Toll avoidance

[et2]

I put this under class A as I believe those driving Motorhomes ( especially longer heavier w/tag axles) would be paying much higher tolls than fifth wheels or travel trailers, and perhaps more likely to choose other roads than turnpikes and toll roads.

We are planning a trip in June to Washington D.C. If we were to take the Ohio turnpike picking it up just out of Michigan to Pennsylvania and picking up the Penn-pike from the Ohio till it almost ends, would be over $400 round trip. I about choked when I saw that.

It was the shortest and most convienent. But I can't see paying $400 to drive the toll road when other choices are available. That would almost pay for our gas there and back. Others mentioned in a different post, options that aren't that much out of the way but would save hundreds of dollars. We have planned a alternate route thanks to those in this forum.

The Ohio turnpike wasn't bad, but Pennsylvania was just nuts in tolls traversing the state IMHO.

Do those of you doing a lot of traveling avoid toll roads if you would be on them for a long period of time? Are all toll roads as costly as the Pennsylvania turn-pike?

[valhalla360]

Bruce Brown wrote:
True story;

A few years ago some radio station was interviewing the head of the NYS Thruway Authority (un-elected, un-accountable people, BTW) and the high cost of tolls was being discussed. Some state (can't remember which one) had lowered rates which resulted in increased traffic and a major increase in revenue.

The guy from NY thought that was a nice idea, but...

this is a paraphrase but darn close to word for word;

"Because our rates are so high usage is down and revenue has suffered. Usage and revenue are down so much actually that we have no choice but to raise the rates".

Duh, we know what the problem is and our solution is to double up on the problem.

No wonder threads like this keep coming up.

Likely it's cooked into the legislation (toll roads are almost exclusively allowed by legislation) that they have to generate a certain amount and the formula is likely based on the prior years traffic volumes.

50-100yrs ago when the legislation was set up, they likely never considered the modern economics of the operation but it's a tough sell to get the current legislature to change the law.

Really more of a catch-22 than insanity.

[oldave]

Bruce Brown wrote:
True story;

A few years ago some radio station was interviewing the head of the NYS Thruway Authority (un-elected, un-accountable people, BTW) and the high cost of tolls was being discussed. Some state (can't remember which one) had lowered rates which resulted in increased traffic and a major increase in revenue.

The guy from NY thought that was a nice idea, but...

this is a paraphrase but darn close to word for word;

"Because our rates are so high usage is down and revenue has suffered. Usage and revenue are down so much actually that we have no choice but to raise the rates".

Duh, we know what the problem is and our solution is to double up on the problem.

No wonder threads like this keep coming up.

That's pretty close to the definition of insanity or

Like the guy that says we cut it off twice and it's still to short

[Bruce_Brown]

True story;

A few years ago some radio station was interviewing the head of the NYS Thruway Authority (un-elected, un-accountable people, BTW) and the high cost of tolls was being discussed. Some state (can't remember which one) had lowered rates which resulted in increased traffic and a major increase in revenue.

The guy from NY thought that was a nice idea, but...

this is a paraphrase but darn close to word for word;

"Because our rates are so high usage is down and revenue has suffered. Usage and revenue are down so much actually that we have no choice but to raise the rates".

Duh, we know what the problem is and our solution is to double up on the problem.

No wonder threads like this keep coming up.

[steveh27]

About 10 years ago OH raised their rates but also changed the way they calculate which class a vehicle is in. It used to be by weight, but now is on a number of things including height. My 20" Class B camper van was barely under the weight limit before and I paid passenger car fees. Now it's over the 7 1/2' height limit and it's in class 2, much higher fees. I drive from MI to Pittsburgh 3 times a year and figured out a way to avoid most of the OH TP. My route is good, takes about the same time, gets me cheaper gas and better scenery. You should try it. I am figuring out an alternate route going there to avoid the high PA toll for the 1st 28 miles I travel. My OH route follows:


75S to 280S (N Toledo)

To 420S

To East 20

Drive 50.2 miles
To 13/250 SE (SE of Norwalk, OH)

Drive 16.5 miles
To 224E . There’s a traffic light at the 250 & 224 intersection. This is the ‘worst’ of the roads.

Drive 28.7 miles
To 76E

Drive About 61 miles
To Mile 218 Entrance to Ohio Turnpike

[valhalla360]

rgatijnet1 wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
That's one thing I wish the GPS travel apps did is show you comparison of toll vs time saved (without having to turn it on and off and manually calculate the difference)

5 min on a 3hr drive...I'll avoid the tolls.

1 hr on a 3hr drive, I'll happily pay an extra $10.

Most stand alone GPS units allow you to do this very easily. All you do is change the settings from "avoid toll roads" to "fastest route". Then it will give you the mileage and "estimated" time of arrival. The arrival time is based on the speed limits which are sometimes not accurate for an RV but it still only takes a couple of seconds to find out the difference between taking the toll road and avoiding it.

You missed my point...I don't want to have to keep turning the settings back and forth manually to figure it out.

Seems like a common consideration to look at cost vs time saved...should be an automated feature.

[down_home]

We went from Tn to Plymouth Rock in Mass and back over to Michigan this October.
We left the Mh at home. Even so we have toll slips of about 200.00, wife said. We used the Pa Turnpike and 90/80 too. Maybe another one or two.
We plan on going back with Mh to the Mayflower Association for some family research this year taking the Mh.
We will have to spend some time to make out a travel plan to miss all the Turnpikes and the Roads in Rhode Island that nearly bet us to death.

[Mile_High]

et2 wrote:
So how does the E-Zpass work with a motorhome pulling a toad? You buy a pass for the motorhome only? Or motorhome combined with toad, or a pass for both?

I have to have a transponder in both. The Motorhome, otherwise it will charge me 50% more, and the toad because I use it on the toll road on a daily basis. We have stick on microchip transponders so I don't have the option of passing it back and forth between cars. My only options are to call after a trip and have them back out the charges on the toad, or disconnect and have the wife drive the toad down the toll which is a pain in the keester.

[Dale_Traveling]

et2 wrote:
So how does the E-Zpass work with a motorhome pulling a toad? You buy a pass for the motorhome only? Or motorhome combined with toad, or a pass for both?

Single transponder in the coach only. Sensors in the lane will count axles and determine the toll rate accordingly.

If you have a transponder in the toad you will be charge for it in addition to the axle count charge for the coach. My transponders are attached with velcro so easy to remove and wrap in aluminum foil to prevent inadvertent detection.

[et2]

So how does the E-Zpass work with a motorhome pulling a toad? You buy a pass for the motorhome only? Or motorhome combined with toad, or a pass for both?

[Mile_High]

Denver just goes by Axle - but here is the catch - my toad has an EZ pass and so does the MH. The toll is the 2 axles of the first vehicle, then each axle is a full vehicle toll after that. My MH=1, tag=1, Jeep=2, so I get hit for a total of toll X 4, then the EZ pass for the Jeep takes a hit making it 5.

[Executive45]

We avoid the toll roads too. For each toll road, there has to be a bypass available. I-64 out of Charleston WV is a toll road so we chose US 60 as a bypass. After negotiating 25 and 20 mph turns, I decided the toll was worth it for that part of the trip. At Fayetteville, we dropped down back to I-64. It's interesting to do the math when figuring tolls. We often wonder how they determine them. In California, there is one price for 2 axle vehicles and another for 3 axle vehicles. However, it they are attached, it becomes a 5 axle vehicle which is considerably more than the 3 and 2 combined. I decided it was worth the irritation to stop just before the toll gate, unhook, go thru, then stop and hook up again. We saved almost $100 in tolls for those 5 sections of toll road.....tolls are simply a politicians' word for taxation.....Dennis

Ansted, W.V.

[ferndaleflyer]

You go up or down I-95 between DC and Richmond and you will be glad to pay the tolls for the express lanes and look at those in the regular I-95 sitting for hours while you zip along. But you also need to time that right as they only go one way--North in the AM and South in the PM.

[Tyler0215]

I suggest, I75 S to US 23 S to Columbus OH. I 70 E to I79 S to I68 E to I 70 E to DC no tolls

[Dale_Traveling]

When planning our travels I'll do a cost/time analysis between using a toll road or not. Being a two axle class A towing a two axle daily driver the tolls can be excessive. For most of our travels I have avoided tolls but sometimes it's just not possible. Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and the Mackinaw Bridge are two that it was more cost effective to pay at the time.

The PA Turnpike I have yet to have a reason to take it considering the alternatives. I80 to the north and I68 to the south for example. I've even run US30 between Breezewood and Bedford to catch I99N to avoid the Turnpike.