PITTSBURGH (TNS) — The Pennsylvania Turnpike is reviewing proposals for a contract to process toll payments and expand the ways motorists can pay.
The new contract is part of the turnpike’s effort to avoid problems such as the $105 million in unpaid tolls for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The agreement with the current customer-service systems provider, TransCore, is expiring and the agency has expanded the services that will be required under the new contract.
The agency also plans to roll out next month a system so motorists can pay toll bills at retail stores.
Right now, about 85% of turnpike users have E-ZPass transponders that allow them to drive through payment gantries and have tolls taken from pre-paid accounts. The rest rely on the Toll-By-Plate system, where cameras at the gantries take photos of license plates and the turnpike mails the vehicle owner a bill.
The agency collects around 94% of all tolls, but the system does such a large volume that 6% of unpaid tolls added up to $105 million last year. About two-thirds of that $105 million is owed by customers who have received bills and not paid them. Most of the rest involves bills sent to incorrect addresses; a tiny fraction is from license plates that couldn’t be read because of an accidental or purposeful obstruction.
The turnpike received responses in November from a 559-page request for proposals from companies interested in operating the system. It is going through the lengthy process of reviewing the proposals, which include an oral presentation to the turnpike’s information technology experts.
When the process is completed and a new contract is in place, turnpike users will have a wider variety of payment options, said turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo Jr.
”The trend is to provide as many options as possible, and we are working to allow those options for toll payment,” DeFebo said. “It’s providing the options that people prefer.”
Private companies such as Uproad operate a payment system that links a smartphone app to a credit card or other payment method. For a 4.9% surcharge to the motorist, Uproad will pay tolls automatically when a vehicle passes through a gantry or toll gate, much like E-ZPass.
Uproad can be used on about 220 toll roads and bridges in 19 states and is compatible with E-ZPass systems, although it may take longer for an agency to receive a payment if it doesn’t have a specific agreement with Uproad, said Kathryn Kiritsis, director of marketing for Uproad. The system also can notify a user immediately how much they paid or estimate the toll payments for an upcoming trip.
”We offer a lot of options that agencies don’t have available,” Kiritsis said. “We think it’s about making payment as easy as possible.”
Uproad believes drivers who have its system are less likely to try to avoid paying tolls and offers its service to states — like Pennsylvania — that are having a problem with toll avoidance.
”I feel like a lot of people have good intentions and will pay their bills if it is easy to do,” Kiritsis said.
DeFebo said motorists will be able to use those types of services when the turnpike awards the contract for tolling. Next month, it also will debut a statewide system of convenience stores and other locations where motorists can pay turnpike bills they receive by mail or add money to their prepaid turnpike account with PayPalor some other service.
The open question is whether additional payment options will reduce the agency’s “leakage,” the industry term for the amount of unpaid tolls. The agency received harsh criticism when the amount of unpaid tolls went up about $24 million in one year last summer after the agency eliminated cash payment in May 2020 to encourage social distancing during the pandemic.
”Can we move that [unpaid tolls] bar? How much can we move it?” DeFebo said. “It’s something that’s hard to predict. We know there will still be leakage because there always is leakage.”
