The Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey yesterday approved toll and fare increases on its four bridges and its PATCO mass-transit system, with those hikes to take effect on Sept. 14.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine will have 10 days after receiving the minutes of yesterday's meeting to review and possibly nullify any votes. While the authority is a bi-state agency, with Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell chairing the agency's board of commissioners, Rendell does not have veto authority of DRPA board decisions, according to DRPA spokesman Ed Kasuba.
In response to the authority's toll and fare hikes, Sen. Diane Allen, R-Burlington, said the DRPA needs to live within its means and that she will seek to overturn the increases through legislative action.
"I will introduce a resolution in the Senate when we reconvene in the fall, calling for the repeal of these toll hikes," Allen said in a press release. "In the interim, I ask that [the governor] exercise his authority ... to veto the actions of all New Jersey commissioners of the DRPA in this matter. By doing so, he will effectively block toll hikes on South Jersey commuters."
Raising fares and tolls will support the authority's $1.1 billion, five-year capital plan, which includes bridge repair work and a large-scale PATCO expansion project. The PATCO line connects Camden and Gloucester counties in southwestern New Jersey to downtown Philadelphia. Officials are working on selling roughly $450 million of new-money debt in late 2008 or the beginning of next year to help finance the infrastructure developments.
Bridge tolls will increase to $4 from $3 on the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry, and Betsy Ross Bridges. In addition, the authority is set to raise that fee again in September 2010 to $5 and implement cost-of-living increases every two years thereafter. Each $1 toll boost will generate roughly $38 million per year in new revenue for the DRPA, according to John Hanson, the authority's chief financial officer.
The authority also approved a 10% increase to PATCO fares, beginning Sept. 14, with the authority set to implement another 10% fare hike in September 2010. Like the boosts in DRPA's bridge tolls, PATCO fares will increase every two years after 2010 based on cost of living increases. Each 10% increase will generate approximately $2 million annually in additional revenue, according to Hanson.
With this year's 10% increase, a one-way trip for the entire length of the line will increase by 25 cents to $2.70. That amount will grow to $3 in 2010, a 30-cent boost.
The DRPA's last toll hike was in 2000 and its most recent PATCO fare increase was a 16% growth in 2001.
The authority has approximately $808 million of outstanding senior revenue bonds, which Standard & Poor's rates BBB-plus with a positive outlook. Moody's Investors Service rates the credit A3 with a stable outlook. Fitch Ratings does not rate the authority.
