High gas prices take its toll on Mass. Pike

High gas prices helped reduce travel on the Massachusetts Turnpike by more than a million trips last month, the sharpest drop this year, according to new data released yesterday.

The change - coupled with recent increases in bus, subway, and train travel - advances the state's goal of shifting more people to mass transit, but spells more financial trouble for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

The authority, which is already struggling with a budget deficit, also learned yesterday that Fitch Ratings is threatening to lower the agency's bond rating because it predicts the toll increase that went into effect in January will not raise enough money to pay the authority's bills in the near future.

The Pike recorded 6.75 percent fewer toll transactions last month than it did in August 2007. That amounts to about 1.2 million fewer trips. The second biggest year-to-year drop came in June, when 4.7 percent fewer tolls were collected on the turnpike.

Most of the drop in toll transactions came from cash-paying customers, rather than commuters who use the electronic Fast Lane pass. Cash-paying customers tend to be vacationers and other more occasional users.

Meanwhile, MBTA average weekday ridership went up 6.9 percent in July compared with last year, the most recent month for which figures are available.

"From a transportation perspective, obviously more people using mass transit is good," said Alan LeBovidge, executive director of the Turnpike Authority. "From my point of view, I need volume."

Even with fewer transactions, the Turnpike Authority still collected more money than it did last year, thanks to the January toll increase. But the authority was expecting to generate more from the hike and has had to lower its expectations by $5 million, as high gas prices have prompted drivers to change their travel patterns. LeBovidge said he wants to see another month's worth of toll numbers to determine whether August was a blip rather than a sign of more serious troubles to come.

In a statement issued later, he said the latest report from Fitch Ratings, warning of a lower credit rating, underscores the authority's continuing financial problems. Debt from the Big Dig and a series of questionable investments have left the Pike in financial peril. Moody's Investors Services issued a similar report in November.

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.