The cost of turnpike tolls is going up again. This time, it’s reaching deeper into your pockets.
“Ultimately it will get passed on to the consumer, which does hurt a lot of Pennsylvania residents, and just like all the carriers we’ll have can’t absorb that six percent increase so they will have to pass that on,” said Ward Transportation and Logistics CEO Bill Ward.
Car or truck, cash or E-Z Pass, you’ll see a 6% increase starting after midnight on January 7th, 2017. It doesn’t sound like a lot; most passenger vehicles will see a seven-cent increase for E-Z Pass and a 15-cent increase for cash. Trucking companies will be hit hard, though, and you’ll end up helping offset some of that cost.
“Typically, most carriers get about a four percent rate increase and that covers wage increases, new equipment, but then when you have a six percent rate increase on tolls, that severely affects the bottom line profits,” Ward said.
Ward trucking spent $700,000 in toll costs last year.
“The 6% increase will affect us really a lot,” Ward said. “Right now we are cost about $180 to go from west to east, the whole length of the turnpike.”
The turnpike toll price jump will help pay for the cost of rebuilding and widening the road system.
“Coupled with that increase, as you know, we also have the highest state fuel tax in the nation,” Ward said. “So that’s really a lot of taxes Pennsylvania has to deal with, especially the trucking industry.”
This increase won’t be the last. You can expect to see an annual increase of up to 6% until 2044.
