Tollway Fees May Rise in Peak Hours

Rush-hour drivers may have to pay more on two Orange County toll roads to thin out traffic during peak hours and help pay off the billion-dollar road projects.

The proposed price hike comes after findings that the projected traffic on the two roads, the Foothill and Eastern tollways linking Riverside to south Orange County, will be 20% to 25% below initial estimates next year. If the proposal is approved next month, the increases would not start until July 2001 at the earliest.

Traffic still is expected to thicken in the years ahead, and steeper tolls at rush hour would encourage drivers to travel at a different time, said Colleen Clark, chief financial officer of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the public agencies that oversee the tollways.

“If it’s not a problem right now, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a problem in two years or five years,” Clark said.

She said the dual rate also would keep tolls lower in off-peak hours and encourage more drivers to use the toll roads.

A variable toll rate also is being considered for the San Joaquin Hills tollway, which runs from Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano, Clark said. That proposal is under review.

Creating peak and off-peak toll rates is a key ingredient in the agencies’ plan to refinance $1.3 billion in bonds used to build the toll roads, which would save $300 million over the next decade.

The proposed toll increase comes just weeks after the county agencies approved a $1 fee for drivers who use FasTrak transponders, which automatically debit tolls from a driver’s monthly account. Only drivers who spend less than $25 a month on the 51 miles of county toll roads are charged the new fee.

Some traffic experts criticized the FasTrak increase, saying it will discourage use of the toll roads, but the proposed variable toll rates for peak and off-peak hours won praise.

“It’s a good thing to put that principle in place, and it may keep tolls lower at off-peak times,” said Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation, a public policy think tank in Los Angeles. “There’s very little reason for people to pay the normal toll at 10 p.m., when there’s very little traffic.”

Poole compared the proposal to telephone rates. Phone companies charge more during the workday, when demand is high. Rates drop on weekends and evenings, when demand is low, to encourage more people to make calls.

The toll hike could begin as early as 2001, when driving at rush hour would cost an extra 25 cents at the Orange Grove toll plaza on the Eastern tollway and the Portola-North plaza on the Foothill toll road. The higher tolls would be collected systemwide by 2003, and by 2010, driving at rush hour would cost as much as 75 cents more. Off-peak rates would also increase over the next 10 years to match inflation, Clark said.

Even though congestion is not a problem on the county toll roads now, Poole said, adopting variable rates will condition people to change their driving habits. That will pay off when traffic increases in the years ahead, he said.

“It’s a good traffic management tool in general, and it’s already been a tremendous success in other places where it’s been used,” he said.

The 91 Express Lanes, the private toll road that parallels the Riverside Freeway, was one of the first thoroughfares in the nation to adopt congestion pricing, which boosts rates when traffic is heaviest. The pricing has helped to reduce rush-hour traffic and encouraged commuters to travel just before or after the peak drive time, said Greg Hulsizer, general manager for the California Private Transportation Co., which manages the roadway.

“It’s been very effective for us,” he said. “It certainly creates an incentive for people to travel off peak.”

Higher tolls can also be charged, Clark said, because the uncongested toll roads are more valuable to drivers when the freeways they compete with have bumper-to-bumper traffic.

“It’s value pricing,” Clark said. “You charge what the road’s value is to the consumers.”

The variable toll rate is a critical component of the bond refinancing proposal scheduled to come before the toll road agencies July 8. The new pricing was recommended in a toll revenue study by Wilbur Smith Associates, which concluded that the new rates would help manage traffic and “enhance overall revenue potential.”

Here’s how the new toll system would work:

* Higher tolls would be imposed at rush hour, defined as the two hours with the heaviest traffic in the morning and the 2 1/2 hours with the heaviest traffic in the afternoon. Exact times have yet to be determined.

* Only those who drive the full length of a tollway would be charged the peak rate, except for those using the Portola-North plaza. This policy would apply for the entire decade ahead.

* On weekends and holidays, the off-peak rates would apply systemwide.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Higher Tolls?

Motorists who use the Foothill and Eastern toll roads during rush hour will need more quarters if new toll rates are approved by the Transportation Corridor Agencies. The rates would also increase for non-rush-hour use over the next decade to keep pace with inflation. The first set of rate hikes for one- and two-axle vehicles:

Windy Ridge

*--*

Normal Peak Current: $2.25 $2.25 Proposed: $2.50 $2.75

*--*

Tomato Springs

*--*

Normal Peak Current: $1.50 $1.50 Proposed: $1.50 $1.75

*--*

Orange Grove

*--*

Normal Peak Current: $1.00 $1.00 Proposed: $1.00 $1.25

*--*

Irvine Ranch

*--*

Normal Peak Current: $1.00 $1.00 Proposed: $1.00 $1.25

*--*

Portola-North

*--*

Normal Peak Current: $.75 $.75 Proposed: $.75 $1.00

*--*

NOTE: Increase is scheduled starting 2001 for Orange Grove and Portola-North and 2003 for Windy Ridge, Tomato Springs and Irvine Ranch toll road plazas.

Rush hour rates are for major travel direction only, for at least the two busiest consecutive hours in the morning and the 2 1/2 busiest in the afternoon/evening for each location on weekdays only, excluding holidays.

Source: Transportation Corridor Agencies.