State Impact Oklahoma By Beth Wallis
SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
Drivers on Oklahoma turnpikes may have noticed a price hike in tolls after the rollout of the state’s new PlatePay cashless tolling system.
Oklahoma’s Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz — who also serves as the executive director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority — said at a Tuesday senate interim study the increase is to make up for the new system’s collection inefficiencies and billing costs.
“When you look at [collection] failure rates, they’re going to usually be around 50%,” Gatz said. “I think ours will be better than that.”
Other states using cashless tolling have seen significant problems with trying to collect tolls billed to drivers. In Pennsylvania, the turnpike authority reported a loss of $155 million — up from $104 million the previous year — in uncollected tolls for the last fiscal year. Nearly 35% of drivers who receive a toll bill in Pennsylvania never pay it.
View the full article: StateImpact.NPR.org