DRPA bridge use likely to fall further with toll increase

The number of paying customers on four Delaware River toll bridges, already at its lowest in a decade, is likely to fall further if a planned toll increase is approved this week.

Traffic is down about 1 percent this year from 2009, after falling 5 percent a year earlier. Traffic had been rising each year since 2000 on the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry, and Betsy Ross bridges operated by the Delaware River Port Authority, until tolls were increased by $1 for cars in September 2008.

The DRPA's proposed 2011 budget anticipates that another $1 hike - to $5 - in the round-trip car toll, planned for July, will further reduce traffic. (The budget assumes toll revenue will rise by 11.39 percent if a 25 percent toll hike is imposed on July 1, less than if ridership remained constant.)

When the agency raised tolls in 2008, DRPA analysts predicted higher tolls could produce a 3 percent to 5 percent drop in traffic.

Some of the DRPA's lost ridership is thought to be using cheaper bridges, such as the Tacony-Palmyra, which costs $2 per car. Other motorists may be skipping discretionary trips between Philadelphia and South Jersey, and, with unemployment up, some commuters are staying home because they're out of work.

And some may be switching to PATCO trains, where ridership is up slightly for the year: Through September, PATCO's passenger count was up 27,568 (0.37 percent) compared with the same nine-month period in 2009.

A DRPA board committee on Wednesday will consider postponing the toll increase through 2011. It will also consider delaying a 10 percent increase in PATCO fares that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

As they contemplate the planned increases, DRPA board members find themselves caught between the conflicting demands of commuters and Wall Street.

Cash-strapped commuters - and some of their elected representatives - have urged the DRPA not to raise tolls and fares in the current economic climate.

Financial analysts, though, have warned that putting off a toll increase could prompt bond-rating firms to downgrade DRPA's financial rating. That could lead to a default on finance instruments known as "swaps" and allow lender UBS to demand immediate payment of $220 million.

Last week, the DRPA finance committee looked at trimming the agency's operating budget for next year, cutting back on its $1 billion, five-year construction plan, and redirecting some unspent "economic development" funds to keep fares and tolls at current levels through 2011.