Current Events > Toll roads are a ****ing scam. Shouldn't be FORCED to pay to drive to work

(+) Yeah! (+)

My morning commute to work is 20 miles, and 30 minutes. 13 of those 20 miles are on toll road. My monthly bill in tolls alone is about $120 usually.

If I took other roads, itd take me about 1 hour and 15 minutes hours to get to work or go home. For 20 miles.

How is this legal?
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You can always find another way around. I always do.
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MFBKBass5 posted...

How is this legal?

MFBKBass5 posted...

If I took other roads,

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MFBKBass5 posted...

My morning commute to work is 20 miles, and 30 minutes. 13 of those 20 miles are on toll road. My monthly bill in tolls alone is about $120 usually.

If I took other roads, itd take me about 1 hour and 15 minutes hours to get to work or go home. For 20 miles.

How is this legal?

where do you live?

DirkDiggles posted...

You can always find another way around. I always do.

Yeah but it takes an absurd amount of time and you waste as much gas for the extra time
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cerealbox760 posted...

MFBKBass5 posted...

My morning commute to work is 20 miles, and 30 minutes. 13 of those 20 miles are on toll road. My monthly bill in tolls alone is about $120 usually.

If I took other roads, itd take me about 1 hour and 15 minutes hours to get to work or go home. For 20 miles.

How is this legal?

where do you live?

Houston, TX
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For local residents don't they usually have a monthly pass you can buy. All the ones I've seen did
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glitteringfairy posted...

For local residents don't they usually have a monthly pass you can buy. All the ones I've seen did

Thats WITH the toll tag. Its like 4 times as much without a tag
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yeah toll roads are complete bullshit
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Its legal because it is. Another source of income for your state. Take the longer route if you hate it so much but it will probably cost just as much in gas.

H Tineeee
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The only real barries in NYC are Staten Island and coming back from NJ.

There's no way to get into SI for free period. You have to pay $17, because they collect one way, meaning it's free leaving SI, because you likely paid $17 getting in.

For NJ, it's the same shit. To get back into SI, Manhattan, or Westchester from the NJ side, you have to pay $17. It's free to get into NJ. This has another way, almost a 100 miles North. The bridges over the same Hudson River in Upstate NY are only $1. But who the fuck is gonna go that far up?

The Bronx has the same $8.5 each way fee, but I don't find myself there much in the morning, so you can go through Manhattan and take several free bridges into The BX. Queens, Brookkyn and Manhattan are mostly free (some tunnels into Manhattan from Queens are money, but the free bridge is literally right next to it).
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NY ez pass has a special commuters plan for 90 a year I can go one way 30 miles in any direction and it's covered, home trip is covered too
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Agreed. I rack up around 1200~ in tolls and it sucks
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I don't take toll roads, I always stay local. They can miss me with that. No way I'm driving up I-287 or I-95 or Garden State Parkway

MFBKBass5 posted...

My monthly bill in tolls alone is about $120 usually.

You are paying over 1400 a year in tolls?

You are getting screwed hard.
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we dont have those in the yay area, but i saw them in LA. i was SHOCKED
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Akagami_Shanks posted...

I don't take toll roads, I always stay local. They can miss me with that. No way I'm driving up I-287 or I-95 or Garden State Parkway

What do you use? Route 1/9?
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Whoa this is weird. Its crazy seeing were all getting boned in tolls. Seriously...why does no one complain about these bitches? Such a scam.
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_BlueMonk posted...

we dont have those in the yay area, but i saw them in LA. i was SHOCKED

Yeah we do, sorta. Expresss lane

Also TC its either that or they raise the gas tax. Which do you want?

It's a use fee, which is vaguely more "fair" than making everyone pay for it in taxes, but the use fee via gas tax is suppose to be doing this already.

DoctorVader posted...

The only real barries in NYC are Staten Island and coming back from NJ.

There's no way to get into SI for free period. You have to pay $17, because they collect one way, meaning it's free leaving SI, because you likely paid $17 getting in.

For NJ, it's the same shit. To get back into SI, Manhattan, or Westchester from the NJ side, you have to pay $17. It's free to get into NJ. This has another way, almost a 100 miles North. The bridges over the same Hudson River in Upstate NY are only $1. But who the fuck is gonna go that far up?

The Bronx has the same $8.5 each way fee, but I don't find myself there much in the morning, so you can go through Manhattan and take several free bridges into The BX. Queens, Brookkyn and Manhattan are mostly free (some tunnels into Manhattan from Queens are money, but the free bridge is literally right next to it).

They want you to use the subway :P

(though with Staten Island actually that's not really an option)
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Sativa_Rose posted...

DoctorVader posted...

The only real barries in NYC are Staten Island and coming back from NJ.

There's no way to get into SI for free period. You have to pay $17, because they collect one way, meaning it's free leaving SI, because you likely paid $17 getting in.

For NJ, it's the same shit. To get back into SI, Manhattan, or Westchester from the NJ side, you have to pay $17. It's free to get into NJ. This has another way, almost a 100 miles North. The bridges over the same Hudson River in Upstate NY are only $1. But who the fuck is gonna go that far up?

The Bronx has the same $8.5 each way fee, but I don't find myself there much in the morning, so you can go through Manhattan and take several free bridges into The BX. Queens, Brookkyn and Manhattan are mostly free (some tunnels into Manhattan from Queens are money, but the free bridge is literally right next to it).

They want you to use the subway :P

(though with Staten Island actually that's not really an option)

Or, you know, there's a simple workaround:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

So...what happens if you're heading home and you just don't got it? Do they force you to turn around and if so, that sounds messy. And what if cops get involved and they want you gone, but you got nowhere because you got no money left and you need to get by to get home? I've never thought of any of this dumb stuff.
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I live in Houston metro as well (extreme southwest), and commute to pretty close to downtown. Sam Houston tollway is a godsend for me, except during rush hour times. Then, the Westpark becomes the better option to get home.

It's about a 35 minute drive one way for me, assuming traffic is light. If I go during rush hour, that time bumps up to two hours, toll road or no.
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MFBKBass5 posted...

How is this legal?

'Cause if they don't get no tolls, then they can't eat no rolls.
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Spoilers: You pay for the roads either way. Toll roads just collect directly from you for using it.
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booboy posted...

I live in Houston metro as well (extreme southwest), and commute to pretty close to downtown. Sam Houston tollway is a godsend for me, except during rush hour times. Then, the Westpark becomes the better option to get home.

It's about a 35 minute drive one way for me, assuming traffic is light. If I go during rush hour, that time bumps up to two hours, toll road or no.

Yep!!! Sounds like youre in a similar situation to me. Crazy you live in southwest Houston. Im from Katy!
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MFBKBass5 posted...

booboy posted...

I live in Houston metro as well (extreme southwest), and commute to pretty close to downtown. Sam Houston tollway is a godsend for me, except during rush hour times. Then, the Westpark becomes the better option to get home.

It's about a 35 minute drive one way for me, assuming traffic is light. If I go during rush hour, that time bumps up to two hours, toll road or no.

Yep!!! Sounds like youre in a similar situation to me. Crazy you live in southwest Houston. Im from Katy!

I'm further than Rosenberg. Once they finish getting highway 59 un-fucked near the Brazos shopping center, that will make my life infinitely easier.
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GameGodOfAll posted...

So...what happens if you're heading home and you just don't got it? Do they force you to turn around and if so, that sounds messy. And what if cops get involved and they want you gone, but you got nowhere because you got no money left and you need to get by to get home? I've never thought of any of this dumb stuff.

No. You get a citation.

You'll get a bill in the mail with a picture of your plate for the toll and a service fee of like 50 bucks.

You can ignore it, but you'll acquire a record by doing that.
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chrono625 posted...

GameGodOfAll posted...

So...what happens if you're heading home and you just don't got it? Do they force you to turn around and if so, that sounds messy. And what if cops get involved and they want you gone, but you got nowhere because you got no money left and you need to get by to get home? I've never thought of any of this dumb stuff.

No. You get a citation.

You'll get a bill in the mail with a picture of your plate for the toll and a service fee of like 50 bucks.

You can ignore it, but you'll acquire a record by doing that.

Yup. Although Texas just passed a lot maxing out the fine for late toll tags at like 60 bucks. It used to just be infinite basically.
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If you look at how much it costs to build new lanes, it's amazing that anything has gotten done in the last 30 years at all. Freeways are astonishingly expensive, and the pent-up demand is ludicrous in some metropolitan areas. Most new projects today don't have a prayer of being funded unless there's some kind of toll involved.

Somebody's gotta pony up if we want to change things... either huge tax increases, budget re-prioritization, or trampling over property rights and the livelihoods of transportation construction workers.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

Or, you know, there's a simple workaround:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

lol
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