Toll Road Firms Continue to Lose Millions

The Newspaper
by The Newspaper

Highly leveraged toll road firms continue to post multi-million dollar losses as drivers shun expensive routes during the economic downturn. This week, two Australian firms with significant US holding reported overall negative results for the year ended June 30, 2009. Transurban, which owns Pocahontas Parkway in Richmond and is building High Occupancy Toll lanes on the Capital Beltway in Virginia, lost A$16.1 million. Macquarie, which owns the Indiana Toll Road, the Dulles Greenway in Virginia and the Skyway in Chicago, Illinois, lost $1.7 billion.


As recently as July, Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG) acknowledged a $3.5 billion drop in the value of its assets since June 2008. Traffic on the company’s portfolio of roads also dropped an average of 3.4 percent.

“Over the year we have actively sought to offset the negative external factors impacting on the portfolio,” MIG Chief Executive Officer John Hughes said in a statement. “These have included revenue maximization and cost control initiatives at the road businesses.”

Revenue maximization refers to the significant toll hikes imposed on cash-strapped drivers. Even though, for example, traffic dropped 1.9 percent on the Chicago Skyway, increased fees passed on to motorists drove the road’s toll revenue up 11 percent.

Transurban has used the same toll raising technique to hold its loss to a minimum. Even though traffic on the Pocahontas was down 11.6 percent, increased costs for motorists kept the road in positive territory with 0.6 percent revenue growth. Transurban also made up losses by slashing the customer service and information technology budgets by $10.6 million.

“Transurban roads have been among the best performing toll roads globally in the past 12 months reflecting the quality of our urban toll road portfolio,” Transurban CEO Chris Lynch boasted in a statement.

Both Macquarie and Transurban reported that the most recent monthly traffic reports have shown signs that drivers may be returning to the toll roads. Each also predicted a prompt return to profitability.

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  • Don1967 Don1967 on Aug 29, 2009
    How does a for-profit business compete against a free alternative? College towns still have hookers and strip clubs. The difference is that even the dorkiest kid in a Daewoo can still get some road for free :)
  • Greg Locock Greg Locock on Aug 29, 2009

    Funny quote, but I track my performance against the all ords, thanks.

  • Dave Holzman A design award for the Prius?!!! Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.
  • Wjtinfwb I've owned multiple Mustang's, none perfect, all an absolute riot. My '85 GT with a big Holley 4 barrel and factory tube header manifolds was a screaming deal in its day and loved to rev. I replaced it with an '88 5.0 Convertible and added a Supercharger. Speed for days, handling... present. Brakes, ummm. But I couldn't kill it and it embarrassed a lot of much more expensive machinery. A '13 Boss 302 in Gotta Have It Green was a subtle as a sledgehammer, open up the exhaust cut outs and every day was Days of Thunder. I miss them all. They've gotten too expensive and too plush, I think, wish they'd go back to a LX version, ditch all the digital crap, cloth interior and just the Handling package as an add on. Keep it under 40k and give todays kids an alternative to a Civic or WRX.
  • Jpolicke In a communist dictatorship, there isn't much export activity that the government isn't aware of. That being the case, if the PRC wanted to, they could cut the flow of fentanyl down to a trickle. Since that isn't happening, I therefore assume Xi Jinping doesn't want it cut. China needs to feel the consequences for knowingly poisoning other countries' citizens.
  • El scotto Oh, ye nattering nabobs of negativism! Think of countries like restaurants. Our neighbors to the north and south are almost as good and the service is fantastic. They're awfully close to being as good as the US. Oh the Europeans are interesting and quaint but you really only go there a few times a year. Gents, the US is simply the hottest restaurant in town. Have to stand in line to get in? Of course. Can you hand out bribes to get in quicker? Of course. Suppliers and employees? Only the best on a constant basis.Did I mention there is a dress code? We strictly enforce it. Don't like it? Suck it.
  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
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