Pa. Turnpike Says Use of EZPass Will be Mandatory by 2018.

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/No_E-ZPass_Heres_a_bill_Electronic_tolling_planned_for_PA_Turnpike.html

[Politicalboi]

1. Good luck PA

I remember driving one of those toll highways and paying $20.00 for about 100 miles of travel. Highway robbery is what it's called. I don't know how people are able to pay such high prices just to drive on a highway that was ALREADY paid for with taxes years ago. We should end tolling. So glad I live in Ca where for the most part, tolls are nonexistent. Pa is looking for money ALL the time, even for just parking.

I bet Pa has more dangerous bridges than Ca. What do they do with all that stolen money, they certainly don't repair bridges with it.

[unblock]

4. in fairness, pa's roads are much harder to maintain.

pa's turnpike has mountains and winters and tunnels and many, many trucks. heavy, heavy traffic.

sure, most highways have trucks, but a relatively level coastline drive without harsh winters is a very different story.

texas has some fantastic highways. amazing what you can do with flat and no real winter.

and yet, there's still that toll road around austin!

[Bay Boy]

2. How does that work for say

someone from out of state without the pass?

[silverweb]

3. They bill you.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]"If the driver doesn’t have an E-ZPass, their license plate information is captured by a camera and a bill is mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner."

I can see why they're planning to do this. It will cut their payroll and save them quite a bit of money on toll plaza maintenance. Betcha their next step will be to contract out turnpike maintenance to a private company for a cut of the toll money -- or even sell it altogether.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. And they will charge you a fee for that mailing.

They were talking that the fee itself would be $20, and by 2018, who knows where that would be. And of course, they do not know how far you travel, so will have to just have a toll for the entire distance, even if you only go from one exit to the next one. And do not make any plans to get off the turnpike and spend the night in PA, since that will mean you will get off and on again, and that will generate a second toll and fee.

I don't know how they intend to pull this off. Seriously, I would make sure that I did not get on and off a toll road....which means that I would not spend the night, I would not come to PA for tourism, and if at all possible, I would not set foot here. Too bad I live here, but that also means that I could more easily find a way around the toll roads.

[silverweb]

6. Oh, there will be complications.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]And hue and cry. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Let's hope there will be a hue and cry.

There will be from people like me, who travels a toll road here about once or twice a year. But I don't know if it will matter. In PA, nothing seems to matter if it is what the people want.

I do not understand what the big deal would be to keep at least one toll booth open for any vehicles without EZPass, even if they do not staff it and require coins. It would be something.

When I did use the toll road that I use rarely, there was a long line at the booth with an attendant, and few vehicles went through the EZPass booth. It was obvious, at least at this particular section of toll road, that most drivers did not have EZPasses. I always use the booth with an attendant, even if I have proper change to go through the unmanned booth, just for statistic reasons (in case anyone pays any attention).

[silverweb]

8. There's a way to get their attention.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Tell them it will adversely impact tourism. See what kind of monkey wrench that is in their plan and what kind of proposed solution they come up with.

[Number9Dream]

9. Garden State Pkwy coin booths work great

I, too, use the turnpike once or twice a year. It's too expensive now, but worth it to bypass the mess known as Route 309. Come 2018, I'll refuse to use the PA turnpike. Your suggestion to have unmanned coin booths is too logical for turnpike management. The Garden State Parkway has exact change booths, and a variety of other booths in addition to EZ Pass, and they work just fine. Plus, the Garden State Parkway is light years ahead of the PA Turnpike in every way.

[DebJ]

10. Of course they will do this. Anything to kill jobs here. n/t