Months after the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission reported nearly $105 million in uncollected fees since converting to all-electronic tolling, the Legislature is taking steps to keep it from happening again.

On Monday, the Senate Transportation Committee approved a package of bills reforming the turnpike’s tolling system and financial reporting, with lawmakers hoping they will deter additional losses and make using the highway system more convenient for motorists.

One proposal, which unanimously moved out of the Republican-controlled committee, would require the Turnpike Commission to submit an annual financial report to the General Assembly that outlines revenue and what’s referred to as toll leakage — as in $105 million — during the prior fiscal year.

Also this week, the panel voted to send to the full Senate a bill that would let drivers have the option of paying tolls with their cellphones, using mobile apps such as PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle.

The Turnpike Commission would have to establish a billing system to accept payments made with an app and contract with a third-party vendor for app payments.

Some lawmakers on the panel expressed concerns about potential problems with service fees from app usage, but mobile billing could eliminate costs associated with mailing bills to drivers who use the turnpike.

Both pieces of legislation now advance to the full Senate for consideration.

Efforts to reform the turnpike’s tolling system and increase financial accountability come after nearly 11 million out of almost 170 million rides from June 2020 through May 2021 generated no revenue for the turnpike commission, according to an internal report obtained by the Associated Press.

In September it was disclosed that more than $104 million in turnpike tolls went uncollected during the 2020-21 fiscal year as the agency fully converted to all-electronic tolling.

The Associated Press reported half of the millions of motorists who don’t use E-ZPass can travel without paying under the “toll-by-plate” license plate camera system.

“We, as an organization, are leaving no stone unturned in the way in which we’re going after that leakage,” turnpike Chief Executive Mark Compton said at the time.

Electronic tolling has been a problem across the nation, not just Pennsylvania.

Toll evaders nationwide have been creative, using grease to obscure plate numbers and installing devices that deploy to cover up plates when drivers go past plate cameras.

About 85% of toll revenue is used for reconstruction and widening projects, which fall under the capital investment budget. Legislation was passed in 2007 to use the turnpike as a piggy bank to fund other transportation needs. The money used to go to highways, bridges and mass transit and now goes entirely to transit, mostly in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

It’s good that our legislators are taking steps to curb the number of scofflaws who travel the 360-mile turnpike free of charge, but maybe they also should consider using some of the toll money to repair the state’s aging roads and bridges.

— JGG