Tolls on turnpike will increase Sunday

Whoever said life is cheaper when you pay with cash obviously didn't have the Pennsylvania Turnpike in mind.

Driving the turnpike is about to get more expensive — especially if you pay with your George Washingtons and Abe Lincolns.

Cash-paying customers will be hit with a 10-percent toll hike beginning at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. E-ZPass customers, meantime, face a mere 3 percent hike in fares.

The minimal increase for E-ZPass users is designed to encourage drivers to sign on with Pennsylvania's cashless, all-electronic method of toll collection. The turnpike is studying such a move.

Under such a system, toll booths would be removed and motorists would pay through E-ZPass or other options that involve taking pictures of license plates and billing vehicle owners.

"By eliminating toll booths, customers could experience a safer, faster and more convenient trip," turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier said earlier this month. He said such a system would be better for the environment by eliminating lines of idling vehicles at toll plazas.

About two-thirds of the turnpike's motorists currently use E-ZPass.

Under the new tolls:

• For a passenger vehicle getting on the turnpike on Route 72 north of Manheim and driving to Pittsburgh, for example, a one-way trip will cost $17, up $1.55 from the current fee of $15.45, if paying cash.

The new E-ZPass toll will be $15.91, up only 46 cents from the current rate.

• For a passenger vehicle getting on the turnpike north of Manheim and driving to Bensalem, formerly the Philadelphia exit, a one-way trip will cost $8.20, up 75 cents from the current rate of $7.45 for cash-paying drivers.

E-ZPass customers will pay $7.63, up 22 cents from the current rate of $7.41.

The toll hike was approved as part of a 2007 law and funding agreement with the Department of Transportation to finance non-turnpike road and bridge improvements and transit services across the state.

The 2011 toll hike will also help pay for reconstruction and six-lane widening projects now under way and planned throughout the 545-mile turnpike system.

Cash-paying customers will not see a fare schedule printed on their tickets for a couple of months.

The turnpike commission initially decided to stop printing the tolls on tickets next year as a cost-saving measure because the 2007 state law calls for annual increases in tolls, and tickets would have to be changed every year when prices go up.

The fare-free tickets had been expected to save about $80,000 per year, but the commission reversed the decision earlier this month.

For now, the turnpike commission is using tickets that reflect the current fare schedule, but once those fares go up on Jan. 2, it will convert temporarily to the tickets without fare prices.

Turnpike drivers can, however, find the toll fees in several other places:

• The toll-rate hotline, at (866) 976-8747.

• The online toll calculator, at www.paturnpike.com.

• At the tollbooth, printed schedule sheets are available.

tmurse@lnpnews.com