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One thing I love about the American West is the absence of toll roads -- er, should I say loved?
Comments (8)
I think Toll roads should hav happened a long timae ago. It's time to Tax the people who drive the most and tax them on the routes that they choose to use. If one travels to places like Chicago/Boston/New York Metro area, they have what's called an Easy-Pass/ or i-Pass. Using it is a quite harmless procedure that shows up on one's credit card once a month.
I swear I'm not some rouge Bike Advocate, or Public Transportation guru. Though walking is always my perffered mode of travel. Maybe the one thing this tax will do (besides make BANK) is make people think about how much they use their car, and maybe even realize that the Light Rail/ Bus isn't all that bad once in a while when their pocket book takes a hit.
Tolls are a good idea, except our politicians cannot be trusted with a new bank account.
The first thing we would see is that money being diverted into light rail, trams, floating bike parks, or other unrelated transit projects.
Then, because transit ridership ends up being lower then "expected," even more of that toll revenue would be diverted into "sustainable" development real estate scams.
Then they would need to raise the tolls to "fix" the roadways.
And the cycle repeats itself.
--At least in Washington, they make a reasonable effort to fix the roadways.
After 9 months here in your native New Jersey, I have to say Toll Roads are one of the things I really don't like about this place, even with EZPass. It just slows up traffic for no particular reason.
It just seems wrong to me. I'll be happy to get back to the land of the freeway one of these days.
We might as well embrace the concept. It doesn't matter how we vote anymore, they do what they want anyway. Watch Metro to roll its own Regional Transportation Tax(toll) proposal real soon, as soon as they finish with their taxpayer financed hotel project
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Comments (8)
I think Toll roads should hav happened a long timae ago. It's time to Tax the people who drive the most and tax them on the routes that they choose to use. If one travels to places like Chicago/Boston/New York Metro area, they have what's called an Easy-Pass/ or i-Pass. Using it is a quite harmless procedure that shows up on one's credit card once a month.
I swear I'm not some rouge Bike Advocate, or Public Transportation guru. Though walking is always my perffered mode of travel. Maybe the one thing this tax will do (besides make BANK) is make people think about how much they use their car, and maybe even realize that the Light Rail/ Bus isn't all that bad once in a while when their pocket book takes a hit.
Posted by jim | June 11, 2007 3:22 PM
"I swear I'm not some rouge Bike Advocate"
Would that be like a "pinko" bike advocate?
Posted by PMG | June 11, 2007 3:55 PM
Tolls are a good idea, except our politicians cannot be trusted with a new bank account.
The first thing we would see is that money being diverted into light rail, trams, floating bike parks, or other unrelated transit projects.
Then, because transit ridership ends up being lower then "expected," even more of that toll revenue would be diverted into "sustainable" development real estate scams.
Then they would need to raise the tolls to "fix" the roadways.
And the cycle repeats itself.
--At least in Washington, they make a reasonable effort to fix the roadways.
Posted by Anthony | June 11, 2007 4:20 PM
"the cycle repeats itself"
This is exactly what we "rouge Bike Advocates" have been trying to get the rest of you to understand.
Posted by Allan L. | June 11, 2007 4:41 PM
I wish these Easterners would pick up and go home. We don't need no stinkin' toll roads.
Posted by KISS | June 11, 2007 6:25 PM
Jack,
After 9 months here in your native New Jersey, I have to say Toll Roads are one of the things I really don't like about this place, even with EZPass. It just slows up traffic for no particular reason.
It just seems wrong to me. I'll be happy to get back to the land of the freeway one of these days.
Posted by susan francois | June 11, 2007 6:49 PM
Susan, I hope it still exists by the time you return!
Posted by Jack Bog | June 11, 2007 6:50 PM
We might as well embrace the concept. It doesn't matter how we vote anymore, they do what they want anyway. Watch Metro to roll its own Regional Transportation Tax(toll) proposal real soon, as soon as they finish with their taxpayer financed hotel project
Posted by mroc 44 | June 12, 2007 10:07 AM