Letter- Who Benefits from HOT Lanes

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Originally posted by NoSUV
[br]So, you are saying that it can never, ever be 953?

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How about taking some reading comprehension classes? You tell everyone else to take them, surely you should know enough about them to choose a good one for yourself.

Metro is in the process of adding more cars to the fleet, but at the earliest it will be at the end of this year. With the safety issues of a particular line of cars over the past couple years, there's no telling how many metro will decommission. In the end, there will be a net increase, but more than likely not nearly enough to support all the riders.

And supply and demand hasn't worked with metro railcars. They are actually down to fewer than 952 cars now if you account for the recent accidents. I don't know how many that is, but it's something. And yes, their capacity for total railcars in use is finite now anyways, limited moreso by how much electrical current they can run through the powered rail. As it stands today, their capacity is FINITE and will never be INFINITE, but their finite value of capacity can grow but hasn't for several years. That's what raymound was getting towards.

bump

And yet again he hasn't bothered to answer the question. I should update that post with more people he fights with.

Interesting that even though they say they are exploring all options, this article is so pro-toll.

"This says to the federal government, 'we are serious about looking at alternatives so when you have a new project, you can also consider tolling,' " Lingamfelter said. "It decreases the burden on the shoulders of hardworking Virginians."

Lies, lies and more lies! The burden will land squarely on my shoulders and on those of every other comuter.

"Tolls capture revenue from out of state travelers,..."

A statewide gas tax would also capture revenue from out of state travelers, and it would distribute this transportation cost burden over a much wider group of users thus reducing the impact on any one group. A statewide gas tax also restores some equity in the state's transportation cost distribution between NOVA (which has carried an unfairly large burden for too long) and the rest of the state.

Thanks goodness, "Two Northern Virginia senators were at first wary of the idea for fears that tolls would be placed on the Capital Beltway and Interstate 66.

Charging commuters going to Washington, D.C., or Maryland a daily toll could be "brutal," said Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Vienna."

The sentiment is right, but misplaced,

"But those interstates could not be considered under this measure because there are already talks of charging tolls on those roads, said Barbara Reese, chief financial officer for the Virginia Department of Transportation."

"Plans are under way to build High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstates 95, 395 and 495. Another study is under way to determine if congestion tolls would benefit traffic flow on I-66, Reese said."

Barbara Reese is a scoundrel! The CFO of VDOT has convinced everyone that tolls are the only way to improve transportation in NOVA. In actuallity, fiscal responsibility would be a good start! What has happened to our tax dollars that were supposed to be earmarked for transportation? Tolls may help her balance her books, but it is the tax payer who gets screwed in the end!