Posted on 08/17/2016 5:02:55 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
People at work were talking about getting to work and back home the other day. In the conversation, they mentioned the toll roads in Austin, Texas and the cost thereof. I was in shock. The amount per month spent on toll roads for people ranged from $300-600 per MONTH. Then it hit me!
The poor can not afford to pay those charges. So, the regular roads in Austin are in bumper-to-bumper traffic overload. The well-to-do go to and fro with great convenience while the lower classes suffer pretty badly with some having a 2-hour trip EACH WAY from home to work. This for some reason smacks of discrimination. I'm not big on playing the discrimination card, but it seems that people are taxed to death over everything, including roads, and then have to pay an exorbitant price AGAIN to be able to get to work to make some money to pay the taxes. Something just doesn't seem right about the whole thing.
Commuter rail here in New England, one of the liberal dreams, is another example of that. Typically the trains are so expensive that they aren't practically usable by anyone but middle, and upper middle class people. What good is a train that costs $23 per day to commute if you are earning minimum wage? And if you really are going to pay $4000 per year or so for the monthly pass you are better off buying a cheap car and driving it - particularly if you find someone else to ride along and share the expenses.
The toll road or lane idea is fine, as long as it is a private endeavor, and the taxpayers and drivers aren't saddled with the expense. It turns into just another tax as soon as the government figures out that they can monopolize the toll process. We see that in Massachusetts, where there is always a reason they can't remove the toll booths - even years after they Turnpike Authority paid off the bonds that the tolls were originally linked to.
Drivers licenses for only US citizens would be a start for a cure.
I am all for them as long as not one dime is spent from public money, and as long as one hundred percent of the people who engage in using eminent domain to seize the land to make them meet the proper fate horse thieves(the closest direct eequivalent) used to meet.
Justice where justice is deserved.
is 35 always choked ? I don’t seem to recall that, though I was only a casual, sometime visitor.
Why is “not a penny justified”? As long as a toll is specifically used for the upkeep of that particular road, I have no problem with it.
I like voluntary taxes. I don’t see the problem here.
Side note: I always find it curious how these computer and phone mapping sites always seem to route you to a toll road, no matter what. I’m sure there’s some monkey business going on there. If you’re driving and the phone tells you to make that turn, you do it. Then you’re stuck paying or trying to back up however long the ramp is (and some are pretty long). I imagine that has to be worth some sweet sweet kickback.
Yes, but they put an 85 mph speed limit on it to attract more customers. You can sure go like he!! on it for ten bucks.
So, the regular roads in Austin are in bumper-to-bumper traffic overload.
*************
During rush hour that is correct. But take the toll roads away and see what happens.
It becomes bumper to bumper +. All things cost something. It is up to the individual to
decide and prioritize the choices.
Your statement simply proves the error of the entire Democrat party.
Democrats - the solution to problems is government.
Republicans - the solution to problems is individual rights.
The Democrat solution simply NEVER works.
Hello, carpool!
Income taxes, high gas taxes, and then a toll. It is never enough. Typically the roads are not maintained. It's like schools: you pay local, state, and federal income taxes; the state lottery is supposed to benefit schools, and yet it is never enough.
Well from what I read earlier in the thread, this is a private toll road. Do you have a problem with private toll roads? And where do you think private toll roads get money to operate?
Of course. it is a government granted monopoly to operate like Rhine barons.
I say the owner of the toll road can charge whatever they want and spend it on whatever they want. You seem to say they can’t profit. This means you are opposed to toll roads and in favor of the growth of government.
Wow! I moved from McLean before that was built and haven't kept up. I'm accustomed to Chicagoland tolls under $1.
Because you are blind. There only difference between government and a government granted monopoly is that in the latte case there is no limit on the salaries of the so-called management running the whole thing. It's all a classic hold-up problem. There is no "free market" here. Would you prefer government provided oxygen or have it provided by a monopolist in private industry? It's the classic "agency problem" in economics, well-understood by anyone in the field.
A third choice is none of the above.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/foreign-company-now-owns-six-major-us-tolls-roads/
Foreign Company Now Owns Six Major US Tolls Roads
My understanding is that the roads were built with private money. So the tolls are paying back the cost of building the road.
Someone should check it out, I don’t think that there is enough volume on the toll roads so they are losing money.
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