PITTSBURGH (TNS) — The numbers are large and sound awful: The Pennsylvania Turnpike failed to collect just under $105 million in tolls last year, up about $24 million from 2019.
The uncollected tolls are mostly from drivers who don’t have an E-ZPass transponder and failed to pay a bill they received in the mail after the agency took a photo of their license plate. Other delinquents are drivers who purposely cover their license or take other steps to avoid paying turnpike tolls, or who live out of state and feel no obligation to pay Pennsylvania’s piper.
Turnpike officials agree the uncollected tolls are too high and are planning steps in the new year to reduce what the industry calls “leakage,” money that goes uncollected mostly related to scofflaw motorists who don’t want to pay. Some legislators have proposed bills to bring back toll collectors, who were eliminated about 18 months earlier than expected in May 2020 in the interest of reducing contact between collectors and drivers during the pandemic.
But for the most part, the agency believes its failure to collect about 7% of the revenue it should has been consistent and remains well within the normal industry standards. It collected about $1.2 billion last year.
In addition to tweaking some collection procedures, the agency needs to do a better job of explaining the uncollected revenue, CEO Mark Compton said.
”There’s no question we need to communicate better. We need to continue to work on the enforcement side,” Compton said. “But we are meeting industry expectations and our own expectations. We continue to explore ways we can do better.”
One reason the amount of uncollected tolls has increased is the switch away from toll collectors to all-electronic tolling. The amount of bills unpaid by those who use the Toll By Plate system has remained consistent at about 33%, but the number or motorists using that system grew substantially when the turnpike eliminated toll collectors.
”Everything is trending exactly as it did before [toll collectors were eliminated],” said Craig Shuey, the turnpike’s chief operating officer. “The dollar amount and the number of transactions are higher, but the percentage is the same. The leakage exposure didn’t exist at this level before.”
Figures provided by the turnpike show how much uncollected tolls have increased. The figure that stood at about $65 million for the fiscal year ending in May 2018grew to about $81 million in 2019, $89 million for 2020, and $105 million for 2021, the first full year with all-electronic tolling.
Compton stressed that he believes the unpaid tolls “aren’t a system problem.” They are a problem created by drivers who refuse to pay, he said.
The turnpike’s enforcement powers are limited. Under state law, it can only ask the state Department of Transportation to suspend the vehicle registration of Pennsylvania motorists who accumulate more than $500 worth of unpaid tolls over a five-year period. It also can file criminal charges for theft of services and has pursued cases against drivers who have accumulated more than $10,000 in unpaid tolls.
Motorist who use Toll-By-Plate make up about 14% of drivers while the rest use the prepaid E-ZPass transponder. Toll-By-Plate customers receive a bill in the mail and 46% pay it right away, another 9.5% pay after the second notice and 10.6% pay after the bill goes to a collection agent.
That leaves 33.2% of Toll-By-Plate customers who never pay.
Since 2017, the state through July has suspended vehicle registrations for 21,609 vehicle owners for unpaid tolls. Of those, 17,200 have paid in full and another 700 have payment plans.
The agency is supporting proposed legislation that would change the requirements to allow suspensions to vehicle owners with unpaid tolls of more than $250 over five years. That would double the number of those who potentially could use their registration, Shuey said.
The agency has no enforcement power against out-of-state residents other than turning the unpaid bills over to a collection agency. It has been working for years to develop reciprocal agreements with neighboring states that would permit each state to go after scofflaws in the other state, but states haven’t been able to agree on the proper penalty for nonpayment.
Compton said he’s hopeful the agency can reach agreement with New Jersey, where about half of the out-of-state offenders originate.
”That would be the biggest get for us,” Compton said.
The agency also offers those who receive their initial bill through the mail the opportunity to get an E-ZPass transponder immediately and avoid paying the 45% surcharge they pay to cover the cost of processing bills. The also can sign up for PA Toll Pay, which reduces the surcharge by 15%.
The department also expects to introduce new ways for customers to use E-ZPass.
Right now, E-ZPass is linked to a credit card that automatically replenishes funds to pay tolls. By the second quarter of 2022, the agency will allow customers without credit cards to pay on their E-ZPass account at hundreds of convenience stores across the state.
Additionally, motorists be able to pay their Toll-By-Plate bills at the same locations.
”We’re working hard to meet the customers where they want to be met,” Compton said.
One thing the agency has no plans to do is bring back toll collectors, Compton said. One proposal to have them in place only during high-peak travel times won’t work because the agency wouldn’t know what to charge because they wouldn’t know where a driver’s trip started.
Additionally, switching to all-electronic tolling has reduced collection costs, improved traffic flow, and will allow the agency to develop new, smaller interchanges without collection plazas that cost about 50% less.
”No agency in the country has gone back to that,” said Compton, who is finishing a term as president of an international organization of toll road operators. “We’ll continue to do what we can to get better.”
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