benIn the past year Massachusetts switched from having toll booth to either having a transponder which will get a discounted rate, or not having one in which case it scans your license plate.
Better check your rental final bill. An interesting modern scam is that some rental companies provide a transponder for you, in the glove compartment or installed somewhere it will function, conveniently billed (as a service by a third party) at $4.95 or something like it for the convenience of having your toll bill sent to you. That's $4.95 per day to the end of your rental term after the first time it's used, witting or unwitting, whether you use the transponder again or not. It was my impression from reading some customer experiences with this that even if you paid tolls manually (where permitted) the system would still log itself on and incur the daily fees, if not actually bill corresponding tolls -- sure, they'll take that off, if you can provide written proof you paid, perhaps within 120 business days...
Many places in the Northeast are only reachable via transponder 'pass'. You'll probably be charged quite a bit 'extra' and probably be treated more like a criminal than not if the scanner has to read your plate and send you a bill, and many rental companies have their own surcharges they can retroactively bill you for if unpaid tolls are sent to the 'address of record' for a rental car plate... read the fine print the next time you rent something. If you were not charged any particular time, consider yourself fortunate ... or wait until the next time you go to rent a car from that particular company, when you may hear something you won't enjoy much.
tree68 ben Same in Massachusetts Unlike those toll plazas using EZPass, the MassPike reads your transponder at speed.
ben Same in Massachusetts
Unlike those toll plazas using EZPass, the MassPike reads your transponder at speed.
BaltACD, STCO, and others: One reason the PA TPK's tolls are high and keep rising is that the PA Legislature requires the TPK to transfer an ever-increasing amount of money to PennDOT to fund PennDOT's own operations, which have nothing to do with the TPK. Another is the TPK is engaged in many projects to repair and replace its 60 - 80 year old infrastructure (i.e., the bridge across the Delaware River to NJ that had a main member break about a year ago, and was closed for about 2 months to fix it); also, to add capacity, especially in the suburban Philly area. The TPK is free-market economics at work (including its near-monopoly on that route) - it has to totally support itself (plus PennDOT as noted above), since there's no other tax money used to finance it. (FYI, I have no financial interest in the TPK other than using it a lot, plus being an observer of it all.)
- PDN.
Several years ago a NS truck carrying about 200 AEI tags drove through the toll both on GA400 in Atlanta shut the system down for hours.
Paul_D_North_JrOne reason the PA TPK's tolls are high and keep rising is that the PA Legislature requires the TPK to transfer an ever-increasing amount of money to PennDOT to fund PennDOT's own operations, which have nothing to do with the TPK.
I believe there is a very similar motivation in Pennsylvania, and some other states in the general 'rust belt', to start increasing taxes on diesel (as 'truck motor fuel') to get back some of the revenue being lost due to decreasing overall fuel consumption. As a light-diesel aficionado I don't particularly like being soaked with somewhat dramatic increases across state lines (this fall some stations had a differential of over 40 cents, higher in PA; it may be worse now) especially when it becomes clear at many stops that private-station pump prices can be considerably cheaper than what is posted at truck stops doing far more volume in diesel sales far more quickly. I am not particularly averse to truckers 'passing along' higher fuel costs or taxes as surcharges ... but I become angry when what is passed along includes windfall profits to gouging facility owners.
I look for taxes and charges on OTR trucking to become far higher and far worse in application in the next few years, especially if there is any kind of mandate for 'balancing the budget' on more specific groups of line-items such as highway-system maintenance. And I think that is too effective a political tack not to be increasingly taken by neighbor states, especially those in which strategic Interstate corridors or lanes happen to be located.
CandOforprogress2For a 10-15.00 fare and not take cash?
Certainly, if the marginal profit from that fare, perhaps a very small actual percentage of the total amount, doesn't pay the direct costs of providing the cash-handling equipment, the labor cost of employees to stock and empty it, and the labor costs associated with depositing the 'take' and keeping the cash records. All this before we start looking into various scams including counterfeiting and fake coins, or the dirt problem associated with taking random currency, or issues involving making change or claims that "the wrong change was made" or the ticket didn't get issued properly.
The solution, such as it is, might be to repurpose some of the old MetroCard machines from New York and distribute them one to a station; you put in your cash, with an appropriate deposit (or charge) and get a magnetic swipable card that works in Brightline's automatic kiosks. No reason why it wouldn't have the same one-year expiration if unused for longer than that period, ability to be reloaded indefinitely, and mail-in refundability (funds only provided to a credit or debit card, or issued by check from the corporate office, as is standard policy for most refunding institutions nowadays) that actual MetroCards did -- all that programming is essentially done.
Whether it would pay to have a 'third party' provide this solely for Brightline fares is quite another matter. But it might be fun to set up a pilot installation to see if there's actually a large cohort of cash-preferring potential riders who vote with their pocketbooks... and I wouldn't care if folks like C&O 'voted early and voted often' to game the system a bit.
There was a Certain mayor of large Ohio City on the Ohio River that tried to pay a professional blue lady with a check...Ended his mayor term but began his talk show career know known as Jerry Springer. Cash is king
ben Credit cards in the United States are horrible. In other countries the only option is using the chip, but it is much quicker there than here. For some reason their credit card technology is better, an alternative is Apple Pay, and eventually bitcoin.
Credit cards in the United States are horrible. In other countries the only option is using the chip, but it is much quicker there than here. For some reason their credit card technology is better, an alternative is Apple Pay, and eventually bitcoin.
Never bitcoin. The more of it is mined, the longer it takes to verify the blockchain. Its already reaching into multiple hours and soon will be into the days. No one is going to wait three days to find out if you sucessfully bought a sandwich, especially given the value of the currency can fluctuate rapidly over that period of time. Its all nonsense.
NittanyLion ben Credit cards in the United States are horrible. In other countries the only option is using the chip, but it is much quicker there than here. For some reason their credit card technology is better, an alternative is Apple Pay, and eventually bitcoin. Never bitcoin. The more of it is mined, the longer it takes to verify the blockchain. Its already reaching into multiple hours and soon will be into the days. No one is going to wait three days to find out if you sucessfully bought a sandwich, especially given the value of the currency can fluctuate rapidly over that period of time. Its all nonsense.
Johnny
One would be just charged a 5-10.00 penality for taking cash and or having a POP(Proof of Payment system) Anyway we know that Brightline is not making any money here and that commuter trains lose money. However if enough people ride it then there might be demand for a subsidy.
Many start up businesses initiated by Millennials, are digital transactions only. Often based on a thorough working knowledge of a smartphone.
I recently did an internet transaction requiring document transmission. I'm comfortable with fax's and scanners. Kid on the other end insisted it had to be photos of the documents taken with a smartphone. They have trouble thinking outside of that box otherwise known as a smartphone. If you're a senior having difficulting, they don't care. It borders on elder abuse.
In God we trust. All others pay cash.
Ok, so your at a train show with Joe Shmoe selling things from his basement that he finally got around to cleaning up...you do some bickering and bantering and what...whip out your smart chip?
Show me da moneeee!
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