Chapter 2 • Historical Trends
Trends over the past 13-year period for both the MDTA system and the other major highways were used as a reference in assessing the estimated ten-year traffic growth for the traffic and revenue forecasts presented in Chapter 4. 2.4 MDTA E-ZPass ® Market Share In recent years, electronic toll collection has played an increasingly important role in transaction processing for toll agencies across the nation. MDTA collects electronic tolls via E-ZPass ® and after the official conversion to All-Electronic Tolling it remains an important component of MDTA tolling. Figure 2-5 provides a graphic summary of the E-ZPass ® market share for each of the seven Legacy facilities, the total Legacy system, the Intercounty Connector, and the I-95 Express Toll Lanes (ETL) from July 2016 through June 2025 for collected transactions. From July 2019 to February 2020, E-ZPass ® transactions accounted for an average of 80.8 percent of the total Legacy system transactions, an increase of 2.9 percent over the same period in FY 2019. Of these, 66.8 percent were made by Maryland E-ZPass ® customers, including in-state E-ZPass ® customers, commuter plans, shopper plans and Hatem Bridge plans. Over the same time period, in terms of individual facilities, the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge had the greatest percentage of E-ZPass ® customers at 96.3 percent of total transactions over this time period, primarily due to the Hatem Bridge Toll Plans and its conversion to cashless tolling prior to March. The Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge had the lowest percentage of E-ZPass ® transactions during this time period at 64.4 percent. On a total system basis, between July 2019 and February 2020, cash transactions accounted for a combined 17.0 percent of all transactions, a decrease of 3.3 percent over same period in FY 2019. Video transactions accounted for 2.1 percent of all transactions made between July 2019 and February 2020. On March 17, 2020 MDTA implemented systemwide cashless tolling to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 during exchanges of cash at toll booths. Additionally, mailing of Notice of Toll Due (NOTD) video invoices was paused until October 2020. Due to these changes and other collection challenges related to the back-office transition, E-ZPass ® transactions accounted for 94 percent of all Legacy system transactions in April 2020 and about 98 percent of the total transactions in May and June 2020. The pause of the NOTD invoicing mailings and the back-office transition caused FY 2021 and FY 2022 E-ZPass ® trends to be more volatile than previous years. In particular, the ICC shows a significant drop in E-ZPass ® market share in FY 2021 due to challenges with trip reconstruction related to the back-office transition. By the end of FY 2021 in July, E-ZPass ® market share for all facilities was returning to levels seen initially after transition to all-electronic tolling. In FY 2022, as more NOTD invoices were mailed and paid from the paused period, the E-ZPass market share became volatile again as higher shares of video tolls were being paid. Due to this, the share of E-ZPass declined throughout the fiscal year before rebounding in May and June 2022. In FY 2023, there was a significant a drop in E-ZPass market share in November 2022 when the customer assistance plan terminated, causing another influx of video transactions being paid. Through FY 2024 and FY 2025, occasional dips in market share are noticeable, particularly on the Nice Bridge, but the overall trend appears to be steadying compared to the volatility seen since FY 2021.
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