Express Lanes’ Tolls Rising to Drive Off Users

Motorists on the 91 Express Lanes soon will pay higher tolls--ranging from one dime to 45 cents more depending on the time of day--as transit officials try to thin out increasingly heavy traffic.

Rush-hour fees will top out at $2.95 to drive the entire length of the road, up from the current high of $2.75. Driving the road during off-peak hours will rise from the current low of 50 cents to 60 cents. The cost of driving between those two times, which varies throughout the day, also will rise by at least 10 cents.

Greg Hulsizer, general manager for the California Private Transportation Co., said Tuesday toll road backups are beginning to defeat the purpose of having drivers pay a fee in return for clear freeway lanes.

“As recently as [Monday] in the morning, headed west, we began to see some backing up at the end of the express lanes,” Hulsizer said.

A report required by Caltrans said the Express Lanes accommodated 5.7 million vehicle trips in 1996.

While officials say the lanes are backing up during peak hours, toll road officials earlier this year said that the number of commuters overall using the road was below expectations.

Hulsizer said the Private Transportation Co. would not release rush-hour figures, or any other exact statistics, because they could tip off competitors.

But he said that hundreds of new commuters are using the toll road each week, and officials are hoping that the new fees keep them off the lanes during peak hours.

The 10-mile expressway, the world’s first fully automated tollway, runs from the northern tip of the Costa Mesa Freeway to the Riverside County line.

This is the second time fees have been raised since the toll road opened in December 1995. The first took effect Jan. 1 of this year and was also intended to cut rush-hour traffic. But Hulsizer said that it succeeded only temporarily.

The higher fees take effect Sept. 14, and Hulsizer said future increases are possible if that’s what it takes to maintain the Express Lanes. Fees were also raised across the board--from a low of 50 cents to 60 cents, for example--to pay for maintenance costs and keep the road profitable, Hulsizer said.

Toll road users such as Irvine resident Laura Hoffman were surprised that fees were going up yet again.

Hoffman uses the Express Lanes about once a week and will continue to do so, though she’s less than thrilled about the fee hike.

“I know it’s worth the time; our time is money,” she said, but added, “I just wonder how much more they’re going to raise it. That’s a little scary.”

Bill Ward, chairman of Drivers for Highway Safety, questioned whether the increases are good for business.

Because fees are going up at least 10 cents at all hours of the day, Ward said, the toll road might end up losing some commuters and revenues during off-peak hours.

“When you don’t have enough business, you usually have a sale,” said Ward.

Hulsizer said the company still has a deficit of about $3.7 million, but he predicted that most commuters will continue to use the road, mostly because of efforts to keep it from getting congested. He expect to lose just enough rush-hour commuters, but not a significant number of off-peak drivers.

“The new toll rates won’t deter the majority of them,” he said.

To make the fee increases more palatable, the toll road’s most frequent users will receive an added discount. In exchange for a $15 monthly fee, those commuters now receive a 60-cent discount whenever they use the road, up from a 50-cent discount.

They will now recoup the $15 fee after 25 trips rather than 30. After 40 trips--about the number of workday trips each month--they will have saved $9.

The 60-cent discount, Hulsizer said, is meant to reward the toll road’s most frequent users.