Tolls Raised for 4th Time on 91 Express Lanes

For the fourth time in the toll road’s 2 1/2 years of existence, operators of the 91 Express Lanes are increasing the price for a ride on the 10-mile highway.

Beginning April 19, the toll during peak hours will be $3.20 instead of the current $2.95, making the toll road one of the most expensive in the state. Other increases will range from 15 cents during a nonpeak weekday trip to a 40-cent jump on weekends. The lowest toll will remain 60 cents, during the early morning and late evening.

Toll road operators say the increases are necessary to reduce congestion, especially during peak hours, and to reflect better the value to weekend customers of such features as the toll road’s 24-hour towing service.

“Our promise to our customers is a congestion-free commute,” said Greg Hulsizer, general manager of the California Private Transportation Co., which operates the state-owned toll road under a contract with Caltrans. “If it is not consistently congestion free,” he said, “then we are not delivering on that promise.”

Some people, however, were critical of the move. “The price seems to be going up pretty fast,” said Bill Ward, chairman of Drivers for Highway Safety. “If I were driving on that road, I wouldn’t be too happy about paying more.”

After opening the road in late 1995, operators announced the first toll increases--ranging from 25 cents to $1--a year later. Eight months after that, they imposed a second increase designed, they said, to decrease congestion. That brought the maximum toll during peak hours to $2.95. And early this year, the company started charging car-poolers for using the toll road in an effort, it said, to stem multimillion-dollar losses. Previously, cars carrying three or more people had been allowed to drive for free.

Since 1996, Hulsizer said, the company’s revenue has almost doubled to more than $13 million a year. The latest toll hike, he said, is needed because the road handles about 30,000 cars a day, a 7% increase since September. “We are adding more customers every day,” he said, “and they are hitting congestion from the [Costa Mesa] Freeway all the way back [about a mile] to Lakeview Avenue. This is meant to clear that up.”

The new tolls make the 91 Express Lanes among the most expensive toll roads in California, second only to the I-15 Express Lanes near San Diego, where the toll briefly reached $3.50 this week. Open only since Monday, the road is equipped with sensors that determine the price at six-minute intervals based on vehicle count. Ordinarily, said Garry Bonelli, a spokesman for the San Diego Assn. of Governments, which operates the road, the tolls average $2 to $3. “It’s solely based on congestion,” he said.

Elsewhere in the state, toll road charges range from 50 cents to about $3, according to a Caltrans spokesman. “There is no limit on how high it can go in theory,” said John Robin Witt. “The only limit is how much people are willing to pay and whether they want that convenience. I think all of the toll roads are based on the idea that people are willing to pay out of their own pocket for the convenience of a separate lane. Those who don’t care to use it don’t have to.”