New York State Thruway

[Jim]

I stopped for the first time on Friday afternoon at the new Plattekill service area.  It's the largest of the new ones I've been to so far, but it was not even close to being sufficient to handle Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend crowds.  I'll admit it's not fair to judge it based on what's likely one of the top few busiest times of the year, on top of the fact that Modena is closed.  But... the design flaws were apparent.  Food lines spilling into walking and seating areas, nowhere near enough seating, the outdoor seating rendered useless by being in an 85-degree afternoon sun with no shade provided..  I'll give them one thing, though, that while the men's room was really busy, there weren't lines when I went in.  If there were lines for the ladies room, they at least weren't spilling out beyond the entrance.  There were also people in there actually keeping it clean.

[vdeane]

Sloatsburg is also closed, so Plattekill is really feeling the crunch right now (as is the whole I-87 corridor; I-90 between Rochester and Albany is mostly open, but the rest of the system is still at least half closed).  But I still don't know what they were thinking with how small things are.  Did they not realize that Americans drive far enough that they will need to stop for lunch on the way?

[SignBridge]

From everything I've read on this thread, it doesn't seem like the
Thruway Authority realizes very much of anything nowadays.

[webny99]

Another alternative or at least counterpart to having more restaurants, is having faster restaurants.  Most travelers stopping at a service area want a quick stop to begin with, so faster service would help improve the experience beyond just crowd control. Some restaurants are just notoriously slow and best avoided in service plazas, while others might be short-staffed initially and get better/faster/more experienced over time.

It also might surprise you just how many people stay on the highway until the next service area when one is closed. Many people are just very unadventurous or don't want the hassle of exiting and re-entering, especially on a toll road (though AET does help in that regard, it can still easily add 5+ minutes travel time, and more if your stops aren't well planned). I know from experience that finding a rest/bathroom stop right on the highway is nearly invaluable when traveling with a large group for reasons that go well beyond mere convenience. Once you exit the freeway, wayfinding and locating a facility with multiple clean bathrooms, and in some cases coordinating that with ordering a meal, can compound into a headache-inducing time sap in a hurry.

[MASTERNC]

Another alternative or at least counterpart to having more restaurants, is having faster restaurants.  Most travelers stopping at a service area want a quick stop to begin with, so faster service would help improve the experience beyond just crowd control. Some restaurants are just notoriously slow and best avoided in service plazas, while others might be short-staffed initially and get better/faster/more experienced over time.

It also might surprise you just how many people stay on the highway until the next service area when one is closed. Many people are just very unadventurous or don't want the hassle of exiting and re-entering, especially on a toll road (though AET does help in that regard, it can still easily add 5+ minutes travel time, and more if your stops aren't well planned). I know from experience that finding a rest/bathroom stop right on the highway is nearly invaluable when traveling with a large group for reasons that go well beyond mere convenience. Once you exit the freeway, wayfinding and locating a facility with multiple clean bathrooms, and in some cases coordinating that with ordering a meal, can compound into a headache-inducing time sap in a hurry.

At least in Pennsylvania, there's a financial penalty for exiting and re-entering the Turnpike (i.e. the toll of the two sections separately is higher than both sections in one single trip).  That will change with gantries between exits in a few years, but not sure if the Thruway has the same penalty for the sections with AET on ramps.

[webny99]

At least in Pennsylvania, there's a financial penalty for exiting and re-entering the Turnpike (i.e. the toll of the two sections separately is higher than both sections in one single trip).  That will change with gantries between exits in a few years, but not sure if the Thruway has the same penalty for the sections with AET on ramps.

This is fortunately not the case on the Thruway system.

Up in Canada, 407ETR is even worse; there's a $4.00 "camera charge" for each time you enter, which is a pretty strong deterrent from exiting and re-entering.

[vdeane]

Up in Canada, 407ETR is even worse; there's a $4.00 "camera charge" for each time you enter, which is a pretty strong deterrent from exiting and re-entering.

That type of thing should be illegal under international law.

[webny99]

Got to (finally!) check out the new Pembroke Service area this past weekend, the first of the new style I've been to. With the caveat that it is one of the largest of the new plazas (and rightly so), the feedback was mostly positive. The main area is quite open and spacious, and each of the main restaurant tenants had decent space cordoned off for lines to form, though none of them had long lines when I was there. The bathrooms seemed like a bit of a walk from the entrance, but acceptable considering most travelers are taking the opportunity to stretch their legs anyways. The entrance doors are also massive - so tall that they're noticeably heavier than a normal door and I could see a young kid or smaller adult struggling with them. (I don't remember noticing the doors before, but I suppose we're spoiled by automatic doors at grocery stores and such).

[snowc]

There was an issue sometime last year that was causing tolls to take a REALLY long time to post.  I think it might have been right around then.  IIRC during that time, they incorrectly gave me a free ride between 24-25A on a trip where I went further west, so something must have been up with their system.

And this occured with NC QuickPass as well. Took 45 days for NYSDOT to post toll to credit card. And they took my picture too.

[vdeane]

There was an issue sometime last year that was causing tolls to take a REALLY long time to post.  I think it might have been right around then.  IIRC during that time, they incorrectly gave me a free ride between 24-25A on a trip where I went further west, so something must have been up with their system.

And this occured with NC QuickPass as well. Took 45 days for NYSDOT to post toll to credit card. And they took my picture too.

Why would it have been any different with a QuickPass?  The issue is the Thruway Authority (completely separate from NYSDOT) taking forever to post tolls, not with the tag issuers.  Doesn't matter what transponder you have, the Thruway isn't going to post tolls any faster or slower.

And while the Thruway seems to have more issues than most, it's not unique to them.  Both Maryland and Florida have had times when posting of tolls took a really long time.  With the Thruway, it's made even worse by the need to guess whether people used exit 25A or not.  It would have been nice if they had done like MassDOT did and made the Syracuse and Albany/Schenectady local areas free, but they didn't.

[Jim]

Demolition was well underway at the Mohawk Service Area when I drove by this morning.  I thought I heard that was one of the locations planned for a renovation rather than a replacement, but I was obviously wrong.  Being located just a few miles from Amsterdam where I've lived/visited regularly for most of my life, it's possible I was never in the now-demolished building.  I'm sure a comically tiny replacement is in the works.