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[Lifetime]

I took the survey and didn't say no..... I said.... HELL NO!!! We already have unemployment problems. I even refuse to utilize the self checkouts at Wally World, Lowe's and Home Depot. It is bad enough I shop at them... adding salt to the wound is not my thing if I have a choice.
 
 
www.paturnpike.com/aet

[Zipper]

.... I even refuse to utilize the self checkouts at Wally World, Lowe's and Home Depot. It is bad enough I shop at them... adding salt to the wound is not my thing if I have a choice.
 
 
www.paturnpike.com/aet

Haha. I won't use them either.

It's bad enough to pay the high grocery prices, and then get no service at all, and x-someone out of a job....but they don't even offer a discount if you check-out and bag the groceries yourself.

I've been pretty disappointed in WalMart lately too.

[Amidala]

EZPASS has been around for a long time, pal. I'd say the self-pay at the turnpike is already in place. Where you been?

[Lifetime]

 
You talkin' to ME??? Hey I know it is in place but.... I don't use it. And if you read the article, there is a Video form as well.
 
What they want is an end of HUMAN employees on the toll booths... Do we need more unemployment at this time...Short of some lawmakers?? LOL
 
 

EZPASS has been around for a long time, pal. I'd say the self-pay at the turnpike is already in place. Where you been?

[CindyLouWho]

My daughter travels the turnpike FREQUENTLY and loves her EZpass.

[Jayhawk]

What they want is an end of HUMAN employees on the toll booths... Do we need more unemployment at this time...Short of some lawmakers?? LOL

I'm not going to defend having human toll-takers only for the sake of giving people jobs. That viewpoint turns it into a government make-work job. I will say that for a low-end, low-skill clerical job they probably are overpaid and over-benefitted.

I travel rt. 60 to pgh just enough each year to break even on the few bucks they charge for a toll gizmo, and with another increase on the horizon i'm probably going to break down and get one.

But for the casual traveler on any toll road, the video toll is a crock. This is what they were proposing for I-80, BTW.

As i understand it, if you don't have EZ Pass, there'd be no option even to toss coins in the urinal at the tollbooth. Instead, you drive through, they photograph your plate and you get a bill in the mail for the toll -- plus an add-on fee because they had to bill you. Then i imagine you have to write a check and pay even more to mail it, probably turning a $1.45 toll into $2.50 before you're done.

it's akin to penalizing poor people who don't have a checking account by forcing them to pay a check-cashing fee on their payroll check.

i have no problem with giving incentives (like last year's toll rate) to encourage EZ pass, but it's unfair to penalize a casual driver with much higher rates. And i suppose there also truly is a privacy issue if someone could get access to your travel records.

[Lifetime]

My points...

If jobs are the priority of the administration... any jobs.... then you are adding to the problem you claim is priority one...
 
The choices should be given...cash or whatever the flavor is...kinda like forcing us to buy those CFL bulbs or LEDs. It should be a choice, not forced.
 
The fees.... I almost choked and spit coffee when the survey I posted asked if I would use EZ Pass ...and offered ever increasin discounts. I thought I was being propositioned by a Lady of the Night who had no teeth, one arm and one leg. It went as high as 25%.
 
Many of the people who use the EZ Pass right now, are EMPLOYEES and the fees are paid by their employer...either from the business account or receipt from the account log. One of the questions the survey asks is about your ability to open an account because of your financial status and credit. Sounds to me like it just might limit those on the lower structure of society or many of those whos credit tanked in this already bad economy. Like the FREE CELL PHONE we in PA have to give away, maybe FREE EZ Pass as well..?? Where will all of this end?
 
For myself... I utilize the turnpike maybe once or twice a month. I use it to travel for MY own purpose ...not work. I pay extra because I use cash. I also know that glitches can occur in a system that has access to a bank account and it is hell correcting it.
 
If the price of traveling the turnpike gets to the point I feel too expensive, I will leave earlier and take another route. PA has more roads than most states and so far 80, 322, and if I want scenery..even route 6..all go west and east. If they see that the use of the Turnpike goes down.. then as in caplitalism... the market will self correct. Again..part of the arguement of tolling 80 was the increased use of highways not set up for the increased traffic flow... The same could be said for a change like this. Let them do it and I will wait for the burgs and towns start complaining about increase in traffic which increases safety factors as well as road repair.
 
Newtons third Law...though it applies to MOTION.." For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." could be what will happen...kinda like the HOV lanes.

[Amidala]

The turnpike is a self-supporting entity.  Obama's jobs creation has nothing to do with it. It has been self-supporting during its entire history. PennDOT actually has an excellent DVD explaining the history of the US's first toll superhighway. The bridges over the Susquehanna are brand new and turnpike usage has not fallen. But mostly, it is self-funded and always has been! No taxpayer monies are used to support it!

Picking the turnpike as your whipping horse for Obama is a BAD EXAMPLE. I sure wish you would do your research before you start spouting off. On the other hand, it is amusing to watch you dig a deep deep hole....

[gore range]

....they reference E-470 here in Denver, a 70+mph eastern metro bypass, as favorable comparison for they desire to convert....

....E-470 started partially automated, and went totally automated last year; they have 6 toll stations  along its 46-mile length, plus the standard auto-toll kiosks at the entrance & exit ramps which have been in place since it was built....

....it cost $12 to transit the 46 mile route one way, averaging 31 cents per mile....

....needless to say I don't find much use for it as the Big Red Truck knows its way around the milehigh city pretty darn good....

...., now when you pass a toll booth, w/o a E-470 transponder- no EZ Pass doesn't work,  they do send you a bill, but with no added fees, however-

....if you don't pay the $12 bill, the penalties and fees bump the bill up to around-

....$580.00 ....

....if you don't pay that, it goes off to a collections agency who will hound you and damage your credit rating....

....we've had a string of incidents were motorist  legitimately passed through the toll sensors with the properly attached transponder, but then-

....still received a bill from the E-470 Authority....

....the drivers appealed, showing their E-470 monthly statement, the E-470 Authority investigated to confirm they (E-470) were in error, and send the drivers letters confirming their error and saying they corrected the erroneous charge....

....several months later, the collection agency came banging for the $580 for their failure to pay ....

....shown the E-470 correction letter/monthly statement----"No, that's fake. E-470 said you haven't paid them; you are going to pay us!'....

....they fell into the bi-nary not-me dark hole as the E-470 Authority didn't step up do squat when re-approached by the drivers, taking hits on their credit ratings....

....it wasn't until a local TV station got involved showing one case a night for several evenings before E-470 said, "OOPS. Our bad"....

....then it took a second Call-Seven-Investigation series to get their credit rating straightened out....

....I don't use the PA TP much, but I'll wait until I see how the toll-billing sorts out as being way out of state the Big Red Truck is an easy mark for abuse....

....granted, it is convenient, but there is definitely no where back east where Big Red needs to go to have to rely on the still rather dungeon-esque TP to get there....

[Amidala]

I admit I am biased.. I spent a great deal of my young adulthood bombing back and forth on the TPK to visit my college pals.  Today's road is much improved, however, the 7 mile descending turns east of the Allegheny tunnel are now gone, which makes the road safer but not as much fun for Scirocco driving Mario wannabes such as the youthful Amidala! I like the road, the brand new construction rest stops, the small towns along the way, the vegetation changing with the altitude AND the Smokies sit in pretty much the same places!.. It's a Good Thing. If you don't like it, you can travel on old Rt. 30 - equally interesting but slower or travel south to Rt 40 thru Maryland. Or 80E to 322, depending on your destination. Now I hate 322 south of STate College. I don't know it very well and don't like it much. IMHO.

[E-L Man]

.... I even refuse to utilize the self checkouts at Wally World, Lowe's and Home Depot. It is bad enough I shop at them... adding salt to the wound is not my thing if I have a choice.
 
 
www.paturnpike.com/aet

Haha. I won't use them either.

It's bad enough to pay the high grocery prices, and then get no service at all, and x-someone out of a job....but they don't even offer a discount if you check-out and bag the groceries yourself.

I've been pretty disappointed in WalMart lately too.

 
I'm with ya on this'n!

[Amidala]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/business/economy/us-posts-solid-job-gains-amid-fears.html?hp
 
Job Growth in July

[Lifetime]

Unemployed is unemployed.... those workers would go ...where?? and unemployment for any reason is who's problem??
 
 

The turnpike is a self-supporting entity.  Obama's jobs creation has nothing to do with it. It has been self-supporting during its entire history. PennDOT actually has an excellent DVD explaining the history of the US's first toll superhighway. The bridges over the Susquehanna are brand new and turnpike usage has not fallen. But mostly, it is self-funded and always has been! No taxpayer monies are used to support it!

Picking the turnpike as your whipping horse for Obama is a BAD EXAMPLE. I sure wish you would do your research before you start spouting off. On the other hand, it is amusing to watch you dig a deep deep hole....

[Amidala]

The turnpike reduced the number of toll booth workers a long time ago, way before the current economic troubles.

[Lifetime]

So in your eyes, it is ok to dump the rest??? after all, they already dumped some before??? And when did they dump them... we were in the crapper for over 10 years.
 
 

The turnpike reduced the number of toll booth workers a long time ago, way before the current economic troubles.