Posted on 12/09/2020 7:02:44 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
HARRISBURG, PA. (JULY 21, 2020) — The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) today approved a six-percent toll increase for all E-ZPass rates systemwide and for PA Turnpike TOLL BY PLATE rates that had been established before last month’s permanent conversion to All-Electronic Tolling (AET) at these locations:
The increase — slated to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2021 — will enable the PTC to continue to maintain and operate its system and ensure safe travel for up to 500,000 daily customers.
“The primary driver of the annual toll-rate increases continues to be our quarterly transit payments to PennDOT and the resulting debt service that comes along with the legislatively mandated funding obligation,” said PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. “As a result, the PA Turnpike has delivered almost $7 billion in funding to PennDOT in the last decade, primarily to support mass-transit operations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.”
Compton said the PTC’s debt-service costs on outstanding Act-44 bond debt are $440 million annually and growing; this amount must be paid each year even if the Commission seeks, and is granted, deferment of a quarterly Act-44 payment — as it recently did to partially offset revenue impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New TOLL BY PLATE Rates Set
As part of its recent systemwide change in toll operations, the Commission today also approved new TOLL BY PLATE rates at toll facilities converted to AET in June. The new rates, which also take effect Jan. 3, 2021, include an average 45% increase over the 2020 cash rate for TOLL BY PLATE motorists . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at paturnpike.com ...
Went through PA Thanksgiving weekend and needed gas. The cheapest I could find on my car’s GPS was $2.63.
When I went to pay, I mentioned it to the store clerk. She said “The idiots in Harrisburg just raised it.” She was p.o. mad.
(My son live in Silicon Valley. Gas is about $3.50. He is p.o. mad.)
“a small piece of electrical tape”
I like that. I have two 3s in my plate that could be 8s!
Such a great video.
EZ-pass?
EZ pass? Two gin and tonics and a backseat... Happy Motoring..
Happy New Year! It seems this happens every year. Bunch of lazy ass greedy state employees. (not workers)
I remember driving through Pennsylvania in 1977 and throwing hand fulls of quarters into baskets along the toll ways. Being from the rural West, it was a new experience for me.
I got stopped by a state cop on the Pa. Turnpike, in the 60s. He said he clocked me at 115 mph. He just told me to slow down.
Probably helped that I was wearing a uniform.
When I started using it (Harrisburg to New Stanton), the toll was $14 +. Last time I used it (last year) the toll rate was $24 +. In the span of maybe 8 years.
Now, I take highway 68.
Yes indeed.
.
Someone’s gotta pay for those election fraud worker bees.
It was only a few years ago that Obama and Clinton’s buddy Slick Eddie Rendell wanted to turn I-80 into a turnpike and privatize the PA turnpike system to his Democrat friends.
We got EZ Pass when we accidentally drove through a toll (wrong lane) in NJ and were sent a $50 bill for what was a $1.50 toll.
That was my last trip to the beach for years
Screw em.
Is Dominion systems involved in this too?
She used to blow Bubbles down by the lake - at least that’s what Bubbles says.
FWIW, I believe a phone call would have resulted in a $1.50 toll instead of $50; they routinely send out those letters with $50 fine and toss them when people call with an explanation.
If private companies imposed such harsh penalties, they would be called before Congress.
But got can impose harsh penalties and it is no problemo.
True. I generally don’t use toll roads much, so when I do I’m shocked at how expensive they’ve become. Here in NJ you can only charge a toll where there is a free alternative; at the south end of the Garden State Parkway, Route 9 (the free alternative) shares the roadway so there are no tolls for a stretch.
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