Posted on 01/10/2019 10:52:31 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
HARRISBURG, PA (JAN. 2, 2019) — The PA Turnpike Commission (PTC) today reminded customers that, beginning 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 6, tolls will reflect a six-percent increase for cash, E-ZPass and PA Turnpike TOLL BY PLATE users. The increase, approved by commissioners last July, is needed to meet the PTC’s dual funding obligation to improve its toll-road system and support mass-transit improvements across the Commonwealth.
As a result, the most-common toll for a passenger vehicle will increase a dime for E-ZPass customers from $1.30 to $1.40 and 20 cents for cash customers from $2.10 to $2.30.
The toll increase — like others since 2009 — is required to meet the PA Turnpike’s legislatively mandated funding obligation to support the Commonwealth’s public-transportation systems as well as to maintain and improve the 552-mile Turnpike.
“Parts of our roadway are 78 years old, and we owe it to customers, who pay a premium to travel, to invest in our road and make it safer, smoother and wider,” said PTC CEO Mark Compton. “This year about 84 percent of our $552 million capital budget is focused on renewing, rebuilding and widening our highway which carried more than 200 million vehicles last year.”
The PTC has reconstructed more than 140 miles of its system, with another 11 miles of roadway now being rebuilt and widened and more than 82 miles in planning and design phases. (The PTC does not receive tax appropriations to operate and maintain its roadway.)
(Excerpt) Read more at paturnpike.com ...
Same stupid excuses every time. Don’t believe them. They just want more money and don’t want you to think this is a tax, so they call it a toll.
The Toll Roads here don’t even have a Cash Option. All the Toll Booths have been removed.
You don’t even need a Transponder, the Cameras take a Picture of every Vehicle and they have Character Recognition Technology that read the License Plate Numbers just like those Red Light Cameras do.
If you aren’t signed up for automatic Billing, you have five days to contact the Toll Road Agency after you use the Toll Road and pay the Toll before you are fined a Penalty.
You can thank Republicans for this - especially ex governor Corbitt
Ping!
I travel the PA Turnpike frequently. The roadways are fine. But at the confiscatory rates these clowns charge, you’d think they could have sinks and toilets that work in the service centers. I especially like the 100 miles stretch without a service center in Western PA.
The turnpike is truly nothing bus a cash cow for them. On my last trip, I seriously considered taking the southern route and adding 2 hours to the drive to save money.
Adding 2 hours to a 12 hour drive is a challenge though.
When the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge were built in the lat 1930’s the toll was established at $.25 each way to be collected until the bonds that financed their construction were paid off. As of January 1st, the tolls on ALL the Bay Area Bridges ( one way) went from $5 to $6. But that’s for passenger vehicles. I have not looked at the “per axle” toll increases ( I am assuming that they have been increased as well) so if you tow a utility trailer (single axle) across a bridge last year, you cease to be a passenger car and you pay $5 per axle, so for that trailer, you paid an additional $10. Imagine an 18 wheeler (that’s nine axles) was paying $45 to cross. If, as I suspect the per axle toll also went up a dollar, that truck is now paying $54 ( which is ultimately paid by the consumers who by the stuff the truck is carrying.
Seems like PA doesn't care.
You stated:
“The Toll Roads here don’t even have a Cash Option. All the Toll Booths have been removed.”
Where is “here?” Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana still had cash toll booths as of last August.
do you have figures annual maintenance (without toll taker pay) vs income?
I live in PA. The Turnpike is for the rich and famous. Tolls have been rising astronomically over the past decades. Most Pennsylvanians consider the turnpike as the last resort of routes to take east and west. I travel to Pittsburgh frequently from central PA. Toll-free Rt. 22 west is the way to go, with a lot more eating and gasoline choices. I avoid the Turnpike like the Plague.
We used to take the Turnpike all the time. Because of the tolls we rarely travel in PA and I see where a number of truckers are avoiding the turnpike. It will be interesting how this lawsuit turns out.
When the toll passed the $20 mark I started taking I-80 instead, and adding about 30 minutes to my trip.
At this point they could raise the toll to $10 million for all I care.
Ping
For those who have to travel to DC or Baltimore I-68 through Maryland is toll-free, better maintained, and much less of a headache to drive.
We go from Baltimore area to Michigan 2-3 times a year. I’ve always wanted to take Hwy 30 the entire way but never had enough time.
I drove my daughter to a job interview in York, PA several years ago. Decided to drive old US 30 from Pittsburgh.
Let me tell you, even if you THINK you are prepared to challenge the mountain goat terrain and hairpin turns....you’re not. It was truly a nerve-racking drive. There’s a reason more people don’t do it.
It was almost a year after the 2016 election, and I was surprised at how many "Trump/Pence" were still up in front of homes and businesses along the way.
The PA turnpike and NJ Turnpike charge about the same per mile if one drives the entire length of each road at 10 - 11 cents per mile. The biggest toll rip off is the Delaware Turnpike that charges $4 each way to travel about 15 miles for 27 cents per mile going from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to the MD state line.
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