toll booth rant

[todd_k]

If you don't have an EZ-Pass or a Smart Tag (whatever you want to call them) THEN DON'T GET IN THE EZ-PASS LANE!!!!!!! Every day I see some moron stopped at the gate holding up traffic because they don't have an EZ-Pass. Can you people not read the big signs over the toll booths that say Exact Change, Full Service, or EZ-PASS/SMART TAG ONLY???????????????????????

Then these people put it in reverse and expect the 10 cars lined up behind them to get out of there way. Morons.....pay attention. Read the ****ing signs.

 

[the_bird]

You know, I actually (thankfully) have never seen that happen.

I live in the sticks, so I hardly ever get out and about to the "big cities," but those high-speed EZ-Pass lanes? The ones you can drive 55 MPH through?

Best. Invention. Ever.

 

[Neomich]

I confess, I was guilty of this once. I was traveling on business and in a rental. The map didn't list that road as a toll road and I didn't have any change on me.

Yes, I felt like a idiot.

 

[Beerrific]

I don't live in a state with a lot of toll booths. When I am driving up north where tolls are everywhere, I am always nervous I will do that, but I pay attention and it has never happened.

 

[JustDave]

Thankfully, the only tolls I encounter are when I take the Mass Pike to visit my family out in the_bird's part of the state.

A lot of people are just oblivious when they drive ...... come on, those signs are really big and bright yellow, how do you miss that?

 

[LouT]

I was leaving Logan airport heading back home after picking up my visiting brother Friday night, and even though it was 11:30 at night it was the worst traffic I'd seen coming out to the Sumner tunnel tolls in a long long time. Sure as **** I get up there, and there's a yahoo in each of 2 EZ-Pass (they call it "FastLane" here in MA) lanes, trying to back up. For crying out loud, you just drive through if you blow it and are in the wrong lane! Backing up is how people get hurt!
In NYC, especially on most of the port authority bridges, there are signs all over the place at the toll booths that say DO NOT BACK UP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Now I now why they have those signs -- maybe they need them at all toll booths!
(Hijacking your rant, sorry, but I have the same gripe!)

 

[Evan!]

If you don't have an EZ-Pass or a Smart Tag (whatever you want to call them) THEN DON'T GET IN THE EZ-PASS LANE!!!!!!! Every day I see some moron stopped at the gate holding up traffic because they don't have an EZ-Pass. Can you people not read the big signs over the toll booths that say Exact Change, Full Service, or EZ-PASS/SMART TAG ONLY???????????????????????

Then these people put it in reverse and expect the 10 cars lined up behind them to get out of there way. Morons.....pay attention. Read the ****ing signs.

Todd, where exactly in central VA do you have EZ Pass toll booths?

 

[Sherpa FE]

Just look at it this way, if there were a law against stupidity, there would be no traffic.

 

[bradsul]

That's rough, I've only been to the US a few times and been through those toll stations you guys have. They really impede the flow of traffic. I like the toll system on the only toll highway up here. You get a transponder for your vehicle and there are gantries over the ramps that register your vehicle getting on and off. You just use the highway like any other.

Of course I like the regular highways better.

 

[todd_k]

Todd, where exactly in central VA do you have EZ Pass toll booths?

Powhite Parkway and the Downtown Expressway in Richmond. I take the Powhite every day to get to work. Also, the Pocahontas Parkway has an EZ Pass toll too....that one you can go 55mph through.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Wisconsin doesn't have tollways. Instead, we just tax the fcku out of people in order to pay for the roads.

 

[LouT]

Hey, everyone that uses EZ-Pass, Fast-Lane, etc. Watch out for "orphan exit" and/or "orphan entrance" type charges! See this article for details:
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/07/millions-of-dri.html

Another interesting angle, I was just reading one of the editorial articles in Car & Driver at the library last night. I can't seem to find the article on line, though. But this article talks about how some municipal entities are SELLING their toll roads (actually leasing the rights, not selling) for instant cash, to big banks (a huge Australian bank is mentioned) that want the long term income revenue stream with income growth. This big bridge from Chicago to Indiana was specifically mentioned, and per the article at some point the buyers will have the right to charge up to $71.00 for a bridge crossing toll. This is sick stuff - instead of our government entities having this long term revenue stream, a bank and its investors will have it - it's nuts!

 

[kinison_fan]

PA has been considering "selling out" its turnpike. I sure hope they don't.
The other thing in PA, the EZ-pass lane is 5 mph- way to slow...

 

[Special Ed]

PA has been considering "selling out" its turnpike. I sure hope they don't.
The other thing in PA, the EZ-pass lane is 5 mph- way to slow...

I recently got a letter stating that I was recorded going over the speed limit through a toll and if I do it again they would suspend my EZ-pass privilages. When did it become a privilage to pay tolls? Afterall, EZ-pass saves tons of money by replacing overpaid, unionized, toll booth attendants.

+1 for non-ezpass drivers paying attention, this happens to me all the time!

 

[Flyin' Lion]

People that race up to tolls and change lanes at the last minute piss me off. We go through way too many tolls on our trips up to Jersey and the EZ pass shaves a lot of time, but I'd just as soon have no tolls at all.

True story, we were towing a trailer up to Jersey to pick up a Jetski we bought (ebay) and while STOPPED at a toll both we were rear-ended by a couple of knuckleheads not paying attention. Luckily there was no damage, not counting their egos after being verbally assualted by SWMBO.

Why is it tolls are always at a bend in the road instead of a straightaway? More often than not this is the case and it might explain peoples confusion at the tolls.

 

[Evan!]

Powhite Parkway and the Downtown Expressway in Richmond. I take the Powhite every day to get to work. Also, the Pocahontas Parkway has an EZ Pass toll too....that one you can go 55mph through.

no sh*t? I've been around Richmond plenty and I don't remember ever running across a toll booth. Y'all are big time now!

 

[Flyin' Lion]

no sh*t? I've been around Richmond plenty and I don't remember ever running across a toll booth. Y'all are big time now!

There used to be tolls on 95 about ten years ago. Powhite is a main road into the city from the south that gets backed up during rush hour because of those damn tolls.

One other toll we have is the nickel bridge (which costs a quarter ).

 

[david_42]

Had the same problem in a rental last time I was in NYC. If the EZ-PASS lanes had not been clustered I could have avoided the problem, but I would have had to cut across 3 lanes in a very short distance. I just pulled through. Got a fine in the mail about 4 months later, $28. After reading the small print, I determined I only had to pay $3 if I beat the deadline. The other $25 was a late fee.

By the way, the toll was $7. I saved $4 minus the cost of a stamp.

 

[todd_k]

One other toll we have is the nickel bridge (which costs a quarter ).

damn inflation..... :cross:

 

[Rhoobarb]

... Another interesting angle... this article talks about how some municipal entities are SELLING their toll roads... big bridge from Chicago to Indiana was specifically mentioned...

Yep. The Chicago Skyway was sold to a private company about a year ago. You're going to start seeing it a lot more in the future. I haven't driven over it in years, so I have no idea what the toll is. I remember it was an expensive fee to go eight miles.

 

[david_42]

We just had a bypass project die. The Australian (no US company was interested) company that was bidding it decided there just wasn't enough traffic to generate the required tolls. So, we continue backing up at the Dundee bottleneck. A couple thousand people and ONE traffic light, but it creates 10-15 minute delays during rush hour.