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Georgia’s Improved Peach Pass Website And App Are Up And Running

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The upgraded site and new “Peach Pass Go!” mobile app feature a new account management interface, enhanced chat and support options, easier payment functions, simplified registration tied to automated verification of Alternative Fuel Vehicles and motorcycles, and biometric login options such as face identification, the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) announced yesterday.

The news release clarifies the distinction between the Peach Pass Go! app for account management and Peach Pass Verify for carpooling benefits. As to the resumption of billing, SRTA notes that violation notices will resume and toll violations that occurred between September 1, 2024, and January 30, 2025, will begin being processed in February. The authority will be making a time-limited “Pay Tolls Only” offer to waive violation fees incurred during the site maintenance period.

SRTA executive director Jannine Miller commented, “These upgrades reflect our commitment to innovation and putting our customers first in everything we do.”

MTA Makes “Granular Data” On Congestion Relief Zone Traffic Available

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As promised, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has released a source of continuously updated data on the volume of vehicles entering the congestion pricing program Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ). The dataset, “MTA Congestion Relief Zone Vehicle Entries,” can be viewed on MTA’s data transparency website and can be downloaded on the New York State Open Data website. It allows users to see the numbers and types of vehicles entering the CRZ by date, time, and location in 10-minute increments. More information about the dataset is available in an online explanatory guide.

In MTA’s news release, a representative of the watchdog group Reinvent Albany commented, “We’re impressed the MTA is getting these congestion pricing related traffic counts published as open data so quickly. The MTA is already the gold standard for transit open data and this highly-detailed, easily-accessible, new traffic data is extremely valuable. It will inform everything from evaluating congestion pricing to far better understanding traffic patterns, curb use and economic activity in the region’s core. This is good stuff and shows the MTA can move fast and effectively when it has the opportunity.”

TCA Saves Over $200 Million In Interest Payments Through Bonds Call

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The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) announced yesterday that the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency (SJHTCA) has executed an early paydown of $200 million in junior lien bond debt. “The early paydown of bond principal – bonds that were issued in 2014 and had maturity dates of 2044 and 2049 – saves [SJHTCA] approximately $203 million in interest payments.” The agency used cash reserves to pay off the bonds when they recently became callable.

The TCA boards have an “Early Bond Paydown Program,” a multiyear plan to buy back agency debt through 2030. By that date, SJHTCA and its sister agency, the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, expect to to pay down another $720 million of bonds early. Collectively, the debt reductions will amount to $3.1 billion.

Illinois County Offers To Sell Unused AET System Equipment

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Toll agencies and toll system operators and integrators are invited to express interest in purchasing unused electronic toll collection equipment from the Kane County, Illinois, Division of Transportation.

The equipment — it includes “a full set of hardware, electronics, and spares, required to install, operate, and maintain a four-lane cashless tolling system with fully overhead sensors” — was purchased by the county to install an AET system on the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge, a facility that the county eventually decided to finance without tolls.

A county notice of sale has additional information about the available equipment and contact information.

Potential Ticket Prices For “Brightline West” Rail Service Revealed

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“In recent filings that seek to raise $2.5 billion in a bond offering, Brightline West revealed that ticket prices for the trip would range from about $119 to $133 one way,” SFGATE reports. That’s a preliminary estimate, and it’s projected a round-trip ticket could eventually cost more than $400. “In comparison, Brightline’s prices for its original line from Miami to Orlando start as low as $29 for a ticket, though that can increase depending on the time, date and class of the ticket.”

The projected $12 billion venture aims to connect Las Vegas and Southern California by 2031 with fully electric, zero-emission, 200-mile-per-hour rail service along the I-15 corridor. It promises to complete a one-way trip in about two hours, intermediate stops included. A 270-mile car trip on the interstate now takes four to five hours with no traffic but can exceed six hours with congestion. Brightline would face major competition from airlines.