Posted on 06/28/2006 2:11:26 PM PDT by SmithL
With little fanfare, the Bay Area Toll Authority gave the final approval today for a new FasTrak plan that will change the face of bridge approaches and alter commutes for hundreds of thousands of motorists.
The plan calls for adding 10 new FasTrak lanes, including two more on the Bay Bridge, and making it possible for motorists to buy toll tags in shopping stores throughout the region.
Currently, 42 percent of rush-hour motorists use the FasTrak electronic toll system to cross bridges. The goal is to reach 70 percent, officials said.
"We're trying to make the case real simple: that people can save time using FasTrak," said Steve Kinsey, a Marin County supervisor and member of the toll authority.
Unlike the Golden Gate Bridge and other regions in the country that offer discounts for e-toll users, the toll authority says it can't afford to offer discounts because the money is needed to build the new $6.3 billion Bay Bridge.
Instead of discounts, the new plan calls for pain. With the addition of the 10 new lanes, which will be added over the next two years, officials expect traffic jams near bridges until more motorists sign up for FasTrak.
Drivers can expect to find FasTrak toll tags in grocery stores by August and new lanes to begin appearing by the end of the year.
So basically the plan is to attempt to restrict your right of free travel if you don't join the 'plan'.
That is soooo California...
Free? This is simply a faster and more efficient way to pay your toll. Illinois is incorporating open-road tolling on its tollroads. If you don't want to participate, pull over, wait in line, and enjoy the fumes.
The Fastrak and other electronic toll collection systems are real time savers. Surprising that the Bay Area folks have taken so long to convert more lanes to this system as it will speed up traffic significantly.
In Orange County, the toll roads were built for Fastrack so that those with Fastrack don't even have to slow down. Those who are paying cash pull off into a toll both area at the side of the main road.
OK, I know that there are Freepers who fear that such a system lets the government track your movements. So, let them continue to have to stop and pay their tolls.
There's no attempt to restrict anything. The FasTrak system is only emplaced on bridges and roads that ALREADY collect tolls for usage, not on every road and highway in the state.
The system is nice because you can flip through toll gates slowing down only enough to enable the electronics to read your pass -- about 25mph. Traffic at the toll gates is expedited and you don't have to go out of your way to keep money in your car to pay tolls anymore.
I live here so I know the drill. It's really no different than diamond lanes. Works good for people who are in the loop but sucks for everybody else.
Hurry up and wait brought to you courtesy of the lefties at CalTrans and the entrenched social engineers at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. You know, the same folks who think that if a ferry can bring in enough income to cover roughly half its actual operating costs that its a real success story.
Wait. No FasTrak isn't the same as a diamond or "carpool" lanes. With FasTrak you can be "in the loop" just by getting the little transmitter, but with the carpool lanes, you don't get "in the loop" unless you can find other people to ride along with you. The FasTrak set-up is almost no-cost and the tolls are no more than those paid by people who insist on stopping and paying cash. Of course, in SoCal, there are entire stretches of dedicated highway that are toll roads controlled only by FasTrak, but that STILL isn't the same as a "carpool" lane; without paying the tolls, you don't get to use those lanes no matter how many people you have in your car with you.
That's not the same as some bureaucrat arbitrarily corking up the highway by locking solo drivers out of the number one lane. In fact, it's arguably more free-market because the tolls defray the cost of operations and manitenance, whereas those costs have to be covered by our tax money for non-toll roads. Also, using the FasTrak system menas that the toll roads do not have to be manned by toll-takers in little glass booths 24/7, which saves all kinds of money. Toll roads are capitalistic and market-driven; diamond lanes are abject social engineering at it's worst.
You ARE dead-on about the ferry system, though; and public transportation systems in general: piss-poor ridership that comes nowhere near any kind of level that would cover costs. In fact, part of the big ballyhoo surrounding raising the toll on the Golden Gate bridge to $5.00 arose because the money pays for the ferry service, as well, and for bus links that run when the ferrys are not in service.
If we had our national head on straight about public transit, the only thing running would be the trains along the Northeast Corridor. That's the only place in the country where ridership is high enough for fares to cover costs.
Well you say you zip right through the toll booth now. So why create more lanes? More Fast Track lanes mean fewer lanes for the casual bridge user (like me) which means more waiting.
The question is are more lanes actually needed to keep up with the demand from Fast Track users? If not then, yes, it is social engineering.
Don't forget the 91 Toll Road where you it's FasTrak only, no cash. I've been using FasTrak on OC toll roads for years and have never had any problems.
Ohhhhh, I see what you're thinking.
No, they've got TWO different kinds of FasTrak lanes: dedicated FasTrak only and dual-use FasTrak/Cash. I'd expect that the new lanes will be some mix of the two, not all FasTrak only; for that matter, they might all be dual-use FasTrak/Cash lanes.
Question, though, if you're a 'regular' (or even an 'intermittent') through the tolls, why haven't you tried FasTrak, yet? It really is a cake walk.
Y'oughta at least check into it; might make your life easier.
www.bayareafastrak.org
I think this little para from the story sums it up quite neatly. Whether the additional lanes are needed or not, non-Fast Track users will be forced to sit idle until they comply.
I'm not a regular user. I use the bridges maybe once every few months for one reason or another. Why should I sign up for something that I rarely use and why should I be penalized for not doing so?
I went and got the real dirt from here:
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/press_releases/rel354.htm
Here's the 'money' excerpt:
"Traffic analysis done by MTC and Caltrans indicates that if more toll lanes are converted to FasTrak-only and FasTrak enrollment does not increase, cash tollpayers likely would face significant additional delay at toll plazas. Congestion could be especially severe at the Dumbarton Bridge, where delays for cash tollpayers could increase by as much as 30 to 35 minutes during peak periods, and at the Carquinez Bridge, where cash payers could face 25 to 30 minutes of additional delay.
Looks like they are, indeed, going to FasTrak ONLY lanes, pushing toll-takers out of the booths, and cramming non-FasTrak motorists into fewer dual-use FasTrak/Cash lanes.
That's a shame. This puts pressure on occasional users like you to get FasTrak JUST for the few times you DO have to pass through a toll plaza, and there's no argument: that's NOT fair. Even if it'd be WORTH it, they ought not be trying to force people's hand like this. They really have no business increasing the noumber of FasTrak ONLY lanes faster than the growth in FasTrack enrollment warrants. They did good to make every toll lane dual-use at the bridges -- that spread the load as evenly as possible over all lanes.
In that respect, this change IS EXACTLY what "carpool" lanes do, shift a substantive percentage of traffic load into fewer lanes for the sake of nanny state social engineers being able to pat themselves on their backs about their lives having meaning, now that they've inconvenienced a whole swath of the populace.
These meddlers will be the end of civilization if we don't find a way to be rid of them.
I rest my case. These are the non-elected jackasses who are appointed by our lefty political overlords to force us into obedience.
The only way to get rid of them is to get rid of their patrons and I don't see the local population ready to do that. There is only one political line of thought around here and that is of the left. Conservatism was run out of town long ago.
Locals are more than willing to keep electing the commie mommies. It may be time to just get out of Dodge.
I posted this here (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653974/posts?page=68#68) a couple of weeks ago, but it's something I've been rolling around in my noggin for a couple of years.
Here's a map of the State of California showing the various counties.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/states/california/california-county-map.html
This preliminary list of counties would comprise the new State of West California:
Alameda
Contra Costa
Los Angeles
Marin
Monterey
Napa
San Francisco (City and County of)
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Clara
Santa Cruz
Solano
Sonoma
Ventura
The remaining California counties would comprise the now-sane State of East California.
As with any split, there'd be serious pro's and con's, but I think it's worth a serious look.
It's a miracle I tell you since I haven't been to the bay area in over 25 years and I never have driven my car while I was up there.
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