Disadvantages of slugging
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Topic: Disadvantages of slugging
Posted By: bribri06
Subject: Disadvantages of slugging
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2005 at 9:28am
Hi everyone, for my journalism class I have been assigned to research the disadvantages of slugging. I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit a tell me what you think.[?]
thnx
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Replies:
Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2005 at 10:42am
quote:
Originally posted by bribri06
[br]Hi everyone, for my journalism class I have been assigned to research the disadvantages of slugging. I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit a tell me what you think.[?]
thnx
I used to ride but mainly now I drive. Lots of disadvantages to riding. It's not worth the bucks, to me anyway, to ride, most days. But there are advantages too. Here we go.
Disadvantages of Riding
1) Lines. Got to wait in line in the rain, heat and cold for a ride.
2) Reliability. If VDOT opens up HOV to all because of an accident then getting a ride could be a problem. Or having to work late means you miss the slug line.
3) Drivers. Some speed or are lousy drivers. Some have small uncomfortable cars or dirty cars. Or have an attitude. According to posts on this board some drivers actually think about getting sex from slugs and since most slugs are men those drivers must be liberal democrat party sodomites. Don't want to ride with sodomites. Its rumored that there are drivers who don't make much and who get paid what they are worth that want tips.
4) Time. Got to get in that slug line when drivers are picking up.
Advantages of Riding
1) It's free and its fast.
2) It's free and its fast.
3) It's free and its fast.
Dumphries to DC and back fast and for free. Worth the disadvantages sometimes. Except for the sodomites. Some are on this board. Watch one call me names for being insensitive and intolerant of perverts.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: keith770
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2005 at 12:31pm
The main issue I am looking at is the unreliability of a ride home. There is no fast way back to route 17 and I don't even know where the route 17 line leaves From the Pentagon.
I also worry about getting picked up by prissy blasphmous Republican Nazis who are really making a list of where people live so they can use it for some arcane evil purpose.
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Posted By: Baz
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2005 at 7:10am
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Looks like we have another intruder here trying to find out just why toll roads are a better option than slugging. Try going to the slug lines for your research and ask the sluggers there if there are disadvantages to the system in place. I believe youll find very few disadvantages compared to the disadvantages of a toll road being put in its place! Be a real journalist and hit the pavement to find information instead of relying on bogus information that is usually posted on message boards!
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Posted By: dickboyd
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2005 at 2:23pm
quote:
Originally posted by bribri06
[br]Hi everyone, for my journalism class I have been assigned to research the disadvantages of slugging. I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit a tell me what you think.[?]
thnx
A major disadvantage of slugging? Can't think of any.
Major disadvantage of journalism majors? They rejoice in slanted news. Rather than writing an article that discloses the pluses and minuses of an issue, the media (jurnalists) slant the news and tell us what to think. Rather than presenting enough information for infromed discussion, journailsts, NSA and the CIA make stuff up.
If the question comes from a student in a public university, I, for one, think it is time for a review of the policy of managed news in our public institutions.
A major reason why we have slugging in the first place? Politicians who have used managed news to create a shortage of dependable, affordable transportation. Politicians that take the easy way out and blame those that are working for a solution. Politicians that travel to Curitaba, Brazil or Portland, Oregon in search of transportation answers, but fail to talk to their counterpart in the neighboring jurisdiciton without pointing a finger of blame. Poiticians that make traffic congestion worse.
For the stalwart readers of Slug-Lines. com, the way to control this type of journalism isn't so much a letter to the editor as it is a letter to the advertisers. Granted this borders on an inroad to free speech, but why should the advertisers pay to have this nonesense forced down our throats? Why should "newspapers" be allowed to bend minds?
For the more intrepid, such as RLD, as you gather up your pitchforks and torches to storm the castle and kill the monster, you might want to practice on the fourth estate before battling the politicians.
Can the requestor identify himself/herself and save us the hassle of searching you out? Do you work for VRE, METRO or one of the myriad local government run bus companies?
Or are you a CIA or NSA operative sent out to identify the subversives? Paranoid? Who, me? Not really, people like this bogus wanna be reporter ARE out to get me.
dickboyd@aol.com
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Posted By: n/a
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2005 at 2:37pm
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Disadvantages? Hmmmmm. Well there's..., no that's not one. But there's..., no that's not one either. Well, I get to park my car and take a nice walk to a slug line, I meet nice people each day, ride in a comfortable car both ways, I save gas, I meet nice people, I get some fresh air, any disadvantages yet? Did I say that I meet nice people? Hmmmmm. The other day I waited about ten minutes for a ride, but then I met some nice people and got a free ride home. Disadvantages, well sometimes it rains and the flowers get a drink, I usually wear a raincoat on those days. Nope, disadvantages, none for me!
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Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2005 at 8:00pm
quote:
Originally posted by raymond
[br]Disadvantages? Hmmmmm. Well there's..., no that's not one. But there's..., no that's not one either. Well, I get to park my car and take a nice walk to a slug line, I meet nice people each day, ride in a comfortable car both ways, I save gas, I meet nice people, I get some fresh air, any disadvantages yet? Did I say that I meet nice people? Hmmmmm. The other day I waited about ten minutes for a ride, but then I met some nice people and got a free ride home. Disadvantages, well sometimes it rains and the flowers get a drink, I usually wear a raincoat on those days. Nope, disadvantages, none for me!
Most days it seems like slugs have the advantage. They ride free. I pay to drive. But.... I've picked up slugs on days where it was raining buckets and those wet slugs didn't look happy until they got inside. I've picked up shivering slugs who are damn near frozen cause it is just too cold outside. I've picked up desperate looking slugs trying to catch a ride home at 5:50 pm and they know it might not happen. I've picked up anxious slugs who told me they had been waiting in line for a long long time cause drivers were scarce that day. Meanwhile, my SUV is nice and dry, automatically temperature controlled, and a guaranteed ride home. And I am in it. Advantage? Me. Disadvantage? Slugs. But like you said, most days it seems slugs have the better deal. If I can get my hours at work stabilized I know I won't be driving on a nice bright sunny day. I'll be in someone's backseat. Hope the car doesn't belong to a godless sodomite America hating baby killing liberal democrat.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2005 at 8:12pm
quote:
Originally posted by Baz
[br]Looks like we have another intruder here trying to find out just why toll roads are a better option than slugging. Try going to the slug lines for your research and ask the sluggers there if there are disadvantages to the system in place. I believe youll find very few disadvantages compared to the disadvantages of a toll road being put in its place! Be a real journalist and hit the pavement to find information instead of relying on bogus information that is usually posted on message boards!
The problem with a toll road is that we would be building a road for people driving alone. It does not matter if they pay. The bottom line is that cars with three people in them carry three times as many people and if the powers that be had any brains they would be working on ways to get more people to ride together to get traffic moving. The whole idea is to get people to and from work. Slugging works. Instead of giving away a publicly funded highway, the government ought to squeeze out some money to build slugging lots. Put up shelters for the slugs. Organize the lots with signs. Put in benches for old slugs. Spend a little money fix the parking lots so that drivers can pick up, drop off, leave faster. Advertise the heck out of slugging. Most people don't even know about it. Or are scared to try. Ban the hybrids out of HOV. Hybrids are just another way of buying your way onto HOV. All of this involves a fraction of the cost of building another lane. Giving some dumbass the right to pay to take as much room as three people in a car is a pathetic approach to moving people. IMHO.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: vabigblue
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 11:49am
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I'm an "all weather" slug (rider), so I would think the only disadvantage would be the weather. Sometimes it is horrible out there, but we just "keep slugging".
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 3:14pm
quote:
Originally posted by BillyBackSeat
[br]Originally posted by Baz
[br]
The problem with a toll road is that we would be building a road for people driving alone. It does not matter if they pay. The bottom line is that cars with three people in them carry three times as many people and if the powers that be had any brains they would be working on ways to get more people to ride together to get traffic moving. The whole idea is to get people to and from work. ... Ban the hybrids out of HOV. Hybrids are just another way of buying your way onto HOV. All of this involves a fraction of the cost of building another lane. Giving some dumbass the right to pay to take as much room as three people in a car is a pathetic approach to moving people. IMHO.
Hug a slug today
Of course, the problem with rants such as this comes down to the basic problem that if all did as BBS suggests, we'd still not have enough infrastructure to carry it out. Currently, the regular lanes are past full, and the express lanes during commuting hours, even with SOV hybrids, are not nearly as crowded. What would happen if 20% of the drivers in the regular lanes decided to go HOV-3? Obviously, the express lanes couldn't handle the increase, and the regular lanes would be nearly the same.
No, a discriminator is needed, and the hybrid exemption is likely the best (should it be a SUV exemption?). Next best option is to go toll.
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Posted By: HOV3Slug
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 3:35pm
NoSUV,
100/1=100 cars
100/3=33.3 cars
Same number of people, less wear and tear on the roads, faster speeds because more room to move, less gas burned means more inventory, more inventory means lower prices at the pump, lower prices means more discretionary income, etc, etc, etc.
Hybrid because you want to stockpile fuel inventories, HOV because you want to stockpile fuel inventories and save the roads.
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Posted By: N_or_S_bound
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 3:42pm
HOV could absorb the 20% of the mainlanes if two things were done in concert:
Raise HOV-3 to HOV-4
AND
Allow the hybrid exemption to expire.
Taking the exemption away provides more capacity and makes H3S's math work fabulously!
NoSb
SOV because you can, HOV because you care!
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Posted By: HOV3Slug
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 3:59pm
NoSUV,
Check it out:
100/1=100 cars
100/4=25 cars
100/5=20 cars – most cars do have 5 seat belts. It’s cold and dark outside now too. We can all snuggle on the way home.
Hybrid because you want to stockpile fuel inventories, HOV because you want to stockpile fuel inventories and save the roads!
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Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2005 at 7:19pm
quote:
Originally posted by NoSUV
[br]quote:
Originally posted by BillyBackSeat
[br]Originally posted by Baz
[br]
The problem with a toll road is that we would be building a road for people driving alone. It does not matter if they pay. The bottom line is that cars with three people in them carry three times as many people and if the powers that be had any brains they would be working on ways to get more people to ride together to get traffic moving. The whole idea is to get people to and from work. ... Ban the hybrids out of HOV. Hybrids are just another way of buying your way onto HOV. All of this involves a fraction of the cost of building another lane. Giving some dumbass the right to pay to take as much room as three people in a car is a pathetic approach to moving people. IMHO.
Hug a slug today
Of course, the problem with rants such as this comes down to the basic problem that if all did as BBS suggests, we'd still not have enough infrastructure to carry it out. Currently, the regular lanes are past full, and the express lanes during commuting hours, even with SOV hybrids, are not nearly as crowded. What would happen if 20% of the drivers in the regular lanes decided to go HOV-3? Obviously, the express lanes couldn't handle the increase, and the regular lanes would be nearly the same.
No, a discriminator is needed, and the hybrid exemption is likely the best (should it be a SUV exemption?). Next best option is to go toll.
If you kick the hybrids off, get after the cheaters then the HOV could absorb 20% more with no problem. Cause more than that are in single cars now. And it would pull 20% off the mainline. Rant? Besides the fact you cant count and can't think I'd rather read a real rant than the long winded pompous factless crap you regularly post.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: defender
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2005 at 4:24am
quote:
Originally posted by bribri06
[br]Hi everyone, for my journalism class I have been assigned to research the disadvantages of slugging. I was wondering if you guys could help me out a bit a tell me what you think.[?]
thnx
What class, which school, and who is the prof?
Looks like undisclosed got a new login.
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2005 at 1:30pm
Anyone look to the right recently? How many cars do you pass in a minute? THAT'S the number to divide by 3! Now add that same number of cars next to you. Do you really think your commute remained the same?
Just curious - how many cars did you count during that minute?
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Posted By: MDC
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2005 at 2:51pm
NoCLUV,
It doesn't work that way. Imagine 10,000 less HOV-1 hybrids replaced by 10,000 HOV-3 cars. The traffic would improve in the main lanes, and you'd have nothing to talk about other than the "logical step to bus only lanes"...
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Posted By: HOV3Slug
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2005 at 3:32pm
quote:
Originally posted by NoSUV
[br]Anyone look to the right recently? How many cars do you pass in a minute? THAT'S the number to divide by 3! Now add that same number of cars next to you. Do you really think your commute remained the same?
Just curious - how many cars did you count during that minute?
NoSUV,
As MDC said, your logic is flawed. However, I’ll be glad to answer your question. I use to count about 300 cars per minute before the hybrid exemption. Now I count about 10.
Hybrid because you want to stockpile fuel inventories, HOV-3 because you want to stockpile fuel inventories, save the roads, and get to work and home fast![:)]
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 9:10am
Why are you all debating NoSUV? Is there even the slightest, teensiest, eensiest possibility that you are going to change his mind?
Unless you offer him a bribe. He has revealed himself to be all about himself. Offer NoSUV a mirror in which to admire his noble, self-absorbed profile while he putters alone in his pseudo-environmental, makes-me-feel-good high-bred.
I think Defender and Baz are right: the person who started this thread is a troll or, more likely, a regular trying to stir things up.
As if a journalism professor would ask a student to write a paper with a pre-determined negative slant. The assignment would be to write about the pros and the cons of a system.
What do we look like, idiots? (Hey, cut that out!)
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 10:03am
OK, 1 driver so far has claimed that the express lanes during commuting hours only pass about 10 cars in a minute in the regular lanes. Doesn't quite match what I've seen, but I'm sure others have data that will support you.
Or not.
It's not the hybrids - it's the overall congestion. Thank goodness for the tolls so we can buy our way out. As Sponge has noted, tolls likely spell the end for slugs. I wonder if there will be any regrets about damning the exemption then?
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Posted By: bnvus
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 11:58am
quote:
Originally posted by NoSUV
[br]OK, 1 driver so far has claimed that the express lanes during commuting hours only pass about 10 cars in a minute in the regular lanes. Doesn't quite match what I've seen, but I'm sure others have data that will support you.
Or not.
It's not the hybrids - it's the overall congestion. Thank goodness for the tolls so we can buy our way out. As Sponge has noted, tolls likely spell the end for slugs. I wonder if there will be any regrets about damning the exemption then?
Say that after you're paying an extra $40/day to drive your POS Hybrid on HOT. You're not going do away with slugging anytime soon.
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 2:13pm
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bnvus - ah, yes -- but as Sponge has frequently noted, you'll be paying the same $40 in your POS SUV. Better buy something now that gets good mileage before the local market prices go up.
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Posted By: lvalleburke
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 3:54pm
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What was the assignment again?
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Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2005 at 7:32pm
quote:
Originally posted by lvalleburke
[br]What was the assignment again?
Correct me if I'm wrong but what I've read is that carpools will be allowed on HOT for free. And the company that gets the contract will bust cheaters riding alone who get away with it now. If that is true, what it may do is give slugging a push. Maybe.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2005 at 9:29am
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but..."
OK. Sorry, but you're wrong. There is no way to verify 3 occupants in a vehicle except with the human eye. Fluor/Transurban's plan calls for only remote monitoring of traffic flow so they can set rates for each segment to reduce congestion.
How can the Smarttag gantry tell if you have 3 people or just 2 in your minivan? It can't.
So how can the Smarttag gantry not charge you? It can't.
And how can it charge you a different price? It can't.
In other words, because there is no technical means of determining the number of occupants in a vehicle, all vehicles in a multiple access/exit tolling system must be charged the same amount.
This is the heart of the problem.
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Posted By: NoSUV
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2005 at 10:51am
quote:
Originally posted by lvalleburke
[br]What was the assignment again?
Count how many cars in the regular lanes that you pass. A minute might be too hard since there are so many - perhaps 6,10, or 12 seconds.
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2005 at 1:32pm
Here's a better assignment: count the people. And then count the number of cars in Horner Road lot as you pass it.
If people need to commute on I95 and are unwilling to rideshare, they get what they deserve. NoSUV can weep for their travails, but they have built their barn door and now have to sleep on it. (Do I have that right?)
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Posted By: SuzAnne
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2005 at 6:24pm
quote:
Originally posted by SpongeBob
[br]partial quote:
I think Defender and Baz are right.
I am glad to see someone pick up the stank of this topic. I would expect RLD to lead the charge but I believe the hospital has no patient-internet access.
Poor boy!
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Posted By: BillyBackSeat
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2005 at 11:58am
quote:
Originally posted by SpongeBob
[br]"Correct me if I'm wrong, but..."
OK. Sorry, but you're wrong. There is no way to verify 3 occupants in a vehicle except with the human eye. Fluor/Transurban's plan calls for only remote monitoring of traffic flow so they can set rates for each segment to reduce congestion.
How can the Smarttag gantry tell if you have 3 people or just 2 in your minivan? It can't.
So how can the Smarttag gantry not charge you? It can't.
And how can it charge you a different price? It can't.
In other words, because there is no technical means of determining the number of occupants in a vehicle, all vehicles in a multiple access/exit tolling system must be charged the same amount.
This is the heart of the problem.
If what you are saying is everyone pays including car pools then you are wrong because it would be political suicide for any governor or state assemblyman to piss off that many car pooling voters. Not going to happen.
Hug a slug today
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Posted By: SpongeBob
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2005 at 2:11pm
BillyBS: it will not be political suicide if it "appears" to open up more lanes for all the non-carpoolers, and if the press says it is a good thing.
They can spin it very easily, especially considering how expensive the ride will be, to wit:
"Why should those carpoolers get a totally free ride? Don't they take advantage of a system they don't pay to maintain? It is not fair to me just because I work in Seven Corners (DelRay, Old Town, Georgetown, etc.) and cannot carpool that I have to pay $40 and they don't pay anything."
It is not a hard political nut to sell. People are mostly greedy and selfish.
(I forgot to add that sponges, on the other hand, are one of nature's most noble creatures: never greedy and never selfish. Hey, we just are, that's all. [8D])
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Posted By: DaVetsAtHome
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2005 at 12:42am
quote:
Originally posted by SuzAnne
[br]quote:
Originally posted by SpongeBob
[br]partial quote:
I think Defender and Baz are right.
I am glad to see someone pick up the stank of this topic. I would expect RLD to lead the charge but I believe the hospital has no patient-internet access.
Poor boy!
Sue! Hospital?
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Posted By: SKCRAB
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2005 at 5:59pm
And with responses like this, it's no wonder the hybrids like to drive alone. As a driver, there are many disadvantages to taking slugs.
You worry about their comfort and turn on the AC when you would normally roll down the windows
You can't comfortably listen to your own radio station at a nice volume
People think it's OK to wear perfume in enclosed spaces--like someone elses car
People smell bad
People think its ok to eat or drink in your car, despite "slug rules" that forbid this.
People think it is ok to spill a coke on the floor.
People chew loud food like nuts that also stink.
Some people go on and on about inane crap.
People leave trash in your car
People read their newspaper and block the sideview mirror
People listen to their ipods/other devices on full volume and entertain the entire car while going deaf
The snoring can become very annoying
The Nail filers are pretty annoying
To sum up--the slugs create an environment that makes the ride home much less enjoyable.
I can see why other drivers would be jealous of the hybrid drivers, but the slugs--well, not sure there is much room for complaint cause they are getting to town much quicker than walking.
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Posted By: shanbz
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2005 at 3:40pm
Ok, perhaps I'm slow - but couldn't we attempt to make everyone at least semi-happy? If they put in HOT lanes, couldn't they charge those that are driving with 1 or 2 people in the car and let those with the HOV 3 minimum go for free?
And as far as the Hybrids - couldn't they make it HOV 2 for them when the current exception expires in 2006? That way, we get more riders picked up and they still get "something" in return?
Just some thoughts - plese let me know if I'm missing something or why these ideas wouldn't work?
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Posted By: shanbz
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2005 at 3:43pm
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Ok, I stand corrected - I didn't get through reading all before me. I can understand the problem with the SMARTTAG - if they have it, no one could verify the number in the car. Sadly, we would need manned booths....hmmm....
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Posted By: scoobydoo
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2005 at 10:00am
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Who pays to ride? Not me.
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