The cost of that contract, which was supposed to be $13.4 million for the first two years of bridge operations, has grown to $18.7 million and is likely to increase $2 million every year.

Bob Ryan, a Gig Harbor accountant who is chairman of the Narrows Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee, said the existing contract is costing bridge tollpayers more than expected but is lowering some expenses for TransCore, apparently helping the company earn a bigger profit.

State Department of Transportation officials say they have broached the subject of redoing the contract, but have not yet made a formal request for a meeting with TransCore.

Much of the higher cost for toll operations can be blamed on the wildly successful marketing campaign that persuaded drivers to install electronic toll-collection transponders in their vehicles by discounting the standard $3 toll to $1.75.

Not only have 204,000 transponders been issued – only 50,000 were expected in the contract – but also motorists are using the electronic devices so often that it’s driving up the number of toll transactions. TransCore makes money on both.

DOT officials are asking for permission to pay TransCore $5.3 million more than was approved in the budget passed by the Legislature earlier this year.

The DOT wanted to get as many drivers as possible to install the devices because traffic would flow more smoothly if people didn’t have to stop at a toll booth. It worked. But it also will cost more from the pool of money that’s collected from the 42,000 drivers who cross the bridge each day.

TransCore is paid about 5 cents for every toll transaction, said Greg Selstead, DOT toll operations director.

On the other hand, with so many drivers using electronic devices, fewer are using the toll booths, which the state also is paying TransCore to operate.

“Their staffing costs should be significantly lower,” much less than what TransCore expected when it signed the first five-year contract, Ryan said. He said the DOT should redo the contract with TransCore because so many of their assumptions were wrong.

Barbara Catlin, TransCore spokeswoman, said she could not immediately get a response from company officials on tollbooth costs.

Ryan presented his committee’s recommendations Tuesday at a meeting of the Washington Transportation Commission. The committee also said the DOT should:

 • Stop using bridge toll money to pay for six of its own customer service representatives because that’s what TransCore should be doing.

 • Stop its marketing campaign for electronic transponders by the end of this year.

 • Use state gas tax funds – not tolls – to pay for State Patrol enforcement on the bridges and Highway 16.

 • Reduce the travel budget of $14,000 per person for the DOT bridge contingent and hire fewer consultants.

 • Use statewide funds – instead of tolls – to pay for Narrows Bridge expenses.

Selstead said the revised budget request would cut $1 million from consulting fees, and the DOT already has stopped marketing the Good To Go transponders. The DOT also discontinued its standby tow trucks months earlier than planned, he noted.

He said he has broached the subject of renegotiating the contract with TransCore officials, which is allowed in the contract.

But he cautioned that good-faith negotiating means TransCore can ask for changes, too.

State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, said he was pleased with the committee’s recommendations.

“They’re beginning to challenge the details of the maintenance and operation (of the bridge) and that’s exactly where we need to go,” Seaquist said.

State Transportation Commission Chairman Dick Ford of King County assigned two commissioners to work with the advisory committee to come up with list of recommendations that can be forwarded to the governor’s budget office by December.

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436

joe.turner@thenewstribune.com