New Pa. Turnpike Rates In Effect Starting Today

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --  New rates kick in today on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

A 6 percent increase for E-ZPass as well as cash customers.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission reminds drivers this hike, like the other annual toll rate increases since 2009, is needed in part to meet its financial obligations to repay long-term loans for improvements.

"This increase affects equally those who pay with E-ZPass and those who pay with cash," Turnpike Spokesman Carl DeFebo told Eyewitness News.

"A common class one or passenger vehicle rate will increase from $1.09 to $1.16 for E-ZPass customers and from $1.70 to $1.80 for cash customers."

More than three-quarters of the drivers who use the Pennsylvania Turnpike are E-ZPass customers.

Their rate is 35 percent less than cash customers.

The Commission says "current turnpike traffic and revenue forecasts call for annual increases of 3-to-6 % through 2044."

Also today, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is beginning a cashless toll system at the Delaware River Bridge.

Toll plazas at the very eastern end of the Turnpike are also being reconfigured.