The Outsider Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 Just came back from JFK after dropping a friend and my pocket feels $18 lighter. And to top it, had gone to pick him up as well. Toll rates have reached insane levels in NYC with the tunnels/bridges to enter the city at $8 and the cross borough connection bridges/tunnels at $5 each way. The operators of Verazanno bridge think they have something special, so they charge $10. These numbers are bordering on insane and are getting progressively worse rocketing up much faster than inflation. I remember crying about toll rates increase from $2 to $3 on the Bay Bridge from Berkeley to San Francisco when I was on the other side of the country, but NYC takes the cake, or should I say money. How are the tolls in your area? Enough to pinch? Do you think excessive tolls are justified once the construction costs have been recovered?
suma25 Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 In mumbai at the checknaka you have to pay 25 Rs for entering the city or more its more for trucks /buses around 150 Rs but even that 25 bucks isnt worth it..125 bucks for poona expressway 240-275 Rs for trucks/buses now that expressway is really good so i wud say 125 Rs is worth it for the expressway even for the banglore satara highway the toll they charge 45 Rs is worth it much more for trucks/buses most of the highways have improved in the last couple of yrs at least in mahrashtra. the most pinch is felt by the trucks/buses here rather than usual travelling public in cars as 45, 25 ,125 bucks is not that much compared to 150, 240 bucks for the same amount of travel. Now the toll for worli sealink thats gonna come up is gonna be 150 Rs and another new link is gonna come up at navi mumbai called nhava - sewri sealink the toll for that is gonna be like around 200-220 Rs minimum .Now thts gonna hurt a lot
vroomfondel Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 bay bridge is 4 bucks, so is richmond/dumbarton etc. gg bridge is now 5 bucks w/o fastrack. add the price of gas to this (which is about 3-4 bucks roundtrip), and it's finally worthwhile dealing with BART. how i envy the lucky sob's with their hybrid-yellow-hov stickers. they don't pay toll in CA.
Ram Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 For a trip from Raleigh to NJ ( bout 600 miles), I think we paid toll alone of around $25. BTW, is this EZpass thing valid everywhere in the country ?
Bumper Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 On the East coast, I'd think the tolls are justified to some extent, since the public transportation is good. In the West coast however, there are simply no viable public transportation options between the south & east bay, which makes some of the tolls here, absolute nonsense.
CC1981 Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 Swetabh, thats an INSANE toll rate! i wonder how do regular people, who drive in NYC and make 15-20 bucks an hour afford that ? its like 300-500 dollars in tolls alone minimum!! In my area(Vancouver), there are no toll bridges/tunnels that i know of, except for maybe Richmond to Delta tunnel at rush hours ( Rajeev might be able to confirm- i don't take that route at all but its close to his neck of the woods). The only toll road i know of in this region is the Coquahalla highway, which is a new highway to BC's interior- it starts about 150-200 kms from Vancouver, is a rather nice highway to drive(scenic, 2 lanes each side and road quality is distinctly German-esque, which is to say, it feels like you are driving on air). Frankly, what amazes me is that despite all this American chest-thumping about being the bestest nation on the planet, they've utterly no concept of public transportation. I can't speak of west-coast cities, coz i havn't been south of Seattle, but on the east coast, i've been to NYC, Philly, DC, Atlanta, New Orleans, Charlottetown,etc. And even though NYC has the best public transit system i've seen in those cities, it still sucks- there is one skeletal subway system but the bus system seriously sucks donkey balls. For eg, i don't have a car and i don't need one in Vancouver either- we have a skytrain ( elevated rapid transit) system, that runs through the spine of Vancouver and loops through ( Vancouver metro area is a 'long' city like Patna- it doesn't have that much 'depth' to it) and the service is amazing- every 45 seconds on peak hours, every 2 minutes on regular hours and every 4 minutes on wee hours of the night before it shuts down. They are expanding the skytrain system right now - adding an extra 30 stops (an entire line extension running down the 'depth' of vancouver) for the 2010 Olympics and another extra 20 stops will be ready by 2015 IIRC. Then there is the bus system- nomatter where you live- the low-rise spread out semi-rural suburbia of Surrey even- you are within 10 minutes walk of a bus stop, with bus services being once every 10, 15 or 30 minutes, with only the fringe areas being once every hour. Plus there is a dedicated bus service system(the B-line), which runs the 'hot channels' ( eg: one skytrain hub to UBC through most of upscale Vancouver, one to Richmond, one to Coquitlam,etc), where the bus stops every 3 stops and comes by every 10 minutes(5 minutes at rush hour) without fail. Plus there is a 'late night bus' service, which keeps running all through the night and does the 'drinkers alley' route ( the area of Vancouver- Burnaby and New West where most pubs are located) and that has saved my tail on multiple occasions that i've stayed out late and gotten drunk. And lastly, there is a seabus service ( mini-ferry), connecting the north shore ( North Van,west van with vancouver proper) that runs from the Harbour-center every 15 minutes. Whats impressive is that the transit system is still fairly cheap by world standards ( $2.50 per trip, ticket valid for 1.45 hours, 75 bucks monthly pass for one zone, 120 bucks for 2 zones and 150 bucks for 3 zones- most people have 1 or 2 zone passes and if you are a student, you get to 'upgrade' +1 zone for free plus the transit pass costs 40% the regular price, all tickets valid for bus,skytrain and seabus service) and its very punctual - the skytrains are never late unless they have a moron trying to jump in front of the train and kill themselves(which is rare) or technical problems(which is even rarer) and even if it were late, nobody cares, because it runs so bloody frequently. The buses are rarely late and i've so far never had to wait more than 10 minutes beyond the time a bus is supposed to arrive and that has been once-a-month happening (for a daily multiple user like me, its pretty good going to put up with a late bus once a month). To cap it off, if you are centrally located (transit-wise) like I am, any spot on the Greater Vancouver Metropolitan area is reachable for me inside 1.5 hours by using transit only and if you live on one of the lesser travelled fringe areas of Vancouver, you can still make it to anywhere in the metropolitan area within 2 hours- including waiting/transfer times. I don't mean this to be a 'my city >> your city' kind of nonsense, just showing that this is the kind of public transit planning that i havn't seen in the US and even on a world scale, only the Germans better it- perhaps this is why Vancouver runs fine despite not having a SINGLE freeway running through the city proper and having only three freeways running through the entire metropolitan area.
CC1981 Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 On the East coast' date=' I'd think the tolls are justified to some extent, since the public transportation is good. In the West coast however, there are simply no viable public transportation options between the south & east bay, which makes some of the tolls here, absolute nonsense.[/quote'] Mate, the public transit system EVERYWHERE in the US sucks...the best public transit system i've seen in US is in NYC and if any of the Canadian major cities had public transit system as horrible as the NYC, the local govt. would be booted out in no time. :two_thumbs_up:
Rajiv Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 ya. my work is like a 8 min ( with morning traffic ) drive so no tolls for me but I remember when I was in RI, and my trips to NY would cost quite a bit back and forth I remember I was short ome quarters, I gave the fella our desi 50 paise coins which I had in the car
Desi Cartman Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 The public transport system is not that great in melboure either ... The trains get delayed or cancelled frequently and eventually I gave up on public transport a couple of years ago & started driving to work .. Its easier in the morning and it takes me around 40 mins for a 12 km drive but thats because I leave home after 9am. Its a different story on the way back as it takes me at least an hour. The train system is cr@p as the peak time trains are crowded. There are frequent cancellations during the peak hours. Buses are not that frequent and trams are too freaking slow ... the only positive is that you can use the same ticket on all three modes of transport :thumbs_up: . Daily ticket for zone 1 (say 10kms around CBD) would cost $6 a day and Zone 1 & 2 would be around $10. I havent used the new metro trains in Delhi but have heard that its pretty cheap and has good service. As for the tolls , there is a 3 km tunnel to avoid city traffic but it merges with the busiest freeway in melbourne , so even though u may spend $12 a day but still you will end up on the same freeway in a few mins time. There is a toll bridge and another toll way towards the airport but I have never used it ...
vadodaravictor Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 There are not too many toll roads here in northern california...but we are paying way more in state tax than other states...hence it sort of balances out..
Holysmoke Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 I remember when I went to bombay last , we were going to alibaug.. and there was this toll booth, but one of my friends knew a "shortcut".. We went off the road leading to the toll booth onto another "kaccha" road.. which bypassed the toll booth and got back onto the highway.. I found it hilarious... and almost half the cars on the highway were going thru that road :haha: Now its been fixed.. they had to break down the old toll booth and move it ahead.. before the road split..:hysterical:
umpire Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 we have this toll booth, and I drive everyday twice. They charge 10 Rs per trip. Its national highway, but people like me go there to visit industrial zone which is just few kms and we found this ridiculous to pay 40-50 Rs everyday for the toll, so one fine day we had "RastaRok Andolan" and so govt. decided to give free passes to those who only go until that industrial zone and they have moved toll booth 10 kms from there. Democracy Rocks!!!!
The Outsider Posted March 31, 2008 Author Posted March 31, 2008 Swetabh, thats an INSANE toll rate! i wonder how do regular people, who drive in NYC and make 15-20 bucks an hour afford that ? its like 300-500 dollars in tolls alone minimum!! Don't think many people drive to NYC on a regular basis. Getting from NJ into Manhattan is $8 and if someone has to carry on to Brooklyn/Queens that's another $5 one way. Actually, the public transportation in NYC is pretty good. Subways aren't the best kept ones but they work and are very frequent. Also, cab fares are relatively cheap and cabs are plentiful so one can do without boarding the bus in the city, which admittedly has a poor service. In addition to NYC, DC, Philadelphia, and Boston have decent public transportation. Of course, all this is in the context of the US where public transportation is abysmal in general compared to Europe. The west coast as Bumper alluded is particularly bad, even heavily populated areas like the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Lesser said about other places the better. On one hand I think it's quite alright to have high toll rates in places like NYC where traffic is a huge problem, but I feel that on weekends and nights the toll rates should be cut down. Have never been to Canada, so it's nice to know that they are doing well on public transportation.
coffee_rules Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 Have been in Canada - Ottawa for 2 years, it is same as suburban NJ. Need a car to get around. Public transport sucks in most places in NA, except in some inner parts of major cities/metropolitan areas. I have a ezpass, they charge 12$s per year, but give 2 $ discount on tunnels and highway tolls. it I guess it all evens out in the end. If you drive more, I think ezpass is the way to go. The major adv more than money is the convenience. I see all cars on the pay lane lined up so much, I zoom past all of them in seconds. For the convienience itself it's worth all the money. Go EZPASS! Plus is is accepted in most of NE states. Went to DC also on ezpass.
The Outsider Posted March 31, 2008 Author Posted March 31, 2008 CR, I also have EZ Pass but the $2 discount is only during certain hours and the funny thing is that weekends are normal toll rates for most of the day. It's convenient on NJ Turnpike, GSP, and other highways but for NYC it really does not offer much advantage because the tunnel traffic is usually backed up equally for EZ Pass and regular commuters. So yeah, it's surely something worth putting up on your car but not always will it give you an advantage.
CC1981 Posted April 1, 2008 Posted April 1, 2008 Have been in Canada - Ottawa for 2 years, it is same as suburban NJ. Need a car to get around. Public transport sucks in most places in NA, except in some inner parts of major cities/metropolitan areas. eh ? How long ago were you in Ottawa ? I was in 2002 and Ottawa, hands down, has the BEST bus service anywhere i've been and that includes 'transit paradises' like Germany. They have dedicated bus channels, buses that run every 5-10 minutes without fail and bus networks are like 10 minute walk away from everyone. Ofcourse, if you are stuck in a place like Kanata, you are fcuked. Ottawa is a weird city, in a sense that there is forests/parks between Ottawa and some of its burbs...those burbs are insane to commute to until recently- Ottawa comissioned a suburban rapid rail line in 2006 and that has improved their connectivity to the suburbia tremendously. But yes, in the overall picture, due to lack of a skytrain/metro in Ottawa, their transportation is a bit sucky compared to Toronto/Vancouver. Seriously, Canada's public transportation is not as awesome as Germany or France, but it is as good as/better than anywhere else that i know of.
coffee_rules Posted April 2, 2008 Posted April 2, 2008 Never had the opportunities to live in inner cities / downtowns. I have always lived in sub-urban areas. So, from my experience no place in the burbs have good public transport system. Unlike Bombay or Delhi.
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