Toll road user's bill of rights

[SSOWorld]

Speed limits should be set by the toll operators.  That's how we got the 85 MPH speed on Texas 130

They usually are. And that's why some speed limits are set way too low. The DRPA, for example, has a blanket 45 mph max speed limit, regardless of the road or bridge characteristics.

and ISHTA's 55 - which points to CPZ's fix.

[robbones]

The trouble I have with stepping in to stop transponder discrimination is that the cure may be worse than the disease. As things stand, everyone at least gets discounts on the toll facilities that they use most frequently, and only has to forego the discount when they travel to a different state. If you were to make a rule saying that you can't selectively apply discounts the result would not necessarily be that the existing discount now applies to everyone, since the agency would lose revenue by doing that. Most likely the discount for everyone would be cut, or even potentially eliminated. Indeed, if you are going to make noise about it being unfair to discriminate based on where your EZpass is from, there might then be pressure to say that it is also unfair to charge EZpass and cash different rates and you might see that regulated away as well. Which then means higher tolls for everyone.

I believe the idea of stopping transponder discrimination is that toll agencies can still offer commuter plans, except that they should not be based at all on which agency issued the transponder.

Strongly agreed.

A driver who uses a toll crossing 5 times a week should get a higher per-use discount over someone who uses the crossing 3 times a year.

Agreed ... unless the tolls are part of a demand management plan, as they are on Maryland's ICC and the HOV/Toll lanes in Virginia and California.

A driver who uses an E-Z pass off-peak should get an off-peak rate, regardless of which transponder they use.

Absolutely.

A driver who lives in a place that is basically surrounded by tolls (and would have no way to escape without paying a toll) should get residency discounts (regardless of transponder) above those received by the general public.  Grand Island, NY and Staten Island, NY and residents of the Rockaways get these discounts.

I have no problem with that. 

But if we create a rule where there is no monthly fees on the transponders, then likely every EZ-Pass would be the same anyway.  And that is the ultimate goal, people should only pay for the tolls when they cross, not at other times.

I think the goal should be to encourage anyone that crosses a toll road or toll crossing - even infrequently - to have a transponder.  And they should be no charge, and the cost recouped by toll revenue (even if that means that frequent users subsidize infrequent users slightly).

And if we need to add more to the bill of rights, let's have the interoperable transponder should be a flex-transponder.  More and more HOT lanes are being built, so you need to have some way for HOV users to use it for free.

I would want it to be an option (only states using such transponders now are Virginia and California). 

Remember that trucks are issued a blue transponder because they are heavier and larger, and they do not need a break because they have more than one person in the truck.

That's not exactly true. There are a lot of solo truck drivers who stop every night. The ratio of solo vs multiple drivers is very lopsided in favor of solo.