Slug-Lines.com Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > Archived Slugging Topics > HOT Lanes Discussion
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Why Toll Roads Suck
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Forum LockedWhy Toll Roads Suck

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Message
SpongeBob View Drop Down
New Slug
New Slug


Joined: 06 Oct 2004
Location: VA
Status: Offline
Points: 0
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SpongeBob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Why Toll Roads Suck
    Posted: 20 Nov 2012 at 5:51pm
In honor of the launch of the new toll roads, I thought I'd return to Slug-lines long enough to bless you all (sic) with some thoughts on Why Toll Roads Suck.

Most of the readers on here already get this, but I'm sure there are a few lurkers and spies, so this is for them, mostly.

A toll road is a regressive tax on the most humble citizens. Everyone pays the same rate to use the road (yes, yes, commercial users and big rigs might be charged more.) But a limousine pays the exact same charge as the old heap carrying a janitor to work. If the cost is $5 each way, do you think the CEO cares about that amount of money being withdrawn from his account? Of course not. Meanwhile, the janitor actually has to work the first 1/2 hour of the day just to pay for driving on that public road. Imagine if we charged the CEO a comparable 1/2-hour rate.

A toll road is just a clever way for the rich to pay less into our commonwealth and for the poor to pay more.

This sucks. Do I really have to explain why it works this way?

(It would be because the conservatives won the war of ideas in the 1980's so that their Ayn Rand approach to their fellow humans has become the New Normal.)
Back to Top
goober View Drop Down
New Slug
New Slug


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Location: VA
Status: Offline
Points: 2
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote goober Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2014 at 4:33pm
The promotion of HOT lanes is clearly a liberal response to "what has the government done for me lately"
Back to Top
SpongeBob View Drop Down
New Slug
New Slug


Joined: 06 Oct 2004
Location: VA
Status: Offline
Points: 0
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SpongeBob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2014 at 11:44am
The underlying financial concept of the variable-cost toll road is absolutely a neo-conservative approach, not D in the least. The money-worshiping anti-government shibboleth of "public-private partnerships," overlaid with the greed-based veneer of "pay-as-you-use," was constructed out of whole cloth by the right, and centrist D's bought into it because they're weak-kneed failures.

Variable tolling of a major state commuter route is a regressive tax that hurts the poor much more than the well-off, privatizes and profitizes our transportation network, and is Morally Wrong.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.10
Copyright ©2001-2017 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.107 seconds.