ORLANDO, Fla. — It could cost you more to drive through a toll plaza if the Central Florida Expressway Authority moves forward with a plan.

  • Move is due to drivers going through toll plaza without paying, authority says
  • It's costing authority more money to collect money, it says

The Central Florida Expressway Authority's board members might consider a proposal to increase the rate of the pay-by-plate transactions. That rate would be double that of an E-PASS customer's charge.

The expressway authority stated it is seeing a jump in drivers who do not have an E-PASS sticker or transponder and choosing to blow through a toll plaza without paying.

In fiscal year 2017, there were 36 million pay by plate transactions. That number rose to 87 million transactions in fiscal year 2019.

With more pay-by-plate transactions, it is costing the expressway authority more money to collect money from those drivers.

It takes the expressway authority 7 cents to process a toll when a driver has an E-PASS.

It is 78 cents to process a pay-by-plate transaction.

The expressway authority is sending out nearly half a million pieces of mail a month for these pay-by-plate transactions.

So now, the expressway authority wants drivers who choose to be billed in the mail to pay more.

"I think it's highway robbery. I mean they should consider some people don't know they're on a toll road," said driver Mark Delafuente.

Here's an example:

  • E-PASS rate: $1
  • Cash lane rate: $1.25
  • Current pay-by-plate rate: $1.40
  • Proposed pay-by-plate rate: $2

The expressway authority says the goal is to encourage drivers to get the E-PASS sticker, it is free and it saves you money.

If board members agree to the plan at their meeting, the rate hike would go into effect in July 2020.

The plan was up for a vote on Thursday at the expressway authority's board meeting, but Spectrum News learned Thursday morning that the board will not have a quorum, so now this plan will be on next month's agenda.