Good day,
My wife asked me a question the other day about the HOV lane. The new one that goes down I35 from MPLS to Burnsville MN.
During regular traffic, there is a price or dollar amount posted on the signs above the road. Normally is only couple bucks going from one exit to another. She had noticed the other day on Xmas eve day, that the price had jumped to $8.00.
Can they do that?? The way I understand it is, the worse the traffic is, the more you pay to enjoy that lane??
( Im not sure if this is the right place to send this for the paper, or show, but if you could answer that it would be great. If you do publish, if you could let me know when would be that would be helpful.
Thank You
Steve
This is an open forum, not the place to contact Tom and Ray. For that, go here http://www.cartalk.com/ct/3500.jsp
Are these HOV lanes or pay-per-use express lanes? They proposed something like this near Orlando, FL, but many opponents called them “Lexus Lanes” and had the measure killed.
I have never seen anyone pay to use an HOV lane before.
You may be correct, they are pay to use lanes durning rush hours. It used to be an HOV years ago, I just thought it was the same name. I dont see this lasting long here either
If you want to know whether they can change the price, I suggest that you look it up on the MN state web site. There is probably a highway department or transportation department in charge of the road, and they likely have such information.
In general, I think it’s a Fabulous Idea - one of the finest ever. There is a toll road in CO that runs from the Denver Airport to Boulder. It costs $6 to go from end-to-end. There are hardly any cars on it. Perfect! When I go there on a business trip, I can sail up to Boulder without the usual aggravation of the traffic jam to and around Denver, then the jam up to Boulder. It cuts my travel time in half. Since it’s a business trip, the tolls are paid for. I charge the job for my travel time, so in my case, it makes great sense to use the toll road. And there are those with high-paying jobs that can afford the high tolls. Let them pay and make the other roads a little less crowded.
But the best thing about them is that they take the place of, or at least reduce, the huge increase in gas taxes that are just around the corner. As cars become more fuel efficient, tax revenues plummet. You can let the rich guys pay the difference, or you can pay it. Here in MD, there are several roads that the state plans to add pay per use lanes to. They can’t build these toll roads fast enough for me.
That attitude comes easily when somebody else pays the tolls…As taxpayers, we OWN the roads to begin with. We should not be surcharged to use roads we already own…The money just gets used to pay for more government employees and fund their pensions…
I think they are “HOT” (High Occupancy Toll) lanes. They are coming to the Bay Area soon. When you use them it charges your FasTrak transponder, I believe.
“When you get to the toll booth; bargain with them. Tell 'em you heard it was free Chevrolet day. Tell ‘em it’s a used road and you’re lookin’ for a discount. Tell 'em you have no money, you spent it all on p**** and beer. That’ll wake 'em up, especially if you’re a woman.”
- George Carlin -
“We should not be surcharged to use roads we already own.”
Who will pay for maintenance? Shouldn’t the users pay for it? How is the lost revenue from fuel tax made up? You can pay higher fuel taxes or share the burden with those willing to pay for it. Would you have us do away with tolls altogether? that will just make your income taxes go up. I prefer charging direct users that a broad collection like income taxes.
Dont mind paying for what I use,the playing field is not exactly level in this great nation and no amount of left wing shuffling is going to fix that-Kevin
Of course they can do this. They make the rules.
If you think this is robbery, wait until you get billed for
- the Toxic Asset Relief Program
- the $4B Cash For Clunkers program ($3B actually used)
- $200B/yr to reduce climate change (promised by Hillery at Copenhagen)
- the hundreds of millions (and counting) of our tax dollars that Harry Reid used to buy senate votes for the new health care legislation
- the 121 new regulatory agencies added by the new broadened Federal Reserve oversight bill (send your letters of thanks directly to Ben Bernenke)
- the $290B that financial institutions will now have to set aside to protect themselves from their own folly (expect to pay that in interest rates and fees)
- the $900B that we shoveled into the auto industry to save them from the effects of their poor management
- the ultimate cost of the new health care bill (estimated by the CBO at trillions)
Shall I continue?
And my prediction for the coming years: the above will suck so much money from the economy that the housing market and automobile market will tank…even more. The federal government will back truckloads of our tax dollars up to these industries and dump it directly into the producers, having ignored the consumers completely, except perhaps to clean any spare change from their wallets while driving by.
In the bigger scheme of things, the HOV charge is downright honest and fair. And dirt cheap.
Sorry guys. Thanks in advance for letting me rant.
“…and no amount of left wing shuffling is going to fix that”
It seems to me that Republicans would be more in favor of a pay-for-use system (tolls), rather than spreading the pain among the populus. That is more of a Democrat thing to me. In any case, if the average CAFE increases 5 MPG (about 20%), the revenue loss is about 20%. But the Cafe standard will rise 10 MPG over the next decade; we’ll be about 40% short of tax revenues if we do nothing. We have a new road under construction right now that will allow east-west traffic across the northern suburbs of DC, about 15 miles north of the DC beltway. It will be a toll road, and I’m pleased that the users will pay for it, not me. I will rarely, if ever, use the road.
Precisely,pay for what you use-Kevin