Even though the tolls on the eastern part of the pike should have gone away about 20 years ago when the initial bonds were paid off – you and I both know that won’t happen anytime soon seeing as how the Turnpike Authority has become a dumping ground for relatives of state employees and the uber-connected….(/semi-snark)
Here’s what I propose to reduce or at least START to reduce employee count AND massive traffic backups…
Get rid of the EXIT tolls on the MassPike. Instead of paying the toll when you exit the pike – pay a simple flat toll when you get ON the pike.
Maybe $1 – at 495, Framingham, Natick, Auburn, Sturbridge. $4 at the New York Border đŸ™‚ Unless your car has a Mass. registration Plate – then it’s free
And $2 when you get ON the pike at 128. Use that extra $1 here to float a bond and re-align and FIX those exits ramps!
Why not just make people stop once when they get ON!? They’re stopping anyway (unless they have the speedpass or no brakes) – and it would make things so much smoother at the exits.
Not to mention there would be some savings by laying off a lot of the staff sitting in those exit booths …
100,000 votes easy.
(Yes – you can give me Matt Amorello’s job when you get rid of him your second day on the job…..nepotism, shmepotism)
On the one hand, tolls are inherently regressive.
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p>On the other hand, the Pike is far better maintained than any other road in the entire Commonwealth.
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p>And being a South Shore guy, I’d gladly pay a toll to drive on a Route 3 that was four-lanes in each direction, with a Braintree split that works, and with a Southeast Expressway that doesn’t take an hour and a half to traverse 8 miles anytime after 2:30pm. You metro-westers should consider yourselves lucky!
I wonder if the Pike will continue to be more well-maintained than the other roads now that the toll receipts are used to pay off the Big Dig, which is nver used by we westerners.