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Wouldn't be so bad if they actually used the toll fees on maintenance of the roads, rather than diverting them to pay for other forms of transportation.
Why on earth do you think using bridges, tunnels, and highways should be free? They need constant upkeep and repair and the absolute worst damage to roadways comes from trucks. That is an undeniable fact. Without trucks (and to a lesser extent buses) highways would last longer and cost less. So pay for what you use and stop whining.
What you say is basically true. Trucks do the most damage. Then, again, without the trucks, you wouldn't need the bridges or roads because without the support, the population would not exist in the area.
The folks in New York need to take a trip across Louisiana on I-10. You think you've got bridges? And, guess what... No tolls on the bridges on I-10 in Louisiana. Cross the Mississippi in virtually any state. Longer bridges, and wider (by far), and no tolls. What makes NYC so special? The bridge across the Atchafalaya Swamp is 10 miles long... NO TOLLS. Think it needs less maintenance than the GW? There are more trucks across that bridge in one day than all of NYC sees in a day. (Actually, it does take less maintenance. The bridge across the Atchafalaya is not "ANTIQUE".) Get real, NYC. The bridges in your area are not worth the money you were charging 20 years ago.
What you say is basically true. Trucks do the most damage. Then, again, without the trucks, you wouldn't need the bridges or roads because without the support, the population would not exist in the area.
The folks in New York need to take a trip across Louisiana on I-10. You think you've got bridges? And, guess what... No tolls on the bridges on I-10 in Louisiana. Cross the Mississippi in virtually any state. Longer bridges, and wider (by far), and no tolls. What makes NYC so special? The bridge across the Atchafalaya Swamp is 10 miles long... NO TOLLS. Think it needs less maintenance than the GW? There are more trucks across that bridge in one day than all of NYC sees in a day. (Actually, it does take less maintenance. The bridge across the Atchafalaya is not "ANTIQUE".) Get real, NYC. The bridges in your area are not worth the money you were charging 20 years ago.
Sure we could get rid of all the tolls everywhere and just jack up taxes. You can have everyone chip in to pay for their upkeep (taxes), or just the people that use them (tolls).
Just because you don't have tolls booths doesn't mean the bridges aren't getting money from somewhere. You've just shifted it to a less visable source.
The REAL crime is that the transportation industry is so heavily SUBSIDIZED by the taxpayer. Trucks are GIVEN their roadways by the taxpayer so that they can cheaply move goods 9and destroy the roads with 18 wheelers.
THe cost of goods in no way relflects the actual MUCH HIGHER cost of transportation. If every truck paid for its per capita cost of the highway system, the tolls we have now would look like chump change in comparison.
Plus, you have to consider that it would end up being cheaper for the taxpayers in the long run. As of now, the money we save on lower tolls we spend on taxes to maintain the bridges and roads.
If we jacked up the cost of driving to reflect the true cost, people would naturally move back to urban areas, thus making the public transportation more efficient (so even if you removed the subsidy, the fares still wouldn't go up that much). Goods would be moved by rail rather than trucks, so we wouldn't need to spend money maintaining the roads (the company would have to maintain the tracks though, but the savings in taxes would make up for the costs passed onto the consumer)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Looking2BeFree
Take the long way then, go over the Tappanzee.
That still has a toll. Plus, I've always heard that companies find it cheaper to take the fastest route. The money they spend in tolls they make up for in the use of less gas and being able to get the trip done faster (this being able to move more goods in the same amount of time and being able to do the same job with fewer drivers)
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