All About Tolls (Toll Roads, Toll Bridges/Tunnels, etc)

[Roadwarriors79]

General questions or comments having to do with tolling.

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

[jeffandnicole]

I would suspect I-95 in Delaware has a high percentage of out-of-state motorists.  Ohio didn't accept EZ pass until much later than other toll roads, and only did because many of the travelers on the Ohio Turnpike are out of state motorists who kept blowing the tolls thinking they did take EZ Pass.  The most common toll payers on the bridges between NJ and the immediately Philly area, and between NJ and New York City, are probably NJ residents.

[Brandon]

Interestingly enough, the Illinois Tollway system still has a cash option at a lot of toll plazas for exactly this reason.  Even though 90% of transactions are ETC, there are enough vehicles from either downstate or out-of-state (read: non-EZ Pass states) without an I-Pass (EZ Pass) to make it worthwhile to have "self-service" lanes whereby cash or credit/debit is an option.

[ET21]

Interestingly enough, the Illinois Tollway system still has a cash option at a lot of toll plazas for exactly this reason.  Even though 90% of transactions are ETC, there are enough vehicles from either downstate or out-of-state (read: non-EZ Pass states) without an I-Pass (EZ Pass) to make it worthwhile to have "self-service" lanes whereby cash or credit/debit is an option.

I noticed a few self-service lanes for cash/credit, mainly at the York Road toll plaza.

[1995hoo]

The Dulles Greenway has what look like conventional toll booths at the exit and entrance ramps on the sides of the interchanges pointing away from Dulles Airport, but none of them accept cash. It's E-ZPass and credit/debit only. I've never paid with credit or debit, so I have no comment on how well that works. I believe in recent years they no longer accept cash 24/7 at the main toll plaza near Dulles Airport either. Over 90% of the toll transactions are E-ZPass transactions and the road doesn't get as much out-of-state traffic as many other toll roads do (except for some commuters from the West Virginia Eastern Panhandle and parts of Maryland).

[Ned Weasel]

General questions or comments having to do with tolling.

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

Either way, I suspect photo billing (probably with an added surcharge, or lack of a transponder discount, which are logically equivalent) is going to become the standard replacement for cash toll payments.  It saves space and prevents drivers from having to stop (aside from possible unrelated traffic reasons).  In the interim, some toll agencies may install vending-machine-style toll plazas for cash payments, as the Kansas Turnpike has done at multiple toll plazas, but the overall trend is to move away from toll plazas toward toll readers.

I hate to see toll collectors lose their jobs over this, but (1) there will still be jobs in toll processing, and (2) automation is affecting virtually every industry in similar ways.

[hbelkins]

I hate to see toll collectors lose their jobs over this...

Doubt many will lose their jobs, if they're like Kentucky. When Kentucky closed its toll booths, the attendants were given the option to transfer into other KYTC jobs. I know of one that became an equipment operator, one who became an administrative assistant in an accounting office, one who became a building custodian, and one who eventually became a PIO.

[Techknow]

In the San Francisco Bay Area, tolls are unidirectional for bridges (and there are no toll roads, nearest one is 17 Mile Drive when going into Pebble Beach.) One way to remember them is that if the bridge goes to the San Francisco peninsula, the toll is on the western or southern direction. The Richmond-San Rafael bridge also has a westbound toll. The rest of the bridges connect the East Bay to Solano and Sacramento countries, and the toll is the northern direction.

This means that if one is going from San Francisco to Sacramento, one would have to pay a toll to cross the Carquinez bridge. That toll can be bypassed however taking US 101, the Golden Gate Bridge, and CA 37 to get to I-80, avoids traffic through the Bay Bridge and Berkeley

[wanderer2575]

I would suspect I-95 in Delaware has a high percentage of out-of-state motorists.  Ohio didn't accept EZ pass until much later than other toll roads, and only did because many of the travelers on the Ohio Turnpike are out of state motorists who kept blowing the tolls thinking they did take EZ Pass.  The most common toll payers on the bridges between NJ and the immediately Philly area, and between NJ and New York City, are probably NJ residents.

How does one "blow the tolls" on the Ohio Turnpike?  All traffic has to go through mechanical gates.  I believe they're planning some open-road tolling but they're not there yet.

[jeffandnicole]

I would suspect I-95 in Delaware has a high percentage of out-of-state motorists.  Ohio didn't accept EZ pass until much later than other toll roads, and only did because many of the travelers on the Ohio Turnpike are out of state motorists who kept blowing the tolls thinking they did take EZ Pass.  The most common toll payers on the bridges between NJ and the immediately Philly area, and between NJ and New York City, are probably NJ residents.

How does one "blow the tolls" on the Ohio Turnpike?  All traffic has to go through mechanical gates.  I believe they're planning some open-road tolling but they're not there yet.

Because *before* EZ pass, they didn't have the gates.  When they decided to accept EZ Pass they decided to install gates to stop people without EZ Pass rather than use video to mail out violation notices.

[plain]

When I drove the New Hampshire Tpk, much of that traffic was from out of state as well (mostly MA & ME, with some CT & RI in the mix). A little side story: I wish I could go back and do my trip that day differently... instead of going directly into Maine (would've been my first time) I decided to check out the Spaulding Tpk and wound up being stuck behind an accident for over an hour. By the time I got moving again and turned around I had to hurry back to Boston for a date 

Here in Richmond, all RMTA-maintained roads still have coin baskets at every single booth, even the full service lanes (as they should as the highest toll is 70 cents). What's really interesting about this is the toll takers in the full service lanes actually throws change into the baskets themselves in order to give the green light and open the gate... the driver can't proceed until the taker does this.

[jeffandnicole]

When I drove the New Hampshire Tpk, much of that traffic was from out of state as well (mostly MA & ME, with some CT & RI in the mix). A little side story: I wish I could go back and do my trip that day differently... instead of going directly into Maine (would've been my first time) I decided to check out the Spaulding Tpk and wound up being stuck behind an accident for over an hour. By the time I got moving again and turned around I had to hurry back to Boston for a date 

Here in Richmond, all RMTA-maintained roads still have coin baskets at every single booth, even the full service lanes (as they should as the highest toll is 70 cents). What's really interesting about this is the toll takers in the full service lanes actually throws change into the baskets themselves in order to give the green light and open the gate... the driver can't proceed until the taker does this.

I saw this on the Dulles Toll Road as well back in the day (before they took EZ Pass).

[cpzilliacus]

The Dulles Greenway has what look like conventional toll booths at the exit and entrance ramps on the sides of the interchanges pointing away from Dulles Airport, but none of them accept cash. It's E-ZPass and credit/debit only. I've never paid with credit or debit, so I have no comment on how well that works. I believe in recent years they no longer accept cash 24/7 at the main toll plaza near Dulles Airport either. Over 90% of the toll transactions are E-ZPass transactions and the road doesn't get as much out-of-state traffic as many other toll roads do (except for some commuters from the West Virginia Eastern Panhandle and parts of Maryland).

The Greenway is cashless even at the main barrier for much of the day, details here. 

[cpzilliacus]

General questions or comments having to do with tolling.

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

Trips from states to the south of Maine (especially Massachusetts) probably have pretty high E-ZPass penetration, as do the I-95 states as far south as Virginia, with a possible exception for Connecticut.

But the Maine Turnpike Authority may have decided that even a small amount of revenue leakage made keeping manual cash toll collection a smart idea.  And they can change to cashless (all-electronic tolling) if they they wish to go that way (Massachusetts has converted to all-electronic and Pennsylvania is in the process of doing so). IMO, changing one plaza to cashless only might not have been a smart idea, given that this is where traffic counts are the highest, at least in summer.

There's also the matter of traffic from the Maritime Provinces of Canada, including commercial vehicles, which probably use the Turnpike on a regular basis, year-round.

[SP Cook]

Doubt many will lose their jobs, if they're like Kentucky. When Kentucky closed its toll booths, the attendants were given the option to transfer into other KYTC jobs.

I think you are right.  Back when WV went from state owned to private liquor stores, they laid off a large group of cashiers, delivery truck drivers and warehousemen.  They all got "preference" for any job opening in the entire state government. 

The truck drivers and most of the warehousemen easily found work at the DOH.  The cashiers were another story.  "Preference" meant somebody (me) had to write a long explanation of why the person was NOT qualified for the job opening.  Cashier does not really translate to very many state jobs.  Outside the state system, it is pretty much entry level minimum wage work.  But these people, often a few years short of a pension, would apply for every thing that came open, even stuff that clearly required skills right on the posting they did not possess, and you had to interview them and write the long report.  You felt sorry for the people, but what could you do?

[SSR_317]

...

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

The Indiana Toll Road has a high percentage of out-of-state drivers simply because of its location along the extreme northern border of the state. That's how state officials (Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, et. al.) were able to use it as a cash cow to fund their highway plans elsewhere in the State.

[SteveG1988]

With the tolls of 2019 i could not fathom having to pay cash for a truck toll on any of these toll roads, yet some drivers still do it...maybe because they don't like the idea of a tracable payment method? Like i will see some semis paying cold hard cash for the Ohio turnpike. Ohio's toll is 51.75 for Cash, 41 for ezpass on a truck for the entire length.

A Class 7 (62,001-80,000 Lb gross weight, which is a typical weight for my truck under load) on the PA turnpike... is 300.80 Cash, 215.90 for Ezpass. From Ohio to NJ state line.

*edited section*
After posting i decided to do a hypothetical trip. From the Lake Station Indiana tolls to the NJ state line, Exiting onto US130 at exit 6a on the NJTP (no toll) for a hypothetical truck load to a Distrobution Center on US130.

Tolls for each road as above, plus 55.40 cash/55.44 Ezpass (i don't know why indiana has to be weird)

407.59 cash, 312.30 Ezpass

[ErmineNotyours]

I wonder if photo toll systems are smart enough to sort through all out of state plates.  The Washington State 520 bridge is all-photo and transponder toll at freeway speeds.  One resident who never travels the bridge kept getting tolls for it because a car with the same plate number but from Texas kept going through.  I went over the bridge with my new car temporary plate, and I never got a bill.

[Verlanka]

...

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

The Indiana Toll Road has a high percentage of out-of-state drivers simply because of its location along the extreme northern border of the state. That's how state officials (Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, et. al.) were able to use it as a cash cow to fund their highway plans elsewhere in the State.

I think most of the revenue from Florida's Turnpike comes from out-of state drivers going to Orlando and/or Miami.

[Rothman]

...

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

The Indiana Toll Road has a high percentage of out-of-state drivers simply because of its location along the extreme northern border of the state. That's how state officials (Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, et. al.) were able to use it as a cash cow to fund their highway plans elsewhere in the State.

Pfft.  And then they gutted the cash cow through leasing it to a private operator.  They gave up a facility for one year's worth of their capital program and then were back where they were with an underfunded program...but now with a private operator gouging travelers by doubling tolls on the Toll Road.  So, they started accelerating the program of turning portions of state highways over to cash strapped municipalities -- a parallel move to their balancing the state books by cutting education funds (which has hurt rural communities disproportionately).

If there is one example of what not to do and how destructive to the public privatization gone amok can be, it is Indiana (not that I am against some private involvement -- I am all for traditional design-bid-build arrangements for capital projects).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

...

I saw a Facebook post from the Maine Turnpike Authority earlier. They claim that 68% of tolls on the Maine Turnpike are paid by out-of-state drivers. If that is true, I can see why they insisted on keeping the cash option for payment, specifically for the new toll plaza under construction in York. So do other states' toll roads have such a high percentage of out-of-state drivers?

The Indiana Toll Road has a high percentage of out-of-state drivers simply because of its location along the extreme northern border of the state. That's how state officials (Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, et. al.) were able to use it as a cash cow to fund their highway plans elsewhere in the State.

I think most of the revenue from Florida's Turnpike comes from out-of state drivers going to Orlando and/or Miami.

The main section between Ocala and Miami has a ticket system with cash payment options. It's in and around Miami that it's in the process of being converted to AET.

[SSOWorld]

The KTA (Kansas Turnpike) pissed me off as I had to deal with their credit card machine on the exit to Wichita.😡😡😡

[bicyclehazard]

I went to the Starbucks and received 3 brand new Connecticut quarters in my change. Since I had never seen these before I examined them closely. I put the 3 Connecticut quarters in the coin counter on the city bus and it failed to count them. There was no refund slot. I called several companies that make coin counters and they told me they were indeed having problems with the new quarters and also the new nickel and dollar coins. If you believe a coin counter is defective you have the right to have that coin counter seized as evidence.

[hotdogPi]

I went to the Starbucks and received 3 brand new Connecticut quarters in my change. Since I had never seen these before I examined them closely. I put the 3 Connecticut quarters in the coin counter on the city bus and it failed to count them. There was no refund slot. I called several companies that make coin counters and they told me they were indeed having problems with the new quarters and also the new nickel and dollar coins. If you believe a coin counter is defective you have the right to have that coin counter seized as evidence.

The size, weight, and metal composition of quarters most recently changed in 1965, and nickels have been the same since before 1900.

Also, you're talking about the state quarter that came out 20 years ago in 1999, right? That's not brand new. (The Connecticut national park quarter doesn't come out until next year.)

Finally, the bus operator would typically let you on in that situation.

[1995hoo]

I went to the Starbucks and received 3 brand new Connecticut quarters in my change. Since I had never seen these before I examined them closely. I put the 3 Connecticut quarters in the coin counter on the city bus and it failed to count them. There was no refund slot. I called several companies that make coin counters and they told me they were indeed having problems with the new quarters and also the new nickel and dollar coins. If you believe a coin counter is defective you have the right to have that coin counter seized as evidence.

The size, weight, and metal composition of quarters most recently changed in 1965, and nickels have been the same since before 1900.

Also, you're talking about the state quarter that came out 20 years ago in 1999, right? That's not brand new. (The Connecticut national park quarter doesn't come out until next year.)

Even if they did look nice and shiny and new, there is almost no chance he had never seen them before given that they've been in circulation for such a long time. I also roll my eyes at his final sentence and the claim underneath his post count.