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You drive on the road - you pay the toll.
It's cheaper to mail a 55-cent bill than it is to build, staff, and operate a toll booth 24/7.
Don't like it? Don't drive on it. Simple!
You drive on the road - you pay the toll.
It's cheaper to mail a 55-cent bill than it is to build, staff, and operate a toll booth 24/7.
Don't like it? Don't drive on it. Simple!
Sure. Your post still offers no correlation to how the OP's description of this process offers no benefit to NC or taxpayers. They should kill the SASE and/or tie email addresses to licenses when you register and send an email vs snail mail. What a waste. OP's point is that it's another indicator of wasteful government practices seemingly immune to any kind of innovation/progress that privately owned enterprises routinely maintain...because well, they actually need to answer to someone and are held accountable, unlike our government.
Just wondering about the economics of NC Quick Pass mailing:
- a two page invoice + image of vehicle, and
- a self addressed envelope.
Included free are threats of adding $6 to late payments and turning it over to a collection agency.
All to collect the princely sum of $0.55.
Because that $6 will quickly become $40 if the driver doesn't pay soon after the $6 warning, then the collection agency will double or triple that. Then the driver has learned a valuable lesson about illegal use of tolled resources and the state has earned a nice profit for their educational time and effort.
It's no different than the prison system, really. The cost of incarcerating inmates costs taxpayers a fortune, but without paying that tax there would be so many criminals running loose that there would be no point in trying to earn a living in the first place, because it would be quickly taken from us by the baddies.
Just wondering about the economics of NC Quick Pass mailing:
- a two page invoice + image of vehicle, and
- a self addressed envelope.
Included free are threats of adding $6 to late payments and turning it over to a collection agency.
All to collect the princely sum of $0.55.
The answers to all of your questions are somewhere in some pricing feasibility study on the NCDOT or NC Turnpike Authority websites. Somehow tolling is allowing them to complete the Triangle Expressway and Complete 540 projects 20 years early, so I'm okay with it.
The answers to all of your questions are somewhere in some pricing feasibility study on the NCDOT or NC Turnpike Authority websites. Somehow tolling is allowing them to complete the Triangle Expressway and Complete 540 projects 20 years early, so I'm okay with it.
Now, a rail system would collect fares upfront as well as reducing the load on roads for those who will continue to drive.
However, the esteemed idiots running this area think trains are a bad idea. When the area gridlocks totally, perhaps a railroad can be started. By then, it will cost much more.
Just wondering about the economics of NC Quick Pass mailing:
- a two page invoice + image of vehicle, and
- a self addressed envelope.
Included free are threats of adding $6 to late payments and turning it over to a collection agency.
All to collect the princely sum of $0.55.
Would you prefer a minimum charge? So, even if you only use it once in a month, you get charged a minimum of $2 to ensure all costs are covered and the toll is still collected?
I have wondered the same. To me the solution is to send bills after the driver has hit some minimum value. They could wait until the driver owes a few dollars before sending a bill. Sure some cars may get by with never paying, but it would ensure each transaction is profitable for the state.
What a waste. OP's point is that it's another indicator of wasteful government practices seemingly immune to any kind of innovation/progress that privately owned enterprises routinely maintain...because well, they actually need to answer to someone and are held accountable, unlike our government.
It was answered (after your post though). It's cheaper to build unmanned tollbooths. In fact, the expressway is very inovative. It was one of the first of it's type in the country, and now other cities are building them, and some are converting their older system. Yes, if you look only at the billing process in isolation, it seems wasteful. But if you look at the bigger picture, it is in fact a more cost-effective system, which benefits taxpayers (especially those in N. Raleigh who don't have to pay)
I've never been a fan of the tollway, but I understand the need. I also never really used it much, because where i live, it just doesn't benefit me. But I have used it a bunch this week, due to having to go to a different location in the AM. I was surprised to see how many cars are on the section from US1 near Apex all the way into RTP. Not packed, but more than I expected.
I do TOTALLY agree that it would be (even more) efficient if they would hold bills until a threshold was met (say $5). I thought that had already been decided, but I guess not. Or even better, just attach the bill to your registration, save all expense and collect 1x a year, with the option to pay as you go either electronically, or via transponder (both of which already exist, so really only eliminating the "per use" paper bills).
I do agree with OP, that per use paper bills is wasteful, but it's a small part of an otherwise good story. I hope they can improve that aspect.
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