bostonbubble.com

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

Fast Lane Fees

First, they charge me $25 for the transponder and tell me that I'll get it back when I return the transponder. Then they tell me that they just won't give me back the $25. Then they tell me that now I also have to pay $.50/mo. What the heck?

I'm not so sure that this is going to increase revenue as they expect. Many people will just move to EZPass, which in most areas doesn't charge monthly, cause them to have to further increase fees. Even if it did increase revenue, it will almost certainly cause a decrease in revenue elsewhere. I can't say what the net change will be but IMO not an efficient fee increase. People will just stop using Fast Lane and pay cash again, which will cause traffic and create a need for more toll booth collectors.

This is really going to annoy MetroWest residents I think. It's not a lot of money but after being asked to pay $1000s more to commute into Boston in higher tools, they also now have to pay $6 more for the privilege of paying those higher tolls.

Hard Rain · Guest

JCK · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 559

I think this "subscription" fee is a terrible idea, but I don't think anyone who regularly uses FastLane is going to go back to paying cash, unless your time is worth nothing.

I use my FastLane pass infrequently, and still don't want to wait in lines at the tolls unnecessarily. If I had to pay $6/year to avoid toll lines even half a dozen times, I'd do it.

I could see some switching to EZPass, but it's a heck of a lot of work for a very small amount of money. I think this one will slide in and go unnoticed, just because it's such a small amount. Only later will they increase it.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Again, I think the government wages growth has outpaced other line items and are eating into them, and this discussion is evidence that things that ought to be paid for out of the general fund are now being paid for with an existing "revenue stream". Because these tolls exist, their regulatory approval mechanism exists so it is easier for the State to just make the ones already being treated unfairly to be treated more unfairly. It's a matter of winners and losers, the State sees you as losers already and if they started to hurt the North/South quadrants there would be enough noise to make change. They've been tucking it to the Western Suburbs for decades so they're just sticking the knife in deeper and twisting at this point.

The source of this problem is too much government spending. At least the people in the Western suburbs can squeal a bit and make some noise, how about the State having the highest amount of debt per capita of any State? They just take on more and more and more and more debt and people aren't squealing. The future generations are totally screwed.

We need to start to stick together as a community and everyone needs to protest even if their quadrant isn't being affected. When they proposed sticking a casino up my ass, I was pretty pissed that people 100 miles away didn't care about how it affected my community. The State Government is a spending junkie and we're just giving them more money to feed their addiction. They are the ones that need to go cold turkey otherwise they will just be an abusive addict that tears apart a family.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

You live 100 miles away?? Didn't realize Boston housing prices had such a far reach, though I knew it was pretty far (ends at about Worcester).

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Re:100 miles:

I was referring to the Mayor of Newburyport's support for casinos.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/13/patricks_casino_plan_seen_losing_backers/?page=2

It was 77.3 miles from Middleboro to Newburyport...

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Middleboro&1s=MA&2c=Newburyport&2s=MA

barry · Guest

ezpass is easy and free-- just pick one up in ny-- no fees.. I have mine.

Pretzel · Guest

Are you sure? It looks like there is a $1.00 monthly fee attached:

http://www.e-zpassny.com/static/terms/ind_tc.shtml (scroll to the bottom of the page to see all the fees/fines/etc.)

Guest · Guest

Last I checked the mass toll website, they charged more if you use the EZ pass. http://www.masspike.com/user-cgi/tollcalc.cgi

You get a discount for using FAST LANE, but not for EZPASS. This was clearer in the past when there was a note with a star at the bottom saying that EZPASS rates were the same as cash.

When I got my FAST PASS I did the math and found I paid off the $25 in 1.5 months, so it was totally worth it.