Another attempt by state lawmakers to add tolls to the currently free ferry routes along North Carolina’s coast is underway at the General Assembly.
The North Carolina Senate is in the process of passing their version of a state government budget for the next two fiscal years that includes tolls on the Hatteras Inlet and Currituck Sound routes, and doubles rates charged on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Ocracoke-Cedar Island vehicle ferries and the Ocracoke Express passenger vessel.
The proposal is part of the $32.6 billion spending plan given initial approval by the Senate on Wednesday, and will be up for a final vote on Thursday.
The budget will then be sent to the state House, which is expected to reject and then propose their own version.
Adding and raising tolls is an effort to generate more revenue for the cash-strapped N.C. Department of Transportation and specifically for the Ferry Division, according to the plan’s backers.
However, there has already been considerable pushback on the tolling provisions from Outer Banks and inland legislators.
And ferry toll proposals in the past have also drawn vehement opposition from local government leaders and business owners.
Under the 439-page Senate Bill 257, the new toll schedule would be as follows:
- Currituck-Knotts Island, $3 vehicles under 20 feet, $6 vehicles over 20 feet, $1 passengers.
- Hatteras-Ocracoke: $20 for vehicles under 20 feet long, $40 for vehicles over 20 feet, and $1 for passengers not traveling in a vehicle.
- Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Cedar Island: $30 vehicles under 20 feet, $60 vehicles over 20 feet, $2 passengers.
- Ocracoke Express: $15 per person.
The current rates of the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island routes is $15 for vehicles under 20 feet, $30 for vehicles 20 to 40 feet long, $45 for vehicles longer than 40 feet, and $1 per passenger.
Other rates are charged for motorcycles and bicyclists, but those categories were not detailed in the Senate budget proposal.
Rates on the Ocracoke Express, which runs seasonally between mid-May and early September, are $7.50 per passenger and $1 per bicycle. The Senate bill does not mention bicycles on the passenger-only route between Hatteras Harbor and Silver Lake.
Tolls would also be added on the Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach over the Neuse River and Bayview-Aurora over the Pamlico River at the same rate as Currituck-Knotts Island, while increasing on the Fort Fisher-Southport route.
The budget proposal also creates an annual pass for commuters and priority boarding of commercial vehicles that would allow unlimited rides at a cost of $150 per vehicle, per year.
According to the fiscal document attached to the budget bill, the tolls would raise $6.4 million in each of the next two fiscal years that would be allocated to the Ferry Capital Fund for vessel replacements.
“The estimated fiscal impact of establishing tolls on previously untolled routes and increasing existing toll rates is based on the bill’s toll rates and ridership data from the Ferry Division’s monthly traffic report,” the fiscal note states.
The North Carolina Ferry Division is the second largest state-run operation in the country, behind only Washington state, transporting an average of 712,282 vehicles and 2.4 million passengers over the last two fiscal years. Operations and maintenance costs totaled $65.3 million.
Hatteras-Ocracoke is the most popular route in the state, averaging 202,628 vehicles and 935,307 passengers, at a cost of nearly $25.55 million over the two year period.
During the same period, Currituck-Knotts Island route transported 15,605 vehicles and 92,148 passengers, costing just under $2.32 million.
The Swan Quarter route averaged 37,354 vehicles and 57,871 passengers at a cost of $6.92 million.
The Cedar Island route carried an average of 42,209 vehicles and 94,784 passengers for $9.23 million.
On the Ocracoke Express, the number of passengers averaged 18,881, with operations and maintenance costing $1.34 million.
Sen. Bobby Hanig (R-Currituck), along with other coastal and inland lawmakers, have previously been able to convince colleagues to back off attempts to add tolls.
On Wednesday, Hanig ran an amendment during floor debate on the budget that would have deleted the toll proposal, But it failed on a 24-23 vote.
The Senate had just wrapped up business for the day at the time of publication of this story, and Hanig was not immediately available for comment.
Senate Transportation Appropriations Co-Chair Sen. Vickie Sawyer (R-Iredell) told The News & Observer the highway department faces numerous funding challenges that have led to delays of projects statewide, while also rebuilding roads and bridges in the Western North Carolina washed away by Hurricane Helene.
“At this point it becomes an issue of fairness,” Sawyer, who is from the Charlotte suburb of Mooresville, told The N&O.
“When I’m paying $25 for my family to be able to access the city of Charlotte, then these people who are going across the beautiful Pamlico River should be able to pay a toll as well,” Sen. Sawyer said in a 2023 interview with WBTV-TV.
Another backer of previous tolling attempts has been Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), whose district includes the Cape Fear River route between Fort Fisher and Southport that already carries a toll, and is also a co-chair of the Senate Transportation Appropriations committee.
Another Charlotte-area legislator, Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston) went to social media to share his opposition to the ferry tolling plan.
“This will cost all North Carolinians who have to use the ferries to go to school, work, doctor, pretty much anywhere,” Torbett posted on Twitter.
Torbett said the tolls would not generate much revenue, and that regular funding sources are enough to cover the costs of running the ferry system.
“The answer is simply to prioritize the need to include ferries or perhaps toll all bridges throughout NC for fairness. I do not support tolls,” Torbett said.
Torbett is vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which will put forth its own version of a budget in the coming weeks.
Several other attempts have been made and shot down in the General Assembly to add tolls over the last 14 years.
In 2011, the same year Republicans gained control of both chambers from Democrats, their first budget added tolls to all routes.
But those tolls were rescinded prior to implementation due to local opposition, with General Assembly members even considering eliminating tolls altogether at one point.
The most recent toll attempt was in 2023, when a proposal was removed from the final version of a spending plan that was eventually vetoed by former Gov. Roy Cooper (D).
A separate provision in this year’s Senate budget proposal shifts a previously allocated $1.5 million that was to pay for new stacking lanes and a concrete barrier on the Ocracoke-side of Hatteras Inlet.
That money would instead be used for rehabilitation of the loading ramps at what is known as the South Dock Ferry Terminal.
Another line item requests a progress report by no later than October 1, and then quarterly, to a joint oversight committee on the use of funds for marine vessel dry docking.
The provision calls for a list of marine vessels scheduled or under contract for dry docking, the estimated cost of the work for each vessel that is sent to a private shipyard, and actuatl cost of work and total funds used as of the report date.
And the two-year spending plan from the Senate allocates $78,841,173 for Fiscal Year 2025-26, and $87,957,728 for FY 2026-27, for ferry division maintenance and operations.
[…] person, and children 3 and under ride free. There is also a $1 charge for a bicycle. While there is a bill being considered to raise fees on North Carolina’s ferries, there is no increase expected in […]