support a 15 year capital program that's about 70% repair and 30% new capacity. Toll rates for cars would rise between 88% and 100% in the new year, while truck tolls would grow at previously announced levels in 2015.  At least for cars toll rates in Illinois are low in the sense that they are well below revenue maximizing levels.

Chairman of the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) and state secretary of transportation Beverley Swaim-Staley says that the state toll authority needs to increase its revenues on its present $305m/year by $80m to $90m a year next year and by a total of at least $200m to $500m/yr in 2013. The Baltimore Sun carried a report yesterday of the proposed toll increases which are the largest in years, but come after a long period of frozen toll rates.

Substantial increases in tolls are being proposed by staff for the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Under the proposal car tolls for single trips would go from $3.00 to $4.00 or 33%. Deeply discounted commuter and frequent traveler programs would be much less deeply discounted after a phase-in of higher rates July 1 this year, the end of the year and July 1 2012..

The Metro Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has been raking in the toll revenues on the Dulles Toll Road since they took it over from Virginia DOT in November 2008. After a major toll increase Jan 1, 2010 eleven months revenues in 2010 have been $81.2m vs $59.8m in the same 11 months of 2009. That's a rise of 36% and about an annual $88m.

The City of Chesapeake which operates the Chesapeake Expressway is proposing a new toll structure with sharply higher toll rates on in-season, summer weekends when the tollroad is especially busy with traffic to and from the Outer Banks beach areas of northeastern North Carolina. The seasonally adjusted approach to toll setting draws on an interesting traffic and revenue study for the city by Steer Davies Gleave (SDG).