PA Turnpike's 'Massive' Tolling Increases Must Be Stopped: Lawmakers

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania lawmakers are trying to stop the Turnpike Commission from charging exorbitant rates to customers who don't have a E-ZPass, citing unfair procedures that force residents who barely use the Turnpike to either pay enormous fees or buy an E-ZPass for just a handful of trips a year.

The move comes in response to the Turnpike's Toll By Plate program, for which the Turnpike increased tolls by 45 percent. Lawmakers say the Turnpike failed to notify the Pennsylvania General Assembly of this surcharge plan.

"This massive tolling increase unfairly targets Pennsylvania motorists," State Rep. Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) said in a co-sponsorship memorandum for a bill that would require change to Turnpike policy. "This tolling increase effectively forces my constituents to get an E-ZPass or pay significantly higher rates, even if they only travel our toll roads a few times per year to visit family."

And even having an E-ZPass does not protect motorists from skyrocketing costs. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission found that for a driver heading from the Scudder Falls Bridge in Bucks County into Trenton, New Jersey, they would have to pay 40 percent more if they have a Pennsylvania E-ZPass than a New Jersey E-ZPass.

Neilson added that the lack of communication from the Turnpike Commission came despite the agency recently tesitifying on their all-electronic tolling system before the Pennsylvania House and Senate Transportation Committees. The legislature needs to "fix these unfair practices before they continue to spiral out of control," he added.

Neilson's proposed fix is simple: make Pennsylvania follow the same tolling process for out-of-state E-ZPass holders as all of the other states surrounding it. The bill would require the Turnpike Commission to charge out-of-state E-ZPass holders a higher rate.

The Turnpike lost $104 million in uncollected tolls from June 2020 to May 2021. Millions of motorists without E-ZPass never paid tolls through the state's license plate camera system — a gap that was only made public after The Associated Press filed a Right to Know request and obtained an internal Turnpike report in September.

There appear to be various reasons for the loss, an internal memo from the Turnpike obtained by AP indicates. In 1.8 million riders, the camera could not identify the license plate. Issues with bill delivery affected more than 2.5 million more motorists. The attempt to recoup massive losses came amid historic inflation rates and a looming recession.

In the wake of that report, the legislature passed a bill drastically cutting the threshold for vehicle registration suspensions following unpaid tolls and fees, from $500 to just $250. The Turnpike says that so far, they've collected $11.4 million in tolls and fees by suspending more than 23,000 vehicle registrations through a partnership with PennDOT.

That new legislation came despite the Turnpike's decision to increase tolls by another 6 percent in 2023, in addition to the major toll hikes for non E-ZPass holders addressed by Neilson's legislation.