Ohio Turnpike officials express concern about toll-collection operator being sold to

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission officials expressed concern about hiring contractors outside the United States — including the turnpike’s toll-collection contractor, which was recently acquired by a company based in Singapore.

On Monday, the turnpike commission also rejected a proposed agreement with Applegreen USA Welcome Centers to run food and retail concessions at two service plazas along the turnpike because the company’s headquarters are in Ireland.

During a meeting in Berea, turnpike commission members were surprised to hear about the sale of TransCore — which has maintained the turnpike’s customer-service operations and toll-collection systems, including its E-Z Pass electronic payment system, since 1975. The company’s current contract with the Ohio Turnpike, signed in 2021, runs through 2026.

Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering bought the Nashville-based company last fall for $2.68 billion. The deal was finalized last month.

State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, a Perrysburg Republican who attended the commission meeting as a non-voting member, expressed concerns about putting E-Z Pass user data such as names, addresses, license plate numbers, and debit or credit card numbers in the hands of a company based outside the United States, even a country like Singapore that has enjoyed friendly relations with the U.S. for decades.

“I just go back to the state of the affairs around the world and doing what we can to make sure that we don’t have a reliance on any overseas country, whether they are an ally or not, to make sure that we can properly continue to provide safety and security for our citizens,” Ghanbari said. He added his goal is “to make sure that commerce is not impeded, to make sure that travel is not impeded, to make sure that we don’t have reliance on overseas governments at any time, for the safety and security of our fellow citizens.”

Jerry Hruby, chair of the turnpike commission, asked the turnpike’s lawyer to double-check the turnpike’s contracts with TransCore to see whether the company was required to notify turnpike officials before the company was sold to an overseas firm, according to Ghanbari.

Tracy Marks, TransCore’s president, testified before the commission that his company would keep its operations in the U.S. He said his company, which does business with 80% of the toll systems in the United States”, has been owned by various other companies since the 1990s.

Marks also said, as a condition of the federal government’s approval of his company’s sale to ST Engineering, the company entered into a national security agreement that includes a cybersecurity plan and a ban on providing any overseas companies access to turnpike users’ information without the permission of the U.S. government, according to a recording of the hearing.

“We don’t outsource anything outside of the United States, and we won’t going forward, either,” he said. In response to Hruby’s question, Marks said ST Engineering could make revisions to the deal, but he is “certain that’s not going to happen.”

Violations of that agreement could bring fines of up to the full $2.68 billion purchase price of TransCore, Marks said.

Marks also noted that TransCore’s two largest competitors are located outside the U.S.

Cleveland.com has reached out to TransCore for comment.

Later in the meeting, turnpike commissioners unanimously voted against a resolution to allow Applegreen USA Welcome Centers to operate food and retail concessions, including Popeyes restaurants, at the Great Lakes and Towpath service plazas along the turnpike. Applegreen was the only company to submit a bid to run those concessions, according to Andrew Herberger, director of service plaza operations.

Herberger testified that a company based in Italy owned the previous operator at those service plazas. The rejection of Applegreen’s bid means the spaces will remain vacant until the commission can find a new operator.

No other current service-plaza operators along the turnpike are owned by companies located outside the U.S., Herberger said.

“Maybe it’s just because it’s Patriots Day and Paul Revere made his ride this night (in 1775),” Hruby said. “I don’t know what it is. But the flag is being flown today here pretty loudly.”