Pennsylvania Turnpike Aims to Recover More Than $1 Million From Trucking Firms
Frustrated over more than $9 million in unpaid tolls in the past two fiscal years, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has upped the enforcement ante. The authority successfully shepherded a bill through the Legislature that only needs Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature by Nov. 4 to become law and allow for reciprocity with other states.
Those unpaid tolls include 24 trucking companies with at least $20,000 apiece led by Green Coast Logistics of South Plainfield, New Jersey, which had accumulated nearly $680,000 in unpaid tolls with more than 7,600 violations. All told, the top 24 owes more than $1 million.
“This is the first time we’ve published this list,” said Turnpike spokesman Cal DeFebo, whose organization has sent toll violation notices to all 50 states. “We wrote off $3.7 million in tolls in fiscal 2015. That total climbed to $5.4 million in fiscal 2016. That’s a 45% increase and those numbers don’t include the violation fees.”
Seventeen of the 24 firms are from other states, including 10 from New Jersey. The Garden State is home to three of the top four violators and four of the top eight. Transport Topics reached out to all six firms that had exceeded $50,000 in fines. None of the messages were returned.
In Pennsylvania, after six notices or $500 worth of violations, the authority works with sister agencies within state government to suspend vehicle registrations and drivers’ licenses, but lacks the power to do so with out-of-state drivers and firms. Hence the need for the reciprocity agreements.
“We will educate all of our customers, not just the trucking industry, if this becomes law, which would go into effect next summer,” DeFebo said. “Violation notices are mailed. That’s a lot of mail costs with 7,631 violations. We have reached out to the top 24 numerous times. My understanding is that these discussions [with other states] have already begun, so I don’t think they would take too long to finalize if the bill becomes law.”
DeFebo said that technology has been a boon and a hindrance for the authority.
“We have more challenges with people using their GPS, ignoring signage, and making an honest mistake driving through an EZ Pass lane without having EZPass,” DeFebo said. “If you travel from Harrisburg to Philadelphia and you didn’t pay, we’ll accept a receipt from a Wendy’s in Harrisburg near the interchange or from a hotel there as proof of where you got on. We’re very understanding about people who make an honest mistake, but for goodness sake, we do need some teeth to be able to pursue these egregious violators.”
DeFebo said the Pennsylvania Turnpike has also been a victim of its open system.
“We’ve never had mechanized barriers in our lanes,” DeFebo explained. “We’re an open system, unlike the Ohio Turnpike. When you pull up to Ohio’s toll plazas in the EZPass lane, if [the device] doesn’t sense [a transponder], the arm doesn’t go up. That would be chaos for us in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh [because of the huge amount of traffic].” The Top 24 List of Pennsylvania Toll Dodgers
