91 Freeway toll lane fees in Corona approach $50 million as ‘desperate’ commuters open wallets

Driven by frustration with severe traffic congestion, new toll lanes on the 91 Freeway in Corona took in nearly $48 million — three times as much money as expected — in their first full year and are on pace to generate $50 million this fiscal year.

The rosier-than-anticipated results, detailed this week in a report to a regional transportation panel, spurred cries that tolls are too high and calls for spending surplus revenue on improvements to the mainline 91 that could ease congestion.

“I can see how they are getting rich,” said Carla White, who commutes from Corona to Anaheim.

White said she doesn’t drive the exclusive lanes because she doesn’t have a transponder for paying tolls, which can exceed $25 one way if a driver uses both the Orange County and Riverside County lanes. But she knows many commuters who do pay.

“It’s such a rip-off,” White said. “But then again, you’re desperate and you’re going to do it because it is so horrible.”

Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who sits on the Riverside County Transportation Commission’s panel, said the extra money collected “beyond our wildest dreams” should be put to good use.

“To the extent that we can do so, we should reinvest those toll revenues right back into the corridor to make the necessary improvements to make the corridor flow better,” Jeffries said by phone.

An Orange County agency controls 10 miles of toll lanes between the 55 Freeway and Riverside-Orange county line. The Riverside County commission operates the 8 miles of lanes in Corona that opened in March 2017, after a massive $1.4 billion project that expanded the 91.

John Standiford, the commission’s deputy executive director, said the highest toll being charged on the Riverside County lanes is $18.90 during the Monday westbound commute between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Executive Director Anne Mayer attributed the surging revenue in part to her agency’s “conservative approach” to forecasting, thinking people would need time to get used to the lanes.

They didn’t.

“We had a lot of people who were ready on day one to get in those express lanes,” Mayer said.

Mayer also cited the soaring traffic volume fueled by a strong Inland Empire economy.

Traffic consultant Sheldon Mar told the commission’s Western Riverside County Programs and Projects Committee on Monday, Nov. 26, that about 312,000 vehicles travel the 91 daily at the county line. Of those, he said, 43,000 cars — 14 percent of the total — drive on toll lanes.

While it is true revenue exceeds expectations, and the commission staff welcomes the idea of spending surplus money on improvements, Mayer said the agency has significant expenses associated with operating the toll lanes and paying off a federal loan and toll bonds. Those expenses total $40.3 million for the current fiscal year. She said costs are expected to reach $47.8 million in fiscal year 2021-22.

Mayer said the commission could use surplus dollars to fund a new flyover connection between the 71 and 91 freeways, expanded Metrolink commuter train service in the 91 corridor and a new westbound lane between Green River Road and the 241. But half of surplus money allocated for such projects — except for the 71-91 and another project — must be used to pay down the federal loan, she said.

In short, Standiford said, “this isn’t a huge source of funding to do all that.”

As for the revised forecast, it states tolls are expected to generate 10 percent more money between today and 2066.

The biggest difference is in the early years. Annual collections are now expected to pass the $100 million mark by 2030, four years earlier than first predicted. By 2025, revenue is forecast to hit $73 million — a 54 percent increase from last year — as commuters drive the lanes more than 13 million times.

Wes Speake, recently elected to the Corona City Council, said the surge is due in part to the commission’s practice of using toll pricing as “a stick” to boot people out of the lanes when they are congested.

What’s missing, Speake said, is a carrot. He said the Riverside County agency should post travel-time estimates for general-purpose and toll lanes side by side — as he noticed another agency was doing on the 15 Freeway in San Diego on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

“There is an expectation of a time savings (on the 91), but there is no promise of it,” he said. “People need to know what they are buying.”

Mayer said she doesn’t see the need to post time comparisons because that information is available on mobile apps.

“What people really want to see is how much it is going to cost them,” she said.