I'd like to start an organized turnpike boycott, any chance of success?

[str8shooter]

Well, the toll increases are a reality, and according to the latest reports we can expect steady increases over the next few years.

The official excuse; more fuel efficient cars means less revenues from gas taxes coupled with deteriorating bridges on I-95 that need millions to repair, so now PENNDOT has to make up a $300 million deficit.

I say bullshit.

Besides $4.00+ per gallon gas prices forcing people to cut back and probably having more of an affect on revenues from gas taxes than hybrids, there's the little matter of Eddie's gift to SEPTA and statewide mass transit companies to the tune of $412 million in federal HIGHWAY funds.

So the plan is, charge turnpike users for a mass transit bailout and nonturnpike roadwork.

Easy enough, with EZ-Pass more popular than ever, hardly anyone will notice, and since the money collection points are already in place, no overhead. Just reset the printing machine to the new rates and money will flow in like magic.

Alternatives:

Charge tolls on I-95? No, that would mean people might hop over to Jersey and spend their money over there, and we already know we lose billions per day to the Garden State because everyone flocks to Atlantic city nightly to gamble.

Increase the rates on mass transit? No, that's descriminatory because it's mostly the inner city minorities who use it, who also happen to be the people who elect mayors and governors.

Trim the fat off of SEPTA? No, it's a union company, and everyone's job is secure and pay raises are guaranteed no matter how badly managed the company may be. And if they don't get what they want in the next contract negotiations, they'll strike and all those voters won't get to the new Philly casinos.

But wait, maybe that's it. Let the mass transit unions strike. Mass transit won't need federal money given to the state for highways to keep running, people who commute from the burbs to the city will need to drive so toll revenues will increase and more driving means more gas tax revenue, and the people who drive the turnpike won't have to foot the bill for Eddie's pet projects. Naw, too simple.

I say boycott the turnpike, and force Eddie to steal money from someone else.

[Whiskey Delta]

I'd rather see toll increases than an outright tax on cars via mileage.

At least with the current scheme, YOU have a right to exercise your right to avoid charges on the PA TP by using alternate routes.

If PA follows Oregon's lead (and don't think these A-Hole Liberal governors don't swap stories and strategies to wring every dollar from us taxpayers and hand it out to the non-working democratic voters) then you might find in the next ten years or so a GPS system mandated by the state that will keep track of your vehicle location, miles driven and God forbid your actual speed.

You might find that a little black box in your car sends you a traffic ticket via the state website everytime you stray over 72 mph in a 65 zone.

Crazy? Oregon is proposing just such a system, and it would be CHEAP in the long run, and likely pay for itself in insurance handouts and fines within 5 years.

This will subsist until a social revolution sweeps both the country and the state, where people seek freedom from oppression and privacy intrusion rather than seeking whatever state-driven benefit and handout they can get. With the socialist driven dogma becoming the norm, rather than the exception, I would not hold my breath.

In the meantime? Be glad that their solutions are easily thwarted. Let the sheep figure it out on their own. If you WERE successful in gettign people to abandon the TP, you would not cut the head off the beast, you would simply make it seek your money from another trough.


If you want to get people organized, do so at a political level and let's vote some of these socialist scum out of office in the first place. Instead of trying to circumvent their schemes, let's get together and get them unemployed in the first place.

Let's get Fast Eddy back to chasing ambulances.

[CommonHighrise]

I love the idea of on-board GPS for all vehicles in exchange for reduced insurance rates! But probably Im such a careless mechanic that I always seem to leave grounded bunches of copper mesh laying all about my car. Oh well.

[imperialism2024]

Unfortunately, I can't beat the efficiency of the NE extension for trips to visit a friend who lives in Ambler. As long as the toll doesn't begin to approach the cost of a speeding ticket that I'd get on 309 (my alternate route), I can't complain... But I'll gladly avoid the turnpike if someone can suggest an alternate route from Catasauqua to Ambler that takes 45 minutes or less.

However, for trips to Pittsburgh, I've been boycotting the turnpike since I started to drive.

[rant]
PENNDOT needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. As it stands now, we have the worst roads by far out of all our neighboring states plus the South (haven't driven out West to survery those roads yet), the worst winter maintanence, and an absolutely ridiculous amount of road rendered inoperable by "road construction" zones. Don't get me started on the absurdly low speed limits...

I'm convinced that "active construction zones" in Pennsylvania are like yetis: some people claim to have seen them, and once in a while a fuzzy picture of one surfaces, but they're widely regarded as mythical beings.

How about sending road crews out to panhandle for spare change on the 360 years each year they're not working on the sorry excuses for roads? Right now, giving more money to that blackhole of efficiency would make as much sense as giving another rock to crack addicts.
[/rant]

[ar15jules]

You don't need to recruit me for a boycott. I avoid it at all costs. I am a westy and rarely find the need to use it, but still avoid it when heading east. 80 in PA and old NY 17 are much better roads.
Jules

[tdyoung58]

There's been a boycott going on for years... drive down I-70 and I-68 in MD / WV some weekend.

btw, betcha didn't know that the PA turnpike time on the tickets/EZpass are 'certified' and they will go to court, they are suppose to start issuing tickets for speeding according to the time it takes to exit B from exit A. According to my last warnig notice... for a 67 mph average speed

Myself, I don't care how much they charge in my truck, just means the price to drag it wherever it's going increases.... ultimatly you pay more when you shop and buy their crap. Otherwise I don't use the PA Turnpike, ain't worth it, for their crappy ass roads

[Whiskey Delta]

There's been a boycott going on for years... drive down I-70 and I-68 in MD / WV some weekend.

btw, betcha didn't know that the PA turnpike time on the tickets/EZpass are 'certified' and they will go to court, they are suppose to start issuing tickets for speeding according to the time it takes to exit B from exit A. According to my last warnig notice... for a 67 mph average speed

Myself, I don't care how much they charge in my truck, just means the price to drag it wherever it's going increases.... ultimatly you pay more when you shop and buy their crap. Otherwise I don't use the PA Turnpike, ain't worth it, for their crappy ass roads

I wondered how long it was going to take them to start using timestamps to bust people. I have been sort of waiting for them to take my ticket and then wave me off into a lot for citation once they compute it took me one hour to drive 73 miles on their highway, and now you tell me this...wow.

I guess my desire for an "EZ pass" just flew out the window.

I suppose the best boycott would be a mass exodus from EZ pass use, and make them start paying more toll booth attendants, but they could still use the timestamps... damn.

The State Police Hierarchy just sits there and takes it. I guess they can't do the math and see that if the State Police are no longer needed for speed enforcement, then they will find their numbers cut down to acceptable "crash scene" investigation levels and nuisance calls on the rest stops.

Jeezus, it is worse than I thought.

[SHEPHERD321]

What happened to the original plan? toll I-80 and tax out of staters like everyone else does. Ooo I forgot about the self centered ----- that live around I-80 and don't want to be bothered using a free pass.

[PennsyPlinker]

I'm as anti tax as anyone, and more so than a lot of people. While I am not wild about the turnpike the way it is run now, the concept is sound - if you want to use our road, you will pay for it. But now, raising the fees to pay for other roads is redistribution - it is just one more form of socialism.

I have enough trouble organizing myself, so I wouldn't be much good at organizing others, but I can tell you this. There are always alternate ways to go, and my EZ Pass is going to be gathering dust.

[PennsyPlinker]

There's been a boycott going on for years... drive down I-70 and I-68 in MD / WV some weekend.

btw, betcha didn't know that the PA turnpike time on the tickets/EZpass are 'certified' and they will go to court, they are suppose to start issuing tickets for speeding according to the time it takes to exit B from exit A. According to my last warnig notice... for a 67 mph average speed

Myself, I don't care how much they charge in my truck, just means the price to drag it wherever it's going increases.... ultimatly you pay more when you shop and buy their crap. Otherwise I don't use the PA Turnpike, ain't worth it, for their crappy ass roads

I had an acquaintance get a warning via the timestamps on his ticket back in the 70s, but never heard anything more about it since then. They surely would have gotten me a few times. But no one ever has. And I'm just keeping up with traffic you know.