Post by Martin Stett on Dec 7, 2017 1:26:50 GMT
www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/us/i66-toll-virginia-washington.html
I live here, I know this road, and I was telling everyone for years that McAulliffe would do exactly this. People who live outside the beltway still work inside of it -- they live outside because they can't afford to live inside. Moreover, if one of our "alternate routes" (in NoVa, Terry? There are no alternate routes, Governor!) gets blocked because of an accident, we're pretty much forced on the toll lanes by choice. I understand that you need the money, but just like Metro, you don't use it properly (Metro has been making money for decades without doing maintenance, and only started after people began dying). So Metro is cutting off several hours of service a day and cutting the number of trains, the toll lanes are gouging commuters, and I've just lost my ability to work in Arlington or D.C.
If you took a bus from New York to Washington tomorrow, a 230-mile drive, and then turned around and came back, you still might not spend as much as some Virginians paid on Tuesday to drive there from 10 miles away.
Just after 8 a.m., the price to take the new express lanes on Interstate 66 from the Beltway to downtown Washington reached $40. By the time the morning rush ended at 9:30, the toll was $15.75 — a comparative pittance, but still almost enough for a one-way ticket from New York.
The peak price — which barreled past the $34.50 recorded on Monday, the lanes’ first day of operation — was one of the highest for a toll road anywhere in the United States. But transit officials said the congestion pricing system was working as designed: keeping traffic moving by encouraging people to car-pool or take alternate routes.
From 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, about 12,000 vehicles used the express lanes, and the average speed was 54 miles per hour — much faster than the 37 m.p.h. average in a similar period last December, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. During the Monday morning rush, the average speed was 57 m.p.h., and drivers were able to cover the nine-mile stretch in 10 to 12 minutes, compared with 15 to 25 minutes on a typical day, the department said.
The toll prices, which change every six minutes, depend on the volume of traffic and the distance traveled. Drivers traveling the full nine miles from the Beltway to downtown Washington around 8 a.m. on Tuesday paid $40, but someone driving in the other direction at 4:15 p.m. would have paid less than $7. The peak price lasted only one six-minute period, the Department of Transportation said.
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“As long as people are willing to pay, that is what will drive the tolling,” Aubrey Layne, Virginia’s transportation secretary, said Tuesday at a meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, The Washington Post reported.
The tolls are in effect only on weekdays, from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. eastbound and from 3 to 7 p.m. westbound. Drivers with passengers do not have to pay; on Tuesday, 41 percent of vehicles during the morning rush fit that bill. And before Monday, most single-occupancy vehicles had not been allowed on that stretch of I-66 during rush hour at all.
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“No one has to pay a toll,” Mr. Layne said at the board meeting. “You simply could have put another person in your car.”
The backlash quickly took on a political dimension, with Republican officials accusing the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, of betraying commuters. The Virginia Republican Party noted with displeasure that the tolls had appeared only after the Democratic candidate, Ralph S. Northam, won last month’s election to succeed Mr. McAuliffe.
Virginia GOP (RPV)
✔
@va_GOP
Odd that $40 tolls appear AFTER an election, isn't it? #I66Tolls virginia.gop/mcauliffes-sky-high-66-tolls-finally-arrive/ …
2:51 PM - Dec 5, 2017
McAuliffe's Sky-High I-66 Tolls Finally Arrive - Republican Party of Virginia
— Today’s $40 fee makes the $17 Republicans warned about seem quaint — RPV Chairman John Whitbeck issued the following statement: “In 2015, Virginia Republicans sounded the alarm: Terry McAuliffe’s...
virginia.gop
13 13 Replies 23 23 Retweets 31 31 likes
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Tim Hugo, the chairman of the Republican caucus in the Virginia House of Delegates, said in a statement that he and others in his party had “worked in good faith” with Mr. McAuliffe and Mr. Layne based on assurances that toll prices would average $6 to $7.
“What we’ve seen over the last couple of days is unacceptable,” Mr. Hugo said.
But the criticism was not confined to Republicans. Danica Roem — a Democrat who was elected last month to the House of Delegates after campaigning on the issue of traffic congestion — said the tolls seen this week amounted to price gouging and called for a cap. Another Democrat, State Senator Jennifer Wexton, called the pricing “outrageous” and noted that not everyone had options.
Jennifer Wexton
✔
@jenniferwexton
The tolls on I-66 are outrageous. I voted against the plan in 2015 & 2016 when we were promised the highest toll would be $17 roundtrip. $30+ tolls are unfair, especially for those of us with limited east-west travel options. …
11:11 AM - Dec 5, 2017
29 29 Replies 45 45 Retweets 129 129 likes
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Transportation Department officials have said that it will take time for traffic patterns to settle into a new normal, and that the prices are likely to drop. Spokeswomen for the department did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday evening.
Tolls that change based on time and demand, known as dynamic pricing, have become more common in recent years. When traffic gets heavy, the price increases to encourage people to car-pool, take public transportation or choose a less crowded route. It’s the same basic supply-and-demand principle employed by ride-sharing services like Uber, and it has been used or considered in places from Southern California to Singapore.
Dynamic pricing is one form of congestion pricing, which aims to reduce traffic by charging more in peak places, at peak times. As mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg fought a decade ago to charge a flat fee for vehicles entering Manhattan at certain hours. The idea, which met with fierce opposition and died in the State Assembly in 2008, has recently been stirring again.
But even Mr. Bloomberg — who wanted a fee of $8 for cars and $21 for trucks — never contemplated a toll of $40.
Just after 8 a.m., the price to take the new express lanes on Interstate 66 from the Beltway to downtown Washington reached $40. By the time the morning rush ended at 9:30, the toll was $15.75 — a comparative pittance, but still almost enough for a one-way ticket from New York.
The peak price — which barreled past the $34.50 recorded on Monday, the lanes’ first day of operation — was one of the highest for a toll road anywhere in the United States. But transit officials said the congestion pricing system was working as designed: keeping traffic moving by encouraging people to car-pool or take alternate routes.
From 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, about 12,000 vehicles used the express lanes, and the average speed was 54 miles per hour — much faster than the 37 m.p.h. average in a similar period last December, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. During the Monday morning rush, the average speed was 57 m.p.h., and drivers were able to cover the nine-mile stretch in 10 to 12 minutes, compared with 15 to 25 minutes on a typical day, the department said.
The toll prices, which change every six minutes, depend on the volume of traffic and the distance traveled. Drivers traveling the full nine miles from the Beltway to downtown Washington around 8 a.m. on Tuesday paid $40, but someone driving in the other direction at 4:15 p.m. would have paid less than $7. The peak price lasted only one six-minute period, the Department of Transportation said.
Continue reading the main story
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
“As long as people are willing to pay, that is what will drive the tolling,” Aubrey Layne, Virginia’s transportation secretary, said Tuesday at a meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, The Washington Post reported.
The tolls are in effect only on weekdays, from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. eastbound and from 3 to 7 p.m. westbound. Drivers with passengers do not have to pay; on Tuesday, 41 percent of vehicles during the morning rush fit that bill. And before Monday, most single-occupancy vehicles had not been allowed on that stretch of I-66 during rush hour at all.
Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story
Get the Morning Briefing by Email
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“No one has to pay a toll,” Mr. Layne said at the board meeting. “You simply could have put another person in your car.”
The backlash quickly took on a political dimension, with Republican officials accusing the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, of betraying commuters. The Virginia Republican Party noted with displeasure that the tolls had appeared only after the Democratic candidate, Ralph S. Northam, won last month’s election to succeed Mr. McAuliffe.
Virginia GOP (RPV)
✔
@va_GOP
Odd that $40 tolls appear AFTER an election, isn't it? #I66Tolls virginia.gop/mcauliffes-sky-high-66-tolls-finally-arrive/ …
2:51 PM - Dec 5, 2017
McAuliffe's Sky-High I-66 Tolls Finally Arrive - Republican Party of Virginia
— Today’s $40 fee makes the $17 Republicans warned about seem quaint — RPV Chairman John Whitbeck issued the following statement: “In 2015, Virginia Republicans sounded the alarm: Terry McAuliffe’s...
virginia.gop
13 13 Replies 23 23 Retweets 31 31 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Tim Hugo, the chairman of the Republican caucus in the Virginia House of Delegates, said in a statement that he and others in his party had “worked in good faith” with Mr. McAuliffe and Mr. Layne based on assurances that toll prices would average $6 to $7.
“What we’ve seen over the last couple of days is unacceptable,” Mr. Hugo said.
But the criticism was not confined to Republicans. Danica Roem — a Democrat who was elected last month to the House of Delegates after campaigning on the issue of traffic congestion — said the tolls seen this week amounted to price gouging and called for a cap. Another Democrat, State Senator Jennifer Wexton, called the pricing “outrageous” and noted that not everyone had options.
Jennifer Wexton
✔
@jenniferwexton
The tolls on I-66 are outrageous. I voted against the plan in 2015 & 2016 when we were promised the highest toll would be $17 roundtrip. $30+ tolls are unfair, especially for those of us with limited east-west travel options. …
11:11 AM - Dec 5, 2017
29 29 Replies 45 45 Retweets 129 129 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Transportation Department officials have said that it will take time for traffic patterns to settle into a new normal, and that the prices are likely to drop. Spokeswomen for the department did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday evening.
Tolls that change based on time and demand, known as dynamic pricing, have become more common in recent years. When traffic gets heavy, the price increases to encourage people to car-pool, take public transportation or choose a less crowded route. It’s the same basic supply-and-demand principle employed by ride-sharing services like Uber, and it has been used or considered in places from Southern California to Singapore.
Dynamic pricing is one form of congestion pricing, which aims to reduce traffic by charging more in peak places, at peak times. As mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg fought a decade ago to charge a flat fee for vehicles entering Manhattan at certain hours. The idea, which met with fierce opposition and died in the State Assembly in 2008, has recently been stirring again.
But even Mr. Bloomberg — who wanted a fee of $8 for cars and $21 for trucks — never contemplated a toll of $40.
I live here, I know this road, and I was telling everyone for years that McAulliffe would do exactly this. People who live outside the beltway still work inside of it -- they live outside because they can't afford to live inside. Moreover, if one of our "alternate routes" (in NoVa, Terry? There are no alternate routes, Governor!) gets blocked because of an accident, we're pretty much forced on the toll lanes by choice. I understand that you need the money, but just like Metro, you don't use it properly (Metro has been making money for decades without doing maintenance, and only started after people began dying). So Metro is cutting off several hours of service a day and cutting the number of trains, the toll lanes are gouging commuters, and I've just lost my ability to work in Arlington or D.C.