LOUISVILLE — While tentative tolling rates for the Ohio River Bridges Project have been set for almost two years, some details have yet to be finalized.
For some, those details could make all the difference.
Officials have yet to decide whether motor coaches and school buses will be charged a passenger vehicle rate or truck rate.
Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau Communications Director Luanne Mattson said she is concerned tours by motor coach — a large presence in the tourism industry — that stay overnight in Louisville might not make it across the river for Southern Indiana attractions if rates are too high.
"That's the one thing that we don't want to happen," she said.
Tolling rates — including the Louisville and Southern Indiana tolling system brand name — were the topic of the first public briefing hosted by Ohio River Bridges Project officials Tuesday at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
The system's name is RiverLink, narrowed down from a list of hundreds of names and logos.
"The RiverLink brand is what will bring our communities together by bringing a stronger link," said David Talley, innovative finance manager for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Paying the tolls themselves also will link Louisville and Southern Indiana residents and business owners who will share the cost of the $2.3 billion project not covered by state and federal highway funds.
Jim Stark, deputy commissioner of innovative project delivery for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said it's the only way that most states in the country can afford to build new bridges.
"We understand that tolling is not a popular concept ... but we've made the process as fast and simple and easy as can be," Talley said.
The electronic tolling system means that no cars will stop to pay fees, he said.
There will be three options for those who choose to cross the tolled bridges — the Kennedy bridge, the downtown crossing and the new east-end bridge.
TRANSPONDER TALK
Talley urges frequent commuters use the local transponder, an adhesive about the size of a bandage that sticks to the inside of windshields. The electronic system will read the transponder and deduct the appropriate amount from drivers' accounts. For frequent commuters, that price is $1.
The first local transponder is free for each vehicle.
"That offers the lowest cost toll to the customer," he said.
Drivers can also use E-ZPass, which are portable from vehicle to vehicle, unlike the local transponder that can only be used on one car.
"This is really for people who plan to drive through areas where E-ZPass is accepted," he said, adding they estimate a $15 cost to buy the technology.
Drivers also can establish a prepaid account without obtaining a transponder. Those customers will be charged through license plate identification.
Those without a prepaid account or any kind of transponder will receive an invoice based on their license plate.
Transponders will be available at Kentucky and Indiana customer service centers, expected to open around May. The Kentucky center will be across from Louisville Slugger Field at Preston and Main streets and the Indiana center will be at Quartermaster Station in Jeffersonville.
"We want people to obtain a transponder," Stark said. "It will make everybody's life much easier."
RATE TALK
For frequent, noncommercial users who makes at least 40 trips across a tolled bridge in a calendar month and have local transponders, the initial rate will be $1. Rates for other local transponder users will be $2 for passenger vehicles, $5 for medium trucks and $10 for heavy trucks.
Those rates climb by $1 accordingly for drivers with registered accounts but without transponders and by $2 for unregistered drivers with no transponders — the highest single rate at $12 for unregistered heavy trucks with license plates captured.
Rates will raise each year by 2.5 percent, or the rate of inflation — whichever is higher — after at least a year that the tolled bridges have been opened. If increased by 2.5 percent over 10 years, for example, the $1 frequent commuter fee will raise to $1.28.
Accounts can be registered at RiverLink.com, which will be fully operational in mid-2016. Customers must deposit a minimum of $20 into accounts when they first open them.
Tolling will go into effect late next year and will remain in effect until the project is paid for. For the Kentucky side, that commitment lasts to until at least 2053.
Bistate boards are finalizing business details of the tolling system, including the number of trips needed to qualify as a frequent commuter.
Mattson is hoping the bistate boards will categorize motor coaches as passenger vehicles. She said she's also worried if charged a heavy truck rate, motor coach tours that cross multiple states may bypass Southern Indiana altogether.
"We would hope they would still come, that the attractions would be popular enough, but we don't want our attractions and our hotels to be affected because of the impact that the tolls might have," Mattson said.
A passenger rate is what she's hoping for, emphasizing that motor coaches lessen the number of cars on the road and cut down on air pollution.
"Whatever that shakes out to be, the businesses are going to adjust once it changes," she said. "So our job is just to help the motor coaches through those transitions and to let them know what is going on in our area."
Derby Dinner Playhouse Co-owner and Producer Bekki Jo Schneider said her business will do just that.
"I think the customers will make it," Schneider said. "We just have to make sure that we train everyone."
That means encouraging employees and customers to use local transponders and alerting motor coach companies and other visitors of the tolls before they arrive.
"We have to do our homework and then we have to be willing to give a little if someone is holding back," she said.
Schneider doesn't anticipate that discounted show costs would significantly affect Derby Dinner's profit.
"I think we'll only be encouraging more people to come," she said.
The bridges themselves is what she believes will have a bigger impact. Derby Dinner in its 41 years had its busiest year in 2014, meaning more traffic is funneling into Clarksville.
"I celebrate the bridges so much, and I am not naive enough to think we could have them without having to pay for them," Schneider said.