What Price Riders? Toll Plan May Be Boon to Firm

County toll authorities are debating yet another Madison Avenue approach toward increasing ridership along their toll roads. This time, they’d offer a marketing agency a cash bonus for toll revenues exceeding annual projections.

Members of the Transportation Corridor Agencies are scheduled to discuss the proposal today at a meeting of the agencies’ Operations and Finance Committee.

Among five options is a recommended proposal to offer the marketing firm, Johnson/Ukropina, a $100,000 bonus for every $1 million in toll fees the toll authority collects beyond a projected target of $71.43 million that’s anticipated from two toll roads in the next fiscal year.

The proposal would be another of several marketing gambits the toll authority has undertaken in the past several years. Others include tie-in promotions with fast-food chains that allow drivers to charge takeout food to their computerized, toll debit accounts.

This latest proposal, which comes at a time when the marketing firm and the TCA have launched a new, eye-catching advertising campaign, would include the Foothill and Eastern toll roads only. The bonus would be capped at $400,000.

Proponents of the plan say the incentive is as much about cultivating a favorable public perception of the agency’s stewardship as anything else.

Harold R. Kaufman, a TCA board member and Dana Point councilman, said the mere fact that the agency spends $1.8 million a year to advertise toll roads is controversial.

“To me, an incentive makes a lot of sense,” Kaufman told fellow board members in July. “And the perception is a lot better if Johnson/Ukropina is a marketing partner with us, rather than a marketing contractor.”

Johnson/Ukropina of Irvine, which has also handled marketing for the Hardee’s fast-food chain and the Orange County Transportation Authority, has worked with TCA for five years.

Past contracts have involved certain revenue-based incentives and penalties, but no direct cash payments.

In past contracts, according to TCA officials, the toll authority would agree to purchase $6,000 more in annual marketing services for every 1% increase in toll revenues. For every 1% decrease in toll revenues, the marketing firm was required to offer $6,000 worth of credit to the TCA.

Under the current discussions, the marketing firm has told TCA officials that it will not agree to a plan that requires cash-penalty payments for a drop in toll revenues.

The firm has also asked that TCA recognize that circumstances beyond the firm’s control can also affect ridership--such as traffic accidents, floods and maintenance--and has asked that TCA take this into consideration when considering annual ridership figures.

In discussions last month regarding incentives, a TCA staff report recommended against such a plan. Among other arguments, the report said that the marketing firm had done good work, regardless of incentives, and that additional toll revenues were most needed on the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road, which is not included in the proposal. Directors of that toll road have voted to reduce their advertising budget.

Despite the initial staff recommendation against an incentive plan, TCA board members urged further investigation of such an idea.