Mersey Tunnels made over £190m, almost a £90m surplus, from tolls over the last five years.
Figures released from a Freedom of Information request show how much was made and where it has been spent.
It comes after the City Region Combined Authority approved a 20p price hike in tunnel tolls for people who do not use the reduced Fast Tag scheme from £1.80 to £2 last week.
The ECHO understands more than 50% of tunnel users use Fast Tags for city region residents, which reduce the cost to £1 at the moment - going up to £1.20 in future.
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It is the first time in five years that toll prices have risen which the Combined Authority says is a direct response to increasing public sector budget pressures and increasing maintenance costs. The Authority said any surplus is reinvested into transport projects.
In the latest report, figures show during the last financial year which coincided with the Covid pandemic, the income toll took its biggest hit in five years, bringing in just £26.2m in the 2020/21 financial year.
While this is a considerable difference compared with the previous year, which brought in just under £40m, and the financial year which ran from 2018/19 which totalled just under £41m, data shows it was still enough to cover the running costs of the Mersey Tunnels.
In total, toll income over the last five years adds up to over £190m.
The running costs of the tunnels covers employee salary, the cost of the premises, transport, supplies and services, support service recharges and capital maintenance.
Over the last five years, running costs of the tunnels have never exceeded £24m, with the years 2018/19 and 2019/20 both falling below a total of £20m.
More recently, in the year of the pandemic when the finances took their biggest hit, running costs totalled just over £20.2m, equating to a £6m surplus on the £26.2m made through tolls.
Previous years have seen surpluses in the region of £18-24m.
Approving the toll increase last week, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said he had to "balance the books", and the CA said the increase would help with "increasing maintenance costs".
However, when comparing last year’s overall running cost total of £20.2m with figures from 2016/17, there was in fact a £3.5m decrease.
Again, in the year 2017/18 running costs totalled £20.8m, meaning last year’s running costs were £605k cheaper.
More recently, when comparing the latest figures with the total operating costs from the financial year 2019/20, costs only increased £361k from the £19.8m outgoing costs.
The cost of the 'capital maintenance', which falls under the overall running cost of the tunnels, did not appear to be significantly higher last year than in previous years, with last year's sum adding up to £5.9m and the year prior sitting at £5.5m. Back in 2016/17, capital maintenance cost the CA £7.8m.
Last year the costs of travel, employees and support service recharges were all lower than in previous years, with travel over £60k cheaper than it was five years ago, however this comes as so no surprise as the region spent over six months in national lockdowns, with strict restrictions in place outside of that.
While the toll fee will see its first rise in five years, CA emphasised that many motorists will still be paying £1.10 less than the maximum amount authorised by the Tunnels Act, and only the same toll as tunnel users in 2004 despite inflation since then being 76%.
A Combined Authority spokesperson told the ECHO: "The Combined Authority is in a situation, like most other local government organisations, where we face tough financial challenges and decisions about the tunnel tolls are never taken lightly.
"In the past few years they have been reduced or frozen for most tunnel users and have for much longer remained lower than the “authorised toll” which could be put in place under the Mersey Tunnels Act 2004.
"Under the Act, which sets out the toll setting process, the tolls cover the direct cost of the safe operation and regular essential maintenance of both the tunnels which runs into the tens of millions and increases each year as the tunnels age. As costs fluctuate each year, it’s important that we have a surplus to fund any emergency works, invest in customer led improvements and are as ready as we can be to tackle the unexpected such as a global pandemic.
"There are also indirect costs including repayment of historic loans for tunnel construction costs, which are still being paid and will not be completed until 2048, and capital investment in the tunnels.
"We have always been clear that any surplus goes into a ring-fenced fund for transport. That fund supports projects including park and ride schemes, new bus stations, access improvements, operating the Mersey Ferries, providing concessionary travel and supporting bus routes across the region that private operators would otherwise cut."
