Tolls

[FurryPanda]

What do you think of the toll system? In many of the eastern states (notably Delaware and New York) there are tolls on the major highways and bridges, backing up traffic for miles and hours for a $2-15 toll. Of course there's also EZPass, which helps people that have to go through these every day, but are really annoying to those westerners in the area.

So do you think tolls are a good thing for getting money to the states, or are they a vile traffic problem?

[nixie_SC]

well off course we can't remember when that happens, but i am sure at one time or another in history, on the mountain pass, there lurks bandits who takes money from people who wants to get across, or big bad bully, hogging the river crossing, they force people to pay them or they will take by force.

toll was evolve from that :)

[svenge]

They are annoying (I should know, I live in New Jersey of all places), but a necessity. How else would the government(s) finance road improvements, repairs and general upkeep? I've read about privatizing toll roads, but that wouldn't stop the collecting of tolls (companies need to make a profit, after all), and a lot of people are wary of private companies owning 'public' things like highways. I guess that would be another debate all on its own.


Kinda OT: Ugh @ Delaware. You spend like 4 minutes driving through that tiny state and they ROB you. I hate Delaware. /OT

[Annique]

We don't have them here as far as I know, but when we went to Normandy we had to pay at the 'telepeage.' It wasn't all that much to be honest, and the highways are much better. We didn't want to pay at first, and took the freeways. Result? Being stuck in traffic for 4 hours. In the middle of nowhere. While having to pee. Everyone just did their thing in the fields, and there was plenty of time because traffic didn't even MOVE.

So next time you get annoyed by tolls, remember that one :D

[appelsapgodin]

Well I would agree with Annique.

I don't know the America toll roads. But whenever we're going from Rotterdam to Paris we also take the 'peage' The whole route is about 12 euros and the roads are far better and quicker than going over the freeway.

I think it is worth it.

[kinneer_SC]

I agree with tolls. As other have said, how else would the government finance major civil engineering projects? Using taxes would not be fair because it means people not using it would be subsidizing it. So the tolls is by far the best system, if you want to use it, pay for it. It also have the advantage of attracting private industries as a long term investment. It will take maybe 20 to 30 years to break even but after it is should generate profit.

[davious]

I don't have a particular problem with tolls either. If they weren't charging you to go on the roads, providing the financing to that state's Department of Transportation, they would just get the money to repair the roads in a different form, say higher taxes instead. Maybe that toll means there is less of a gasoline tax, or less sales tax, or less income tax somewhere. The state is going to get the money to repair its roads from its citizens anyway, at least with tolls, its paid for by the people that are actually using the roads.

[[email protected]]

Here in California we have some toll roads, which largely run on the Fastrack system (equivalent of the EZPass you mention, sounds like). Here in SoCal, theres a few that are exclusively Fastrack, no tollbooths at all, and some that have both. I've never encountered any back up due to the toll booths on the ones that have them, even at rush hour (then the back up is from having to get on the normal freeway at the end). These are usually alternate freeways, so you can avoid them if you don't want to pay, but the normal freeways usually have more traffic and have to go around farther than you would on the toll roads. I love it, makes getting around for work alot easier, and usually are very well maintained. And for some of the Orange County ones, it makes it a lot more direct to get to where I need to go.

[FurryPanda]

They are annoying (I should know, I live in New Jersey of all places), but a necessity. How else would the government(s) finance road improvements, repairs and general upkeep? I've read about privatizing toll roads, but that wouldn't stop the collecting of tolls (companies need to make a profit, after all), and a lot of people are wary of private companies owning 'public' things like highways. I guess that would be another debate all on its own.


Kinda OT: Ugh @ Delaware. You spend like 4 minutes driving through that tiny state and they ROB you. I hate Delaware. /OT

Gas tax. Raising the gas tax in Delaware by a nickel (I'm using Delaware because I did an exhaustive analysis of it for my senior project in maths) would finance all maintenance of the roads, add another few hundred million spare cash for the government and save consumers money. You pay fifty cents more to fill up the car (if you have a ten gallon car) and wind up saving like two gallons from getting through the darnable tolls at rush hour.

And then theres billable hours that tolls cause... one can argue that the roads don't benefit everyone so the taxes shouldn't be levied on everyone. Well, to venture into the waters of nonPC, the same can be said of welfare and maintaining the white house. But one can also see that tolls cause taxes becasue they cause government spending. If you look at most ocntractors billable hours, there are several marked only as "travel." Fair enough, if someoen needs to travel they should be paid... BUT if its a government contractor, they are being paid byt he taxpayer and if you ask any of them they'll say that most of the hours they bill for travel are spent in tolls! And these people make killings, up to $450 an hour. So do you, humble taxpayer, want to pay these blokes good money for sitting in traffic caused by tolls? I don't. At least until I become one of those blokes, and then i'll want the tolls gone for other reaosns.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Tolls are usually put on certain roads to pay for that road's construction, at least in my experience. And that doesn't really bug me too much - people who get use of the road get to pay for it. Makes sense.

However, the problem comes when, in proposing the project, civil engineers say "Okay we'll have the tolls in place for 5 years and that will pay for the road and then we'll take the tollbooths down" only, inevitably, 5 years pass, the road is paid for, but the tolls never come down.

When I was in Florida we had a little ezpass type system and that was much nicer than digging out change and waiting in line - just have to slow down to under 30 mph or so and just coast right through - and there were always plenty of lanes for it.

[longears15]

I agree with HP to some extent, though I have major issues with the way the toll roads here in Melbourne work.

There was a major controversy a few years back (and still ongoing) about the EastLink project which is to connect the eastern & southeastern parts of Melbourne. It was promised and promised as a toll-free road, until the government backflipped and imposed a tolling system. Similar things have happened with CityLink- although two new freeways were developed (and I see it as fair enough that tolls were placed on those roads), CityLink encompassed several existing freeways, and tolls were suddenly placed on roads that were previously 'free'. The whole toll system is electronic, which is all very well for people who use it all the time, but it creates an awful lot of problems for people who may only use it occasionally...so many that I personally refuse to use it- the convenience of a shortened trip is far overshadowed by the hassles of getting a day pass.

What annoys me though, is that there have been alterations made to free roads in some areas which more or less force people to use the tollway instead. And what really annoys me is that the company that operates it are able to put in claims for compensation if improvements are made to other arterials or other forms of transport that result in traffic being drawn away from CityLink.

I've no objection to the concept of toll roads- if they can be made to operate sensibly and fairly, that's great, but Melbourne's system is enough to turn me against them entirely. Shame that our public transport system is also so appalling that you can't even take a train as an alternative!

[PandaGuin]

No toll roads at all where I am. Just big potholes and crumbly edges.

[J. M. Pescado]

I don't see anything wrong with the concept of tolls. I just don't like the concept of this "EZpass", because the idea of being electronically tracked is thoroughly unappealing. I would refuse to have anything to do with such a road. Give me the anonymity of tossing coins into a bucket any day.

[svenge]

I don't see anything wrong with the concept of tolls. I just don't like the concept of this "EZpass", because the idea of being electronically tracked is thoroughly unappealing. I would refuse to have anything to do with such a road. Give me the anonymity of tossing coins into a bucket any day.

Trufax. It's incredibly creepy when you get a photograph of the back of your car with a letter telling you that on (date) at (time) you drove through an EZPass lane without an EZPass sticker-thing. D: Creepy to the extreme!

[FurryPanda]

I ahve nothign against the CONCEPT of tolls, it's the implementation that bothers me. Literally yesterday I was driving through delaware on the way home from New Jersey. The Delaware Memorial Bridge had a huge back up in the tolls and it took my car an hour and a half to get down a road less than thirty miles long. Tolls back trafffic up so far that it completely ruins the point. And its not as if only the people driving on the road are benefitting from them. In New York the Verrazano Bridge gets almost all of the truck shipping to the state. So if anyone North of said brdige buys trucked groceries or furniture, they benefit. So why shouldn't they pay a pittance on the gas tax and save me and everyone else alot of time and headaches during rush hour?

[GummiBears]

I like EZ Pass because well it's easy. You just drive by and don't have to worry about looking for change or those toll tokens they used to sell. Plus you don't have to worry about the person in front of you holding you up.

My dad's friend though did get a ticket because they were like You were at toll A at this time and then made it to toll B at that time so you must of sped in order to have gotten there in such little time. That bites.

I might be mistaken but I think they raised the price of the toll but took some of them down so you pay more but you go through less tolls so it evens out and cuts down on traffic. Anything that cuts down on traffic in New Jersey is a godsend, we have too many people in our little state.

[jamesyflukes]

You want transit improvements? Gotta raise revenue somewhere...