Elimination of cash tolls on Houston toll roads

[US 41]

I think every toll road in the US (and maybe Canada too) should use the same tags for electronic tolling. E-ZPass seems like a good option just because of how wide spread it is in the eastern part of the country. If all the toll roads accepted just one tag then there wouldn't even be an out of state issue and I'd be more supportive of electronic tolling. Until that happens there needs to be at least one cash lane available.

[jeffandnicole]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash. No, you won't have the "occasional" driver with cash; you'll have thousands.   And then as discussed previously, you'll need infrastructure for that sole employee, not to mention everything that involves cash handling.

[US 41]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash. No, you won't have the "occasional" driver with cash; you'll have thousands.   And then as discussed previously, you'll need infrastructure for that sole employee, not to mention everything that involves cash handling.

The long lines would hopefully encourage the people that use the road often to get a "pass" to use the road rather than using cash. I don't see why fees are being charged to out of state drivers that use electronic only toll roads. As long as they pay the bill by mail on time they shouldn't be fined at all.

[jeffandnicole]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash. No, you won't have the "occasional" driver with cash; you'll have thousands.   And then as discussed previously, you'll need infrastructure for that sole employee, not to mention everything that involves cash handling.

The long lines would hopefully encourage the people that use the road often to get a "pass" to use the road rather than using cash. I don't see why fees are being charged to out of state drivers that use electronic only toll roads. As long as they pay the bill by mail on time they shouldn't be fined at all.

Fees are charged to ALL drivers using the road without a transponder, not just out-of-staters. In Houston's case, it's very easy to use other Interstate highways to avoid paying the toll, and there's sufficient notice on the highway that does have a toll to give one the chance to avoid it. And even then, there's the ability to call and pay the toll if you accidentally used the toll road.

The fine is to encourage those who ignored the 3 ways above to get a transponder. A long line at a cash lane will only give people the power to complain they should add another cash lane.

The fine is for evading the toll, which was due at the time you drove the toll road. There's no 30 day grace period. A fair amount of work goes into reviewing the cameras and databases to determine where to send the bill.

[nolia_boi504]

The fine is to encourage those who ignored the 3 ways above to get a transponder. A long line at a cash lane will only give people the power to complain they should add another cash lane.

The fine is for evading the toll, which was due at the time you drove the toll road. There's no 30 day grace period. A fair amount of work goes into reviewing the cameras and databases to determine where to send the bill.

My problem with HCTRA is that even after running through the tolls without a transponder, it takes 15+ minutes to reach a human on their customer service line. It takes at least 2 weeks for them to process all the tolls you racked up. If you don't remember to call in prior to the tolls getting invoiced (which is not on a fixed schedule by the way), you get nailed with the $5/transaction fines. Worst off there is no way for the customer service reps to reverse the fines out of courtesy.

The current system is broken and needs to be fixed. An online portal that allows you to input a plate number and pull up fines would be great! Link it to a PayPal account and move on with life!

And I get that the fines are a way to encourage violators to pay, as a $50+ bill is more intimately than a $5 bill and can cause one to take it more seriously. But if you are willing to call and pay then they should be willing to remove the penalties (so long as you're not a frequent offender).

Nexus 5X

[jbnv]

So if a driver didn't pay at all for a road, he/she can't use it?  That would work really great for interstate commerce if that attitude was widespread.

If the interstate highway system had been designed as a tolled network from the beginning, we'd have a nationwide toll service today.

We'd also have fewer discussions about how to finance major road projects since it would be assumed that the people who used them would pay for them.

[Anthony_JK]

So if a driver didn't pay at all for a road, he/she can't use it?  That would work really great for interstate commerce if that attitude was widespread.

If the interstate highway system had been designed as a tolled network from the beginning, we'd have a nationwide toll service today.

We'd also have fewer discussions about how to finance major road projects since it would be assumed that the people who used them would pay for them.

If my uncle had a different set of gonads, he'd become my aunt.

And if the Interstate Highway system had been created as a privatized toll system, it wouldn't have made it past 1970. 

People using the Interstates already pay for them through the gas tax and auto fees. Gas is now approaching $1.50/gal. The argument for not raising the gas tax is becoming irrelevant. Use that, not tolls.

[jeffandnicole]

People using the Interstates already pay for them through the gas tax and auto fees. Gas is now approaching $1.50/gal. The argument for not raising the gas tax is becoming irrelevant. Use that, not tolls.

Oil prices and gas taxes should never mix.  Many are saying now's the time to raise gas taxes.  What's the difference if we do it now, or if we did it when gas was $3 a gallon?  When gas returns to $3 a gallon, we're still going to have higher gas taxes.  It's like saying there's a store-wide sale, but they're going to raise the sales tax since you can afford it.

The fine is to encourage those who ignored the 3 ways above to get a transponder. A long line at a cash lane will only give people the power to complain they should add another cash lane.

The fine is for evading the toll, which was due at the time you drove the toll road. There's no 30 day grace period. A fair amount of work goes into reviewing the cameras and databases to determine where to send the bill.

My problem with HCTRA is that even after running through the tolls without a transponder, it takes 15+ minutes to reach a human on their customer service line. It takes at least 2 weeks for them to process all the tolls you racked up. If you don't remember to call in prior to the tolls getting invoiced (which is not on a fixed schedule by the way), you get nailed with the $5/transaction fines. Worst off there is no way for the customer service reps to reverse the fines out of courtesy.

Per the website, calling in to pay a toll is supposed to be a one time courtesy, not an opportunity to pay off a week's worth of trips. 

Why should they waive a fine?  You drove a toll road without the transponder as required. 

One of the nice things about electronically paying for tolls...to the transportation agency, that is...is that they are holding onto your money until you use the road, so they have use of that money for investing.  You are thinking of it the other way, as a credit card where the bank is lending you the money until you pay it at the end of the billing cycle.   The two are vastly different concepts.  Even toll agencies that allow toll-by-plate still charge a fee to the user who's paying after-the-fact.

[Brandon]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash.

No, you don't.  ISTHA has cash lanes available, and the longest the lines get is five vehicles.  On most of the ramps, there is an exact change lane, but it's rarely used as over 85% of the tollway users use I-Pass or EZ Pass.

[Brandon]

Even toll agencies that allow toll-by-plate still charge a fee to the user who's paying after-the-fact.

Not true for all toll agencies.  ISTHA allows 7 days to pay online at the cash rate.  No extra fee.

[jbnv]

People using the Interstates already pay for them through the gas tax and auto fees. Gas is now approaching $1.50/gal. The argument for not raising the gas tax is becoming irrelevant. Use that, not tolls.

Oil prices and gas taxes should never mix.  Many are saying now's the time to raise gas taxes.  What's the difference if we do it now, or if we did it when gas was $3 a gallon?  When gas returns to $3 a gallon, we're still going to have higher gas taxes.  It's like saying there's a store-wide sale, but they're going to raise the sales tax since you can afford it.

Collecting taxes on one thing to fund something else is a bad idea. Bureaucrats like to take money dedicated for a purpose and spend it on things of their liking. That's largely how we ended up with trillions of dollars in debt AND a crumbling infrastructure that could have been made state-of-the-art with those trillions.

If the system had been designed so that each major segment was tolled and governed by a highway authority, the system would be in much better shape today. Especially in places like Louisiana.

[US 41]

People using the Interstates already pay for them through the gas tax and auto fees. Gas is now approaching $1.50/gal. The argument for not raising the gas tax is becoming irrelevant. Use that, not tolls.

Oil prices and gas taxes should never mix.  Many are saying now's the time to raise gas taxes.  What's the difference if we do it now, or if we did it when gas was $3 a gallon?  When gas returns to $3 a gallon, we're still going to have higher gas taxes.  It's like saying there's a store-wide sale, but they're going to raise the sales tax since you can afford it.

Collecting taxes on one thing to fund something else is a bad idea. Bureaucrats like to take money dedicated for a purpose and spend it on things of their liking. That's largely how we ended up with trillions of dollars in debt AND a crumbling infrastructure that could have been made state-of-the-art with those trillions.

If the system had been designed so that each major segment was tolled and governed by a highway authority, the system would be in much better shape today. Especially in places like Louisiana.

I agree with everything jbnv said. In addition to the above there are so many taxes out there that the federal and state governments should never be short on money. If we keep raising taxes on everything then we are going to turn into another "Europe". Gas taxes currently take out about $0.50 per gallon. Raising taxes does not help anyone except the government.

I remember a few years ago when gas was around $4.50 per gallon in California, but it was only $2.90 in Tijuana. Lots of people were going to Tijuana to fill up. The California state government got mad about it and started telling people that they were risking their lives to save money on gas.  Most Californians ignored these warnings. Mexico rather than the US and California got tax money for their roads. I see lots of Ontario plated semi trailers, so I'm guessing plating trailers in Ontario is cheaper than doing it here in the US (more lost money).

Canada has higher gas taxes than the US, but many of their roads are just as bad, if not worse, than ours in the US. In all honesty it's mainly about how committed the government is to fixing our roads. If our roads were a priority then they'd be in way better shape than they are today. Texas seems pretty committed to having nice roads (I think their roads are very good in quality) and their taxes are way lower than New York's and California's. Even if we raised the gas tax I'm not sure our roads would actually improve in quality.

[jeffandnicole]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash.

No, you don't.  ISTHA has cash lanes available, and the longest the lines get is five vehicles.  On most of the ramps, there is an exact change lane, but it's rarely used as over 85% of the tollway users use I-Pass or EZ Pass.

The ISTHA mainline tolls also have more than 1 cash lane available (and unless you work in the booth, I doubt you are watching them all the time to verify they never have more than 5 vehicles in a lane).  Rarely are there backups on ramp plazas because there's a lot fewer vehicles using them.

I'll give them credit though to them for allowing someone to pay a missed toll without a fee or fine.  However, at least they permit cash tolls in the first place.  Houston's toll road doesn't, so it's exclusively ETC only, thus the fine.

[Brandon]

Once you make one cash lane available, you'll have a traffic jam miles long from people thinking they can use cash.

No, you don't.  ISTHA has cash lanes available, and the longest the lines get is five vehicles.  On most of the ramps, there is an exact change lane, but it's rarely used as over 85% of the tollway users use I-Pass or EZ Pass.

The ISTHA mainline tolls also have more than 1 cash lane available (and unless you work in the booth, I doubt you are watching them all the time to verify they never have more than 5 vehicles in a lane).  Rarely are there backups on ramp plazas because there's a lot fewer vehicles using them.

I'll give them credit though to them for allowing someone to pay a missed toll without a fee or fine.  However, at least they permit cash tolls in the first place.  Houston's toll road doesn't, so it's exclusively ETC only, thus the fine.

I pass by a lot of them in my travels around Chicagoland.  Usually there's not much of a line in the cash lanes on I-355 or I-88 east of Aurora.  I-294 seems to lack lines with the exception of the two I-80 toll plazas (Plazas 43 and 45).  Those two plazas, however, seem to have a lot of cross-country traffic that may or may not have transponders, as it is I-80 merging onto the Tri-State Tollway.  The two I-88 toll plazas west of Aurora (DeKalb and Dixon) have more of a line, but not really much whenever I go past them (no more than 7 vehicles deep on one cash lane, and that's the only cash lane open).

Google's caught a few of them on Street View.

I'll use the Boughton Road Plaza 89 (the plaza I go through most often) on I-355 as an example (apparently the GSV vehicle has EZ Pass):
Southbound cash lanes & I-Pass exit lane (8/2015): https://goo.gl/maps/4bJZ2gy2cHR2 2 vehicles in the one open cash lane.  North bound cash lanes have zero vehicles: https://goo.gl/maps/UPJSMxYqS7F2
Southbound I-Pass lanes (10/2012): https://goo.gl/maps/Vo1rHkTdSKM2 2 trucks and about 4 cars in the two open cash lanes.  Northbound cash lanes (8/2012) have 1 truck and 2 cars: https://goo.gl/maps/VaJFR88Gmjm  In 10/2012, they have 2 trucks (1 bobtail) and 2 cars: https://goo.gl/maps/VzXMKvj3o1S2
Northbound cash lanes & I-Pass entrance lanes (8/2015): https://goo.gl/maps/fwhsbZ6yvX22 Zero vehicles in the two open cash lanes.  One bus approaching them if you turn GSV around.  Southbound cash lanes have 1 truck and 2 cars: https://goo.gl/maps/6sEWP3dBBhy
Northbound I-Pass lanes have the cash side blocked by a truck.  Southbound cash lanes have 1 car: https://goo.gl/maps/SzdZgcXjGFC2

For comparison, the two I-80 toll plazas:

Eastbound I-Pass lanes (7/2012): three cash lanes open with 6 cars, 3 cars with trailers, and 3 trucks: https://goo.gl/maps/T7qTVVcJAyM2
Eastbound cash lanes (10/2013): four cash lanes open with 1 truck, 2 pilot vehicles, and 1 oversized load: https://goo.gl/maps/YzAYoGphw2E2
Westbound I-Pass lanes (7/2012): three cash lanes open with 2 trucks, 1 car with trailer, and 3 trucks: https://goo.gl/maps/yf3rQEhkDCK2
Westbound cash lanes (7/2012): three cash lanes open with 5 trucks (1 bobtail), 13 cars, and 1 car with trailer: https://goo.gl/maps/fCC7A9aPgYQ2  That's really busy when compared to the others.

[Sykotyk]

I think jeffandnicole fail to realize that, if the toll agency is a business, creating unnecessary hurdles to drawing in customers isn't the way to go about it.

You want as many people as possible to use your service to make even more money. Unless, they've decided dissuading users and charging exorbitant fines makes them more money than benefiting the most people possible.

And if that's your stance, then you seem to fail to understand what government is for. No wonder Texans don't like 'big government' if that's how they're treated by it.

And to say there's opportunities to drive around Houston without tolls is a bit misleading. I was just there in December. As long as you don't plan on traveling anywhere near a toll, you won't have a big need to use it. But, god forbid that's where you're headed if you're out of state. And that talk of 'how easy it is' to get a tag, fails to realize that it's not easy. I wasn't driving 40 miles round trip to go pick up a transponder for $4-$6 worth of tolls. Or, drive on it and pay the fine(s).

See, in DFW, there's ZipCash, where if you don't have a transponder you just pay a slightly higher toll price. $30 for what NTTA, etc can do for a few pennies is a bit of a money-grab. It does not cost that much in time and effort for $30. Sometimes PER TOLL.

And they should care about out-of-state users. As, those interactions with Houston's infrastructure would greatly change people's impressions of Texas and Houston if there's no usable way to get around the city without pre-purchasing a transponder. Which are conveniently located on the toll road frontage roads that you can't get to without  a toll tag.

[jbnv]

How often have you been to Houston? How often have you looked at a map of Houston?

There are two three 2di's that cross the city. There is a loop around downtown. All of these are free. There are a few other freeways that  come out of the city. And many of the tollways have service roads that are free.

Someone can get from/through Houston to Galveston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas all without having to pay a toll.

Who are these out-of-state people who absolutely have to use a toll road to get somewhere in Houston? Where are they going?

[Revive 755]

How often have you been to Houston?

Doesn't matter.  If I travel somewhere even once, there should be an easy option for legally using the tollways.

There are two three 2di's that cross the city. There is a loop around downtown. All of these are free. There are a few other freeways that  come out of the city. And many of the tollways have service roads that are free.

There are not enough freeway options in the suburbs to compliment the tollways.  And how well timed are the stoplights on those service roads? 

Someone can get from/through Houston to Galveston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas all without having to pay a toll.

And if I need to visit someplace in the Houston suburbs?

Who are these out-of-state people who absolutely have to use a toll road to get somewhere in Houston? Where are they going?

Doesn't matter.  If some out-of-state person needs to use a tollway around Houston, they should have a legal option to do so.  Perhaps Kansas should ban out-of-state cars from I-70 between K-7 and K-10, as the K-10 freeway can be used instead of I-70.   Or Illinois can ban people from states without EZPass compatible transponders from I-355, I-88, IL 390, and the unmultiplexed sections of I-294.  No reason the banned couldn't get around using the other roads in Chicagoland.

[nolia_boi504]

I think jeffandnicole fail to realize that, if the toll agency is a business, creating unnecessary hurdles to drawing in customers isn't the way to go about it.

You want as many people as possible to use your service to make even more money. Unless, they've decided dissuading users and charging exorbitant fines makes them more money than benefiting the most people possible.

And if that's your stance, then you seem to fail to understand what government is for. No wonder Texans don't like 'big government' if that's how they're treated by it.

And to say there's opportunities to drive around Houston without tolls is a bit misleading. I was just there in December. As long as you don't plan on traveling anywhere near a toll, you won't have a big need to use it. But, god forbid that's where you're headed if you're out of state. And that talk of 'how easy it is' to get a tag, fails to realize that it's not easy. I wasn't driving 40 miles round trip to go pick up a transponder for $4-$6 worth of tolls. Or, drive on it and pay the fine(s).

See, in DFW, there's ZipCash, where if you don't have a transponder you just pay a slightly higher toll price. $30 for what NTTA, etc can do for a few pennies is a bit of a money-grab. It does not cost that much in time and effort for $30. Sometimes PER TOLL.

And they should care about out-of-state users. As, those interactions with Houston's infrastructure would greatly change people's impressions of Texas and Houston if there's no usable way to get around the city without pre-purchasing a transponder. Which are conveniently located on the toll road frontage roads that you can't get to without  a toll tag.

Totally agree with everything you said!

Nexus 5X

[nolia_boi504]

Who are these out-of-state people who absolutely have to use a toll road to get somewhere in Houston? Where are they going?

Me and a million or so others live near Westpark Twy and 99. To go north to the Premium outlets we have to take a tollway. To go south towards Greatwood we (prefer) to take the tolled overpasses on 99. To go into town we take Westpark tollway. Going up to the northern suburbs or IAH I'd prefer to take the Beltway to avoid the horrendous 610 mess. Likewise to travel to/from Hobby or the Southeast suburbs and Galveston.

None of these can be done by our out of town guests and i cannot do any of those on a rental or loaner car (except the HCTRA portions by registering the plate on my account).

You're absolutely right about the freeways connecting Houston to all directions out of town, but fail to consider that Houston is a monstrous city that spans more than just 610 or the freeway corridors (which become VERY spread out outside of the Beltway). Tollways are a convenience to bypass or go between freeways to reduce travel time (mostly in the burbs), hence their existence and hence why people spend money using them. The point of the tollways are for people who use them to pay for them, rather than the federal government.

It definitely isn't a necessity for me to use tollways as there are always free alternatives. But the added hassle of weaving through feeder roads or major thoroughfares and waiting through traffic lights justifies paying the tolls. If non transponder drivers too want to use the toll roads for convenience, I don't see why they should be discouraged with the fines and hassles of becoming eligible to use the roads. Especially if it helps keep the toll rates from increasing more than they ever had (can't prove this but one can only hope).


Nexus 5X

[rte66man]

From 2000 to 2015, $ 358 million in unpaid tolls/fees/fines have been accumulated in Harris County. But the actual unpaid tolls are only $ 22 million, the rest are fees and fines, mostly by HCTRA.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Harris-County-racks-up-358M-in-unpaid-tolls-6748471.php

Last year I was in Houston and needed to get from IAH to Katy.  I took the Sam Houston toll road there and back.  No HCTRA tag and no cash option.  Got a bill in the mail for the $6.00 toll PLUS a $30 fine. 

So, what you're saying is you ignored this: https://goo.gl/maps/VebfTJoQ29w

What you're also saying is that you thought you could get away without having to pay a toll at all, and decided not to check out their webpage ( https://www.hctra.org/eztagstore/violatorLoginDisplay.do ) which would have provided you with the ability to call them to make a payment prior to the invoice being sent to you.

We'll say that you didn't realize the tollway didn't accept cash payments.  You drove from the airport to Katy, and you never paid a cash toll.  You then drove the highway again knowing what you experienced the first time. At this point, you clearly had intentions of not paying for your ride at all and hoping you weren't going to be invoiced for the trip, and are now simply complaining because you got caught.

No sympathies here.

Ooh it must be nice to be able to live other people's lives for them and read their minds.  Are you really that anal that you go through all that preparation when you make a last-minute trip?  There are ZERO signs that tell the out-of stater that an option exists to pay via phone.  I fully expected to get a bill in the mail, but not for that that much. 

My point is that the "fine" is unreasonable based on the percentage of toll collected.  Go back and reread the original Chronicle article.  If you have $358 million and only $22 million is from the actual toll charges, then you are gouging the public.

[roadman65]

You know, that is a shame.    No tolls means no one to collect it and that means no jobs for some.   I work now for the Florida Turnpike and we get many tourists using the road who have no money.  I know Florida gets more visitors than Houston does, but if they get the same ignorant people who do not exchange their money at the airport here who travel there, they will be in big trouble.

[vdeane]

Per the website, calling in to pay a toll is supposed to be a one time courtesy, not an opportunity to pay off a week's worth of trips. 

Why should they waive a fine?  You drove a toll road without the transponder as required. 

All toll roads should have a non-transponder option.  If not cash, then bill by mail at reasonable rates (basically, NOT A-25 and ON 407; should only be the cost of looking up the plate and mailing the bill and NOT A PENNY MORE).  Transponder-only toll roads should be BANNED.

One of the nice things about electronically paying for tolls...to the transportation agency, that is...is that they are holding onto your money until you use the road, so they have use of that money for investing.

Some people wouldn't call that a "nice" thing.  In fact, it is THE reason my parents still don't have E-ZPass.

So, what you're saying is you ignored this: https://goo.gl/maps/VebfTJoQ29w

What you're also saying is that you thought you could get away without having to pay a toll at all, and decided not to check out their webpage ( https://www.hctra.org/eztagstore/violatorLoginDisplay.do ) which would have provided you with the ability to call them to make a payment prior to the invoice being sent to you.

We'll say that you didn't realize the tollway didn't accept cash payments.  You drove from the airport to Katy, and you never paid a cash toll.  You then drove the highway again knowing what you experienced the first time. At this point, you clearly had intentions of not paying for your ride at all and hoping you weren't going to be invoiced for the trip, and are now simply complaining because you got caught.

No sympathies here.

First, the sign says "last free exit", NOT "GTFO the road all who don't have a transponder".  Doesn't even mention that there aren't booths.  Plus, bill by mail is THE standard for non-transponder transactions on an AET toll road.  If one drives under a gantry, they expect to wait for a bill to arrive in the mail and pay for it then, NOT to have to dig up a phone number and web form to pay a "violation" and beat the processing system to avoid a hefty fee.  Even roadgeeks don't put that much work into their travels.  The average traveler from booth land is more likely to forget they were even on a toll road entirely, at least until they get invoiced for the "no transponder tax".

[SquonkHunter]

Texas seems pretty committed to having nice roads (I think their roads are very good in quality) and their taxes are way lower than New York's and California's. Even if we raised the gas tax I'm not sure our roads would actually improve in quality.

If you had seen what Texas roads were like prior to the great wave of construction that began after WWII, you would understand why we have such an obsession with having top quality roads today. Texas traditionally had the worst roads in the country up until then. The farther away you got from the big cities, the worse the roads were. Many of these obsolete stretches of highway were still in regular use until they were either reconstructed or bypassed well into the late 1960s - early 1970s. As a road geek, I spent much of my late teens through my 20s exploring many of the surviving original alignments. Many of them still exist today and a fair number of them are still in regular use for local traffic.   

[jeffandnicole]

Do they have another sign stating "Transponders Only" or "No Cash" down there prior to the point of no return?

[Sykotyk]

"No Cash" just means "No Cash". Dallas area has "No Cash" but you can just get a bill in the mail. You didn't 'violate' anything. You just chose the Pay-By-Mail option which costs a few cents more per transaction.

And to say that Houston requires $30 per transaction to find out who you are while DFW charges about $0.10-$0.30 is a big markup.

It's clear Houston area toll agencies have decided fining non-transponder users into oblivion is a better economic decision than to have more drivers simply paying a slightly elevated toll for Pay-By-Mail.

I mean, $22 million in toll transactions equals a 'potential' 10x+ return on the original charges.