The Pa. Turnpike now has open road tolling. What that means for your bill, and how to avoid scams
If you've traveled east of Reading or on the Northeast Extension in the past month, you can expect to see more charges of smaller amounts on your bill.
Now that the Pennsylvania Turnpike has had open road tolling (ORT) for more than a month, drivers may be noticing that their bills look a little different.
Highway officials want them to know the changes are legit, especially in light of the unpaid-toll scam texts that continue to circulate.
If customers have driven on the turnpike east of Reading or on the Northeast Extension — where ORT went into effect Jan. 5 — “they’re going to see more charges on their statement,” said Marissa Orbanek, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. “There are more smaller transactions.”
That’s because all E-ZPass and toll-by-plate customers are now charged electronically every time they drive underneath gantries, the large metal beams above the roadway, instead of at toll plazas, which appear less frequently at interchanges. On the ORT sections of the turnpike, tollbooths have been turned off, Orbanek said, and are set to start being demolished this spring.
About 86% of Pennsylvania Turnpike trips are made by travelers using E-ZPass. The rest get billed via toll-by-plate, and an invoice is mailed to the address of the person to whom the car is registered. Orbanek said E-ZPass users save about 50% compared to toll-by-plate customers.
Both types of customers will notice more charges, each for a smaller amount than before, if they drive the eastern portions of the turnpike regularly, Orbanek said. For E-ZPass customers, it’ll appear on their statements, while toll-by-plate customers will see the more frequent charges on the invoices mailed to their homes within a month or two.
“For smaller trips, you might not see a difference,” Orbanek said.
And if drivers travel west of Reading to Pittsburgh, for example, they would see one toll charge for this portion of their trip because ORT is not yet in effect there, she added. It is slated to go live west of Reading by the end of 2027.
Even accounting for the turnpike’s annual 5% toll increase, ORT won’t cost drivers much, if any, more than they paid last year, turnpike officials have said.
Eighty-four percent of E-ZPass trips and 74% of toll-by-plate trips will either cost less or no more than $1 more than they did last year, Orbanek said.
Pa. Turnpike (still) doesn’t text about unpaid tolls
While these new charges on your toll bills are valid, those texts about unpaid tolls are still a scam.
“We will never text you about unpaid tolls,” Orbanek said of the phony texts, which have been circulating since April. “Your billing will always be in the mail, if you’re a toll-by-plate customer, or on your E-ZPass account.”
Since the spring, the turnpike commission has gotten tens of thousands of reports of these scam texts, Orbanek said, and the messages seem to be increasing in frequency this winter.
But Orbanek assures drivers: “If you’re getting a text, that is not the Pa. Turnpike.”
Or any turnpike authority, for that matter. Scammers have used similar texts to target drivers in other states, including New Jersey and Delaware.