The advisory committee, appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, recommended, among other things, implementing a $3 toll per vehicle for cash payments, and $1.75 for those who use the Good to Go! electronic collection system.

Advisory committee members have considered various discount scenarios, but decided not to offer any discounts except for those paying electronically.

The recommendation regarding discounts reads, “At the present time no discounts or exemptions should be granted to those mentioned within the authorizing legislation of RCW 47.46.090 (2) of frequent users, senior citizens or students, in part because of the difficulty of identifying those persons within a group and assuring that there was no abuse to the system, in part because of favoring one worthy group to the expense of another worthy group and in part because of the administrative cost in administering such discounts or exemptions.”

No discounts are being proposed for carpool, transit buses, emergency services or government vehicles, either. The reason the group felt that a discount was important for those who use the electronic toll collection (ETC) system was because it would impact traffic, said Sonja Morgan, a Key Peninsula resident who was on the committee. She said the commission felt it was important to encourage people to use Good to Go! because that would help traffic flow faster.

Good to Go! users will use prepaid accounts that will be debited automatically when a vehicle passes the toll booth. The system will use a device called a transponder, roughly the size of a credit card, that will be read remotely. The CAC recommended the minimum amount for establishing an ETC account at $30.

The recommendations included lowering the electronic toll collection (ETC) discount to $1 if the Legislature appropriates $10 million to “buy down” the toll during the period when the current bridge will be closed for retrofitting. The CAC recommended leaving the cash payment toll at $3 should that appropriation occur.

The buy-down proposal, led by the newly elected 26th Legislative District Sen. Derek Kilmer, and supported by all legislators from the 26th, 23rd, and 35th districts as well as some from the 27th and 28th.

In a letter sent to Gregoire in November, Kilmer and the other legislators wrote, “People in our districts will soon be the only drivers in the state of Washington who will pay a toll to use a concrete and steel road—the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge… At $3 a trip, hardworking families will be paying $800 or even $1,600 a year to commute to and from work. That is no small change for wage earners.

“It is one thing to pay tolls for a completed project. It is another to pay tolls on a work-in-progress.”

The buy-down is in the governor’s proposed budget, though Kilmer acknowledged it may not be an ease sell both in the Senate and the House. “It’s not going to be an easy task to keep the money in the budget… but I think we have a very compelling case to make.” He said that according to the Washington State Department of Transportation, more than half of bridge commuters would have to use a transponder in order for congestion to be reduced, while the ETC will cost about a third in administrative costs compared to cash payments, so using a significant discount to encourage transponder use “makes sense.”

The CAC also recommended that all fines for toll violations should go toward the bridge costs. Currently, the fines are slated to go to an unrelated account, according to Kilmer, who sponsored a bill that would require toll violation penalties to be used for their respective projects, and some estimates show that could amount to $10 million to $20 million over the life of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll.

Janet Matkin, a spokesperson with WSDOT, said the transportation commissioners agreed to the CAC recommendations in principle, but will analyze the toll rate because it’s critical to make sure the bond is paid while keeping the tolls as low as possible.

“I think we will see some discounts for the Good to Go! (ETC) customers, but the level is still being considered,” she said.

Matkin said the commission has not given a timeline for the final decision, and was expected to discuss the recommendations at its February meeting. The WSDOT plans to open its Good to Go! customer service center in the spring. “Obviously, we would like to know what the tolls will be (when the center opens),” she said.

The citizen advisory commission will continue to meet on a quarterly basis, and analyze data once the toll is imposed. The commission, which includes nine members representing the areas of Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula and South Kitsap, will continue to serve in the advisory role for as long as the tolls remain in place.