Ashley Emeigh of Salem recently was caught in the crosshairs of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s crackdown on people who don’t pay tolls.
She owed $9,763 in tolls and fees when she appeared at an Aug. 12 court hearing and explained to a district judge how she plans to pay her bill.
Ligonier District Judge Allison Thiel ruled in the turnpike commission’s favor, ordering Emeigh to pay $798 in tolls accumulated, plus $8,965 in administrative fees resulting from multiple billing notices.
Thiel, who declined comment on the cases, also ordered Emeigh to pay $262 in court costs.
“I just don’t want to fight it,” Emeigh said after the hearing.
She didn’t offer a defense for failing to pay, other than to tell Thiel that she had moved. Attorney Michael Farnan, representing the turnpike commission, said numerous notices were mailed, and a vehicle owner is required to notify the state within 14 days of moving.
Emeigh has paid between $400 and $500 on a payment plan, she told the judge.
The case is part of a statewide effort to collect $68 million in unpaid tolls and fees from Pennsylvanians that is in an active status of the toll enforcement process, said Marissa Orbanek, a turnpike commission spokeswoman. The commission typically collects on 94% of its unpaid tolls within 150 days of it being recorded.
“We expect to collect on most of this as most individuals pay invoices before going to any of our enforcement initiatives,” she said.
Drivers can set up payment plans and reach settlement agreements before the agency files the court case, Orbanek said.
Of the 33 cases the agency has filed in Thiel’s court against Westmoreland County scofflaws since January 2023, it has won more than $155,500 in 25 cases. One case before Thiel is pending and nine were withdrawn or dismissed as of Aug. 21.
In Allegheny County, the turnpike commission won judgments worth about $68,360 in 15 cases filed before Monroeville District Judge Jeffrey Herbst. Eleven cases were dismissed, resulting in the turnpike commission losing out on $67,910 in fines and fees.
“Civil court is always our last resort, and we strive to resolve this through other measures,” Orbanek said.
Despite its collection efforts, the turnpike commission’s estimates of expected uncollected or unbillable transactions rose from $155 million from April 2021 through March 2022, to an estimated $180 million in uncollected transactions from April 2023 through March 2024, according to the commission’s annual May revenue reports. The unpaid tolls, however, are dwarfed by the revenue collections, which rose from $1.49 billion in the 2022 report to $1.68 billion in the 2024 report.
The percentage of uncollected tolls has remained consistent at 6%, which aligns with the national average among tolling roads, Orbanek said.
Fees pile up
Ignoring the notices sent to collect the unpaid tolls comes with a high price, often in the thousands of dollars, according to the complaints filed with Thiel’s office.
Both Emeigh and Beth N. Geary of Greensburg found out the hard way. The turnpike commission won a default judgement on Aug. 21 against Geary for $10,322 when she did not defend herself, with court costs still to be added.
The high administrative fees racked up by some of the motorists pre-date the existing toll-by-plate payment system for motorists who used the toll road without an E-Z Pass. A $15 fee was charged on the first invoice and an additional $25 late fee was tacked on the second notice, Orbanek stated in an email.
“Under the old system, someone would have had to accrue 250 separate violations to have received $10,000 in administrative fees,” Orbanek said.
Since the turnpike commission eliminated its toll takers and went to all-electronic tolling in 2020, a $5 late fee or 1.5% of the bill, is added to the second notice. If the second notice goes unpaid, a $20, or 20% charge is added when it goes to the collection agency, Orbanek said.
“These fees remain below what is statutorily permitted,” Orbanek said, noting the maximum is $35.
The toll-by-plate system the turnpike uses for motorists who don’t have an E-ZPass transponder has its own drawbacks. The turnpike commission reported that $104.9 million in toll-by-plate transactions went unpaid from June 2020 through May 2021, according to a 2022 state report.
Almost 75% of the unpaid tolls are the result of motorists not paying the bill they receive, the license plate can’t be identified through a photo or PennDOT either had a wrong address for the license plate or none at all, according to the report. The fees from the toll-by-plate system goes to the collection process after 60 days of being unpaid, but 10% of the toll-by-plate bills were undeliverable, and there was no addresses for 14% of the bills, the report said.
Half of the violations were from out-of-state motorists.
Electronic collections
In June, the turnpike commission announced it was moving toward open road tolling, which eliminates toll booths completely.
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”The industry had been moving toward electronic collections for over 10 years. It’s really taken off since covid,” said Michael Muriello, director of policy and government affairs for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose membership includes 129 toll road operators in 34 states.
About 95% of tolled highways and bridges have electronic collection systems, Muriello said.
The problems the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has with license plates that can’t be determined in a photo or the addresses associated with the license plate are no longer valid, are shared by other tolling agencies, Muriello said.
The cooperation among states to reach reciprocity agreements that puts some enforcement measures in place to collect from out-of-state drivers will close some of the gaps in collecting the unpaid transactions, Muriello said. The answer could be to have multiple states in a geographic region work together on reciprocity arrangements.
“The benefits of cashless tolling are reduced traffic congestion and delay at tolling points, improved traffic safety, reduced emissions, and customer convenience of nonstop transactions — not to mention the avoided cost of constructing and maintaining tollbooths for cash collection. These benefits are too compelling for toll agencies to consider a return to ticket takers and cash toll collection on the roadways,” Muriello said.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.