Few Dulles Toll Road Violators Pay Fines

Tom Warne Report, 8 February 2013

Washington Examiner – February 6, 2013

More than one million no pay violations occur on the Dulles Toll Road each year and many are never issued a citation. The tollway, operated by the struggling Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, recorded nearly 100 million tolls paid last calendar year, bringing the authority more than $100 million in gross revenue. But of the 1.1 million times a vehicle passing through without paying, only 95,269 people received a ticket in the mail.

Of those tickets issued, only 21,679 drivers paid through the mail, and a few additional paid a fine in court. A spokesman for the authority, which is also paying for the Dulles Rail Project, said the 1 million violations were actually equipment glitches that caused errors in which paying drivers drove away before the signal changed, or drivers drove through a closed lane before workers could block it off. Spokesman Rob Yingling said the violation rate is slightly more than one percent of all transactions, and lower than most other toll roads.

The authority does not record how much money is lost in un-ticketed violations, but the Washington Examiner estimated that the unpaid violations could be worth more than $1 million, assuming half the violations came from the $1.50 main plaza fee, and half violated a ramp fee of $0.75 in 2012. The new Silver Line could benefit from that additional revenue, particularly the second half between Reston to Loudoun County, which is 75 percent funded by toll revenue.

“If you look at the industry as a whole, [the violation rate] is low, but we’re not happy with that. We’re looking at any number of options where we can get a higher rate of return,” said authority board member Tom Davis. “Every dollar we get goes toward paying for rail and is a dollar less [drivers] have to pay for tolls.” He added that the authority cannot afford to pay monitors to give change on the tolled ramps past 9:30 p.m., which results in violations.

1.1 million missed transactions, 95,000 citations and 22,000 who actually paid for the infraction. 2% paid. TW

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