Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I was down in Dallas recently and had to watch for the toll roads. What an idiotic situation - toll roads with transponders for that system only, and no way to pay cash or even self-serve credit card. What a moronic system if one ever existed. Of course the private operator of the road wants to be able to sell their toll transponders, and rip off travelers having to "rent" them for an obscene fee at the airport, and then collect fees and penalties if people dont use the right transponder.
Listening to AM radio down there, the argument I heard was that the population was too poor/stupid/cheap to accept increase in car registration fees, so they started mandating toll roads to make up for some of the budgets. How the two exactly connect I dont entirely grasp, but DOT is DOT I guess. Still, what a stupid system. I just boycotted it completely, while I would have been more than happy to deposit my green/plastic to use the road otherwise.
Well, yes and no. The TollTags are supposed to work on all toll roads in Texas and at the airports. My daughter can even use hers to open electronic gates at her college. The NTTA charges no fees to use them, but pretty much all rental car companies nationwide tack on extra fees to use their transponders.
The issue has nothing to do with registration fees, though ours are cheap. The knee-jerk conservative state legislature is loath to raise or implement taxes - not like that in itself is a bad thing. It is primarily fuel taxes that pay for roads and Texas has not raised them in 22 years. That is a fact. Rick Perry, the mouthpiece of Texas (when he doesn't have his foot stuck in said mouth) stated that he liked toll roads because only the people that need and use them would pay for them. Trouble is that it doesn't work that way in practice. Once you sell your soul to commerce you can suffer abuse. The NTTA actually did away completely with manned booths and change baskets about three years ago. It really does prevent any slowdowns at the toll plazas. They currently have no way to send bills to out of state residents so if you have an out of state plate you get a free ride. Rental car companies will bill you after the fact if you don't use one of their transponders and they tack on fees for everything. Gotta watch them, though. Enterprise tried to bill me for tolls incurred the day after I returned the car. NTTA even told me they had no record of that car's license plate incurring the tolls. Enterprise told me to "just disregard" the bill, but I was still pretty peeved about it.
I was down in Dallas recently and had to watch for the toll roads. What an idiotic situation - toll roads with transponders for that system only, and no way to pay cash or even self-serve credit card. What a moronic system if one ever existed. Of course the private operator of the road wants to be able to sell their toll transponders, and rip off travelers having to "rent" them for an obscene fee at the airport, and then collect fees and penalties if people dont use the right transponder.
Listening to AM radio down there, the argument I heard was that the population was too poor/stupid/cheap to accept increase in car registration fees, so they started mandating toll roads to make up for some of the budgets. How the two exactly connect I dont entirely grasp, but DOT is DOT I guess. Still, what a stupid system. I just boycotted it completely, while I would have been more than happy to deposit my green/plastic to use the road otherwise.
Well, yes and no. The TollTags are supposed to work on all toll roads in Texas and at the airports. My daughter can even use hers to open electronic gates at her college. The NTTA charges no fees to use them, but pretty much all rental car companies nationwide tack on extra fees to use their transponders.
The issue has nothing to do with registration fees, though ours are cheap. The knee-jerk conservative state legislature is loath to raise or implement taxes - not like that in itself is a bad thing. It is primarily fuel taxes that pay for roads and Texas has not raised them in 22 years. That is a fact. Rick Perry, the mouthpiece of Texas (when he doesn't have his foot stuck in said mouth) stated that he liked toll roads because only the people that need and use them would pay for them. Trouble is that it doesn't work that way in practice. Once you sell your soul to commerce you can suffer abuse. The NTTA actually did away completely with manned booths and change baskets about three years ago. It really does prevent any slowdowns at the toll plazas. They currently have no way to send bills to out of state residents so if you have an out of state plate you get a free ride. Rental car companies will bill you after the fact if you don't use one of their transponders and they tack on fees for everything. Gotta watch them, though. Enterprise tried to bill me for tolls incurred the day after I returned the car. NTTA even told me they had no record of that car's license plate incurring the tolls. Enterprise told me to "just disregard" the bill, but I was still pretty peeved about it.
