Massachusetts moves ahead on all-electronic, releases details of AET deployment

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Massachusetts moves ahead on all-electronic, releases details of AET deployment

Seventeen mixed cash and E-ZPass toll plazas on the Mass Pike's ticket system are being replaced by ten mainline toll points, under the plan for going cashless with all-electronic tolling (AET.) Details are laid out in a 53-page report submitted to the state's environmental permitting agency. The barrier system will also be simplified by ending some ramp plazas and putting all toll equipment on the mainline. Five separate plaza operations in the Allston/Weston area will be replaced by a gantry on the mainline.

A total of 24 mixed mode (ET+cash) toll points will be replaced by 18 all-electronic (ET+pay-by-plate) toll points.  The plan assumes tolling will be continued throughout beyond 2017 - the year sometimes mentioned as a date for ending tolls on the western ticket system based on the notion it is "paid for."

[Duke87]

What's interesting about this plan is that it doesn't put a barrier between every pair of interchanges, so it enables some free rides - notably between 4 and 7, and between 10 and 11.

I wonder, then, how the tolls will be calculated. Will it be a true barrier system, where you pay a set amount at every toll point, with a separate charge posted for each? Or will it operate like the ICC does, where it will calculate exit and entry based on which barriers you pass and post one charge to your account accordingly? If the latter (which seems more sensible), I'd figure they'd have to virtualize a group of interchanges between toll points as one. So, if you drove from Albany to Springfield, your EZPass account would read "1" as entry and "4-7" as exit.

[SidS1045]

Many of the usual bottlenecks on the Pike are due to toll collection, so this should be a welcome change for motorists.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Why don't they just replace all the existing toll barriers with toll gantries and call it a day?  Seems like they're trying to make it more difficult for themselves, while inadvertently allowing some free rides, as previously mentioned.

[KEVIN_224]

If this can improve the flow at Exit 9 for I-84 in Sturbridge, then I'm all for it!

As for free rides, aren't they quietly bringing back the toll between the NY state line and Exit 6 in Chicopee?

[deathtopumpkins]

If this can improve the flow at Exit 9 for I-84 in Sturbridge, then I'm all for it!

As for free rides, aren't they quietly bringing back the toll between the NY state line and Exit 6 in Chicopee?

I wouldn't call it quiet, but they are reinstating that toll, yes.

[Beeper1]

The small toll that would be collected between exits 4-7 and 10-11 were probably deemed not worth the cost of the equipment to collect it.   This will probably help commuter in the Springfield area, especially those coming in from Ludlow, so maybe a bit of revenue loss that is more than made up for by reinstating tolls west of I-91.   Won't lose much with no tolls between Auburn and Millbury.  The Pike isnt a convenient commuter route for people in and out of Worcester, since you'd just use I-290 from Auburn or MA-146 from Millbury, and US-20 is a more convenient connector between 122 and 146. Not much traffic travels only between those 3 exits.   

[SidS1045]

Why don't they just replace all the existing toll barriers with toll gantries and call it a day?  Seems like they're trying to make it more difficult for themselves, while inadvertently allowing some free rides, as previously mentioned.

Cost vs. benefit, as Beeper1 noted.  It's not the same as the situation when the Pike was built and tolls were collected at every interchange.  Now they have decades of traffic and toll data to tell them at what points ATC will maximize revenue.

As it is, they'll be laying off about 400 toll collectors system-wide, although a few will be reassigned to pore over license-plate photos to determine who gets billed when the automated equipment can't read the plate.