Reader Margo writes:
If everybody drove hybrid cars, there would be NO pollution in trafficjams, because there would be NO IDLING. I sometimes proseletyze tollbooth collectors, pointing out that they are not breathing in anypollution from MY CAR when it is stopped at their booth, because thegasoline engine cuts off. Some of them really get into it! Thinkingabout traffic jams (which I’m not in much, as I have an 8 minutecommute to work) makes me think this aspect of hybrid cars is even moreimportant than the fuel economy.
Hear, hear. And speaking of toll booths, why is the Turnpike Authority thinking of making it harder to save gas and money with FastLane? Perverse. They should be trying to make it as easy as possible to get and keep those transponders. I love mine — and I use the toll ways maybe once a month.
See, the Turnpike Authority sees the FastLane transponders as a revenue opportunity. This, in my opinion, is the wrong way of looking at them. They are an opportunity to eliminate toll booths as traffic bottlenecks.They should be encouraging people to get these by making them free or cheap, and by cramming toll plazas full of fastlane-only lanes. That would also increase the cost of not having one, which I suppose is just as good.Then, once more people have one, they can do more creative things with tolls — discounts for non-peak travel, create different commuter and non-commuter rates, etc.
^ Agreed.I’d love to eventually see different rates for single occupants and multi occupants. How to do it? I’m not sure, but I don’t see why there couldn’t be an “HOV Fastlane” that was a cheaper rate. How to stop cheaters? Take pictures, and audit them. If you drive through the HOV Fastlane and are a single, you pay a huge fine.Just some thoughts…
I love my little Prius, which gets an average of 48 miles per gallon (mostly highway driving). Another advantage of it not idling shows when I get it inspected — it saves time, since I don’t have to go through the emissions test.On a recent trip to the DC area, I was pleased to be able to use the FastLane/EZPass transponder at every toolbooth I encountered. In some cases (a couple of spots on the Garden State Parkway, for example), I didn’t even have to slow down, as they have installed high-speed lanes that can read the transponders at 65 miles per hour. Most cool. Now if only New Hampshire can be hauled (kicking and screaming) into the 20th century and swithc some of the cash/token booths to EZPass lanes….
The solution to the MassPike’s incredibly stupid FastLane policy is easy: get an EZ-Pass from the NY service center. There’s no up-front charge if you pay by credit card, and there may or may not be a $1 monthly fee, but I’d rather pay that than a $27 initial charge plus an additional one when the battery craps out.
The drawback to the N.Y. pass vs. the FastLane pass is that you get charged $1 instead of 75 cents each at the Weston and Allston-Brighton tolls.
Thanks B33 – I did not know that!