Tolls at road meets - thoughts?

[Alps]

Somewhat apropos to my plans for next year's National Meet (that's right, they're coming back!), I'm curious how people feel about tolls on meets. We've had a few meets go through rather low-order tolls of a dollar or less, but when you're talking about the New York (city) area, tolls are quite a bit more than that. It's possible to rack up $20 in tolls just checking out two or three of the historic bridges around the city.

So... how much is too much? Especially for people who regularly attend meets, would you be turned off by a $5 toll, or $10, or... what is your tipping point? Better to ask now before I start firming up what to see over the course of two days.

[deathtopumpkins]

I think most people would probably be more open to paying tolls at a road meet if you split the cost between everyone in the car. People usually carpool for the actual meet tour, so if you've got 4 people in your car, a $10 toll becomes only $2.50 each. Much more palatable than paying that toll by yourself.

[corco]

Right, I voted $4 or $5, with the idea that with four people in the car that allows for quite a bit of toll money. If we all chip in $5, that covers $20.

[NE2]

Depends on the purpose. If it's just for clinching a route and turning back, I wouldn't want to pay shit.

[SSOWorld]

if the purpose is a road meet - I won't give a shit - Let's do this.

If it were everyday driving? In NYC - let the train operator drive

[Takumi]

Since the tolls and parking on the meet I hosted totaled about $5 per car, that's what I voted for.

[jpi]

Don't matter to me, as long as it's EZPass compatbile. The last time I remember paying a toll for a road meet was probably the Joilet, IL meet last spring.

[hbelkins]

Amount wouldn't matter to me, since it's a road meet and I'm already buying gas and possibly paying tolls to get there, but I never drive on the tours because there is always so much stuff piled in my car. But I would be more than willing to help chip in for the tolls in whatever vehicle I'm in -- or register it on my EZPass account if it doesn't already have an EZPass. Since WV allows you to add a vehicle online, I could register the driver's vehicle on my account via iPad or iPhone while we were eating or getting ready to depart on the tour.

If you're doing this in the NYC area, we need to get Suffolk and Nassau counties while on the tour or I will be paying a couple of bridge tolls anyway to visit those counties and clinch NY while I'm in the area.

[Brandon]

I said about $4-$5 as that's about what you'd spend with an I-Pass on the ISTHA tollways around here.

[dgolub]

Somewhat apropos to my plans for next year's National Meet (that's right, they're coming back!), I'm curious how people feel about tolls on meets. We've had a few meets go through rather low-order tolls of a dollar or less, but when you're talking about the New York (city) area, tolls are quite a bit more than that. It's possible to rack up $20 in tolls just checking out two or three of the historic bridges around the city.

So... how much is too much? Especially for people who regularly attend meets, would you be turned off by a $5 toll, or $10, or... what is your tipping point? Better to ask now before I start firming up what to see over the course of two days.

Just wondering, which historic bridges were you thinking of?  The oldest bridges in NYC are all free--Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, and all the little ones between Manhattan and the Bronx.

That said, I'd have no problem paying tolls for a road meet.

[jeffandnicole]

Depending on my various activities, I'm paying upwards of $60 a month in tolls, so another few tolls isn't a big deal.

[Dr Frankenstein]

With fair advance warning, I'm willing to pay up to $50. Worst case, you can put the cheaper people in one car and give them an alternate itinerary.

[Alps]

Somewhat apropos to my plans for next year's National Meet (that's right, they're coming back!), I'm curious how people feel about tolls on meets. We've had a few meets go through rather low-order tolls of a dollar or less, but when you're talking about the New York (city) area, tolls are quite a bit more than that. It's possible to rack up $20 in tolls just checking out two or three of the historic bridges around the city.

So... how much is too much? Especially for people who regularly attend meets, would you be turned off by a $5 toll, or $10, or... what is your tipping point? Better to ask now before I start firming up what to see over the course of two days.

Just wondering, which historic bridges were you thinking of?  The oldest bridges in NYC are all free--Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, and all the little ones between Manhattan and the Bronx.

That said, I'd have no problem paying tolls for a road meet.

While not the oldest bridges, the George Washington, Bayonne, Goethals, Outerbridge, Verrazano, Triboro, Henry Hudson, and Whitestone are all historic in their own right, and tolled. (I'm ambivalent about the Throgs Neck, and the bridges to the Rockaways are forgettable.)

[dgolub]

While not the oldest bridges, the George Washington, Bayonne, Goethals, Outerbridge, Verrazano, Triboro, Henry Hudson, and Whitestone are all historic in their own right, and tolled. (I'm ambivalent about the Throgs Neck, and the bridges to the Rockaways are forgettable.)

Sounds like fun, although having grown up in the New York area I've been over all of them at one point or another.  We'd have to cover a lot of distance to get all those bridges in one meet.  I'm definitely interested.

[PHLBOS]

IMHO, given NYC's limited amount of parking; carpooling (which allows the sharing of tolls and gas costs among passengers) would be strongly encouraged more so than at other meet locations.

Given my various trips to Massachusetts I do on holiday weekends (paying tolls on the NJTP, GSP, TZBridge, Mass Pike & PA Turnpike (for one exit)), I put my maximum toll threshold at $10-$12.

For potential carpooling alone, I would use my 6-passenger '97 Crown Vic to an NYC meet rather than my Mustang ragtop.

[Alps]

E-ZPass would also help lower the overall toll, so if I knew we had enough E-ZPass/compatible tag holders, I could calculate the total cost beforehand (probably about $14-$15), have a tag in every car, and collect enough from the non-tag holders to give back. (Or we could all pitch in and buy the tagholders lunch.)

[SSOWorld]

Steve - given which agency the E-Z Pass was obtained from with MTA being one to push NY agency passes.

[froggie]

Regarding New York EZ-Passes, the only way to get an actual New York (mainly Thruway) EZPass is to use a New York address (if you have one) when one registers.  When I got my first EZPass at a Thruway service center, even though it was in New York, I received a PANYNJ tag because I used an out-of-state address (like a fool, I didn't use Meaghan's address).

[Dr Frankenstein]

I wonder if my PO Box address in Champlain would work...

[hbelkins]

Regarding New York EZ-Passes, the only way to get an actual New York (mainly Thruway) EZPass is to use a New York address (if you have one) when one registers.  When I got my first EZPass at a Thruway service center, even though it was in New York, I received a PANYNJ tag because I used an out-of-state address (like a fool, I didn't use Meaghan's address).

...which would have been Vermont. Wonder if you still would have gotten a Port Authority tag with that out-of-state address?

And wonder what they would send me, as a Kentucky resident, if I tried to get one?

I had no trouble getting Peace Bridge tags a few years ago -- except for the longer-than-advertised delay in delivery, which prompted me to drive to Charleston to get a WV tag a couple of days before my wife was heading out on a trip to an E-ZPass state so she could use it. Peace Bridge was very tardy in mailing the tags. They've never been used and I still have them at home somewhere. Guess I ought to turn them in and get my money back.

Pennsylvania actually has a vending machine at Sideling Hill that captures your information on the touch screen and spits out an E-ZPass on the spot.

[froggie]

Not Vermont.  At the time, Meaghan lived in Syracuse and I was in Norfolk the first time.

[vdeane]

...which would have been Vermont. Wonder if you still would have gotten a Port Authority tag with that out-of-state address?

Quite possibly; it's illegal for agencies in NY to charge a fee for E-ZPass, but the Port Authority is allowed to have one because NJ law doesn't prohibit the fee.  So they're considered NY for the purposes of distributing tags but NJ for the purposes of fees.

[Alps]

Steve - given which agency the E-Z Pass was obtained from with MTA being one to push NY agency passes.

That seems to be a question framed as a statement, but I don't think the discounts are limited to NYC area users when you're talking about weekends as opposed to rush hour. I'm not familiar with such things, though.

[Duke87]

I think for me amount is far less important than purpose. If avoiding the toll takes more time than it's worth, paying the toll is preferable.

If you are going to do something like this in New York City though, every driver should have an EZPass. Waiting to pay cash can take a while and will make you fall behind on the tour.

As for obtaining a fee-free NY EZPass from out of state, apparently you can do that by purchasing one in the cash toll lanes at an MTA crossing. And yes, it does matter: non-NY EZPasses are charged the cash rate on MTA facilities 24/7

[Dougtone]

New York Thruway rest areas and a few selected vendors also sell E-ZPass transponders.