Mass Pike Tolling. HUGE INCREASE for campers!!!

[ChooChooMan74]

Starting Friday, the toll booths on the Mass Pike will be eliminated and all electronic tolling takes place. Towing a camper will now cost you more on the Pike. For example. My trip from exit 10A Worcester/Rt 146 to the NY state lane use to cost $4.35 (4 Axle, Single Rear Wheels). The new cost will be $10.70. That is a 245% rate increase!!

[paulj]

Advisers to one of the presidential candidates are promoting more tolls - give construction companies tax incentives to build all kinds of infrastructure improvements (and taking advantage of low interest rates) (bridges, roads, water systems, etc). The claim is that tolls will lets the companies recover their investment, and the resulting economic growth will make up for lost tax revenue.

Counter arguments raise questions about whether tolls are really sufficient, especially if there are alternatives.

[Crowe]

IF MOST EVERYONE would stay off the for say one year, or some other time factor, demand down, plenty of supply road, to drive on, price would go down?????????????????????????

Not sure this is a "commodity" that would work like that. It's also not feasible. Besides, lost revenue is always made up elsewhere such as another tax or reduction in services.

[shooker99]

Supply and demand!!! IF MOST EVERYONE would stay off the for say one year, or some other time factor, demand down, plenty of supply road, to drive on, price would go down????????????????????????? I go around most of them because I think for the most part they are a rip-off. I do under stand what the trucker is saying! Roy Rodgers would say 'HAPPY TRAILS'!!!!

[Lantley]

brooks379 wrote:
You think you have it bad when it comes to tolls.....

Driving a semi from west to east and you have a 4 am appointment to unload in NYC no time to by pass them.
Kansas $8.50
Pa. $145.00
NJ $85.00
George Washington bridge $90.00
Fee just to enter the produce market $25.00
Fee to have your trailer unloaded $175.00 to $350.00

and now you have to turn around and pay going back west unless you have the time to bypass the tolls...but probably not because EVERYONE wants their truckload delivered ASAP !!! I hope I never have to cross the Mississippi river going east ever again !! Been there done that many times and don't ever want to do it again. Tolls suck and they just keep on going up, up, up !!

That was my point the axle fees are really directed at commercial truck. Seeing what they pay puts it all in perspective.
Now the 80K loaded trucks do cause the most wear on the roads hence they should pay the most. RV's also cause more wear than a passenger car thus the additional fees.
But at the end of the day it will never be fair simply because government is not efficient enough and people are not smart enough to develop and operate a fair system.
Life's not fair and neither are tolls but we are probably better off with them than without them

[brooks379]

You think you have it bad when it comes to tolls.....

Driving a semi from west to east and you have a 4 am appointment to unload in NYC no time to by pass them.
Kansas $8.50
Pa. $145.00
NJ $85.00
George Washington bridge $90.00
Fee just to enter the produce market $25.00
Fee to have your trailer unloaded $175.00 to $350.00

and now you have to turn around and pay going back west unless you have the time to bypass the tolls...but probably not because EVERYONE wants their truckload delivered ASAP !!! I hope I never have to cross the Mississippi river going east ever again !! Been there done that many times and don't ever want to do it again. Tolls suck and they just keep on going up, up, up !!

[Crowe]

You are correct. I guess just venting, it seems like everything is going up in large percentages except wages.

I hear ya, believe me!

[colliehauler]

Crowe wrote:
Midwest wages aren't as much as East and West coast.

I fully understand that but our costs of living are also higher, so that might be a "net exchange". What I should have included is how much extra fuel it may cost to circumvent the toll road. Sometimes it's just not economical.

You are correct. I guess just venting, it seems like everything is going up in large percentages except wages. Look at vehicles, health insurance, RV's, It wasn't that long ago you could get a nice New Horizon 5th wheel for 100k now 200k.

[colliehauler]

paulj wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
...
I guess I wouldn't feel so bad about it but the state keeps raiding the highway fund to spend on other programs. I want good roads and don't mind paying for them. It's when they redirect the funds for other uses.

I was going to ask where that's happening. In recent years Congress has had to transfer money from the general budget to the Highway Trust fund. But then I noticed you are in Kansas, where the governor cuts taxes to boost growth. Have they been dipping into the highway fund to make up for those cuts?

But isn't the idea that certain kinds of taxes can only be spent in certain way at bit archaic - must political in nature than sound economics? The government does spend your income taxes on boosting your income. They don't spend the sales taxes on grocery stores. Cig taxes on expanded sales.

Federal gas taxes were simply the most politically palatable way of raising funds for the Interstate system in the 1950s.

Yep dipping into the highway fund. Kansas by law has to have a balanced budget.

[Crowe]

Midwest wages aren't as much as East and West coast.

I fully understand that but our costs of living are also higher, so that might be a "net exchange". What I should have included is how much extra fuel it may cost to circumvent the toll road. Sometimes it's just not economical.

[paulj]

colliehauler wrote:
...
I guess I wouldn't feel so bad about it but the state keeps raiding the highway fund to spend on other programs. I want good roads and don't mind paying for them. It's when they redirect the funds for other uses.

I was going to ask where that's happening. In recent years Congress has had to transfer money from the general budget to the Highway Trust fund. But then I noticed you are in Kansas, where the governor cuts taxes to boost growth. Have they been dipping into the highway fund to make up for those cuts?

But isn't the idea that certain kinds of taxes can only be spent in certain way at bit archaic - must political in nature than sound economics? The government does spend your income taxes on boosting your income. They don't spend the sales taxes on grocery stores. Cig taxes on expanded sales.

Federal gas taxes were simply the most politically palatable way of raising funds for the Interstate system in the 1950s.

[colliehauler]

Crowe wrote:
I'm not happy with the increase in cost myself and I do understand the principle of the matter but I do find it a bit amusing that so many RVers complain about an additional $10 when they've already spent a fair amount of money on a rig, camping fees, activities, etc. Alternate routes are often much slower with constant stop and go. The increase in travel time to me just isn't worth it. If using Rt. 20 takes me 3 hours but the Pike only 2 then that's 1 hour extra I can sit and relax. Well worth the $10.

Crowe, while I value your opinion very much I will disagree with this. In the Midwest wages aren't as much as East and West coast. There are a lot of families struggling to make ends meet. They buy a used or basic camper to take their families out. Every dime matters to them. When all the fee's associated with camping go up and wages stay stagnant it puts people in a bind. Toll's have become a way to shift the tax to the people who are already paying for the roads and bridges through fuel tax while they turn around and use the money for other projects that it was not intended.

[colliehauler]

shooker99 wrote:
If trucks pay toll the toll is added on to the product that YOU BUY. You can stay home not use the road but YOU the consumer is paying the toll on any thing that you buy that travels up or down the toll road.

Same with fuel tax and any other tax added on, we pay for it.

I guess I wouldn't feel so bad about it but the state keeps raiding the highway fund to spend on other programs. I want good roads and don't mind paying for them. It's when they redirect the funds for other uses.

[shooker99]

If trucks pay toll the toll is added on to the product that YOU BUY. You can stay home not use the road but YOU the consumer is paying the toll on any thing that you buy that travels up or down the toll road.

[RGar974417]

In Pa, our gas tax went up 28 cents a gallon. Then the Pa turnpike raised their rates too.Now New jersey raised their gas tax 23 cents a gallon. Government never has enough of our money.