Balancing Toll-Road Use, Misuse

Ever since the county’s toll roads opened, a major headache is that both traffic and revenue have been lighter than they should be. This is primarily so for the San Joaquin Hills corridor.

Last July the Transportation Corridor Agencies raised rates at coin-operated access points on the San Joaquin Hills toll road to generate an extra $2.3 million to $4 million a year for budget needs.

Now operators of the Foothill, Eastern and San Joaquin Hills toll roads have boosted the cost of fines that first-time violators pay in an effort to replace revenue lost when motorists drive past toll stations without paying.

It’s not a penny-ante problem. The estimate is that 2.5 million cars shot through the toll collecting points in the past year. That translates into about $3.6 million in lost funds, which is taking its toll on the agencies’ budget.

So now, first-time offenders--instead of receiving just a request for the unpaid toll--will be hit with a $25 fine. If they fail to pay that, another $25 fine will be tacked on--along with a notice to the Department of Motor Vehicles, which will mean that car registration can’t be renewed until the fines are paid.

Fining scofflaws is reasonable. It’s not fair to the overwhelming majority of motorists who pay the toll to allow those who ignore it to drive away free.

But the penalty does seem a bit steep for first-time offenders, some of whom may have been confused or caught without the ready change needed. Rather than causing a traffic jam or safety problem, they just went through. A smaller fine, in addition to the estimated $5 in administrative costs, would have been more reasonable, and certainly a more palatable public-relations approach.

The formula for the toll roads’ success seems simple enough. More cars equals more revenue. But the anticipated volume of traffic before construction was woefully overestimated on the San Joaquin Hills toll road. That has put the corridor agencies on a never-ending merry-go-round of trying to attract more cars and more revenue without discouraging potential motorists with higher tolls and fines.

A breakdown in the agencies’ system of surveillance cameras has hurt revenue. They record the license plates of violators so they can be cited. In the last year, about half of the violators’ license plates couldn’t be identified by the video cameras. That problem is being corrected.

Violation times and locations also can be analyzed so enforcement can be stepped up and concentrated on catching and ticketing errant motorists at the scene.

But the main problem still is underuse. That’s so on the Foothill and Eastern corridors in the off-peak hours and on the San Joaquin Hills tollway most of the time. The attention directed at first-time violators to collect fines is well and good. More important is increased focus on attracting first-time corridor users to raise road revenue.