Posted on 04/14/2009 12:24:08 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Massive Easter traffic backups caused by no-show Turnpike toll takers have hatched new levels of driver rage - and Pike managers are promising Memorial Day could be just as bad.
Traffic was snarled for hours and backed up for miles on the Massachusetts Turnpike Friday and Saturday. But the worst was Sunday, when it backed up from Allston as far as Sturbridge.
It was all because an untold number of toll takers called in sick, and managers were forbidden to call more in on overtime. At one point, the Allston-Brighton tolls were left with just one lane inching past a sole toll taker.
Pike director Alan LeBovidge said drivers better get used to it, or get a transponder. Memorial Day, he said, is likely to be just as bad.
“We’re really desperate for money and we’re working very hard to conserve cash,” LeBovidge said. Pike spokesman Colin Durant claimed the agency had not determined last night exactly how many toll takers failed to show up for work.
Outraged drivers said the Pike’s failure to respond to the crisis not only ruined their holiday, it showed the embattled agency is not just a financial mess . . . it’s a management disaster area.
“They made their problem everybody’s problem,” said Melissa Brooks, 32, of East Boston. “Instead of a nice relaxing day, I came home incredibly mad.”
Her typical 50-minute drive to her mother’s in Wrentham took more than two hours.
“It was the worst trip ever,” lamented Alex Durso, 36 of Melrose, who was trapped in his car with two young kids as a four-hour trip to Albany stretched into eight hours.
LeBovidge acknowledged his agency could have done a better job placing signs ahead of toll plazas telling drivers which lanes they should be in. But the Pike chief shifted the ultimate blame from his own management decisions and his toll takers’ work ethic to the drivers who were caught in the mess.
“Not enough drivers had Fast Lane transponders,” LeBovidge said.
“If Alan LeBovidge were sitting next to me, I’d have punched him in the nose,” said holiday driver Brooks, citing the unhelpful signage as a major frustration.
Meanwhile, LeBovidge said if the Pike determines there was a pattern of abuse of sick time, there will be an investigation and possible diciplinary action.
Pike board member Mary Z. Connaughton said she hopes the Pike revisits the policy for Memorial Day weekend and future heavy-traffic weekends. “The (overtime ban) on the whole is probably a good one to save money, but there should be exceptions to keep the flow of traffic moving,” she said.
In New Jersey the toll collectors threatened to go on strike.
...the state then said they would suspend tolls during the strike.
...just like magic, the toll collectors decided a strike might not be in their best interest.
LOL
Typical Soviet Republic utterly corrupt, inefficient, and unaccountable institutionalized Passive Aggressive behavior.
The pathetic losers of Massachusetts however richly deserve every hardship for voting democrat.
Just suspend tolls when less than 80% of the work force shows up.
I smell serious b*llsh*t.
Mitt Romney tried to “free the Pike” and get rid of Matt
Amorello (I think the latter succeeded) but his hands were
tied. The Pike may never be free. One moment they’re
praising how well the Pike is running—then suddenly they’re
up to renew the bonds and they suddenly discover the poor
shape it’s in. Oh, we need to keep the tolls, and raise them, even, to fix the infrastructure...
>>
>>BOSTON —Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello, under fire since heavy ceiling panels in a Big Dig tunnel collapsed on a motorist, agreed Thursday to resign after weeks of pressure on him to step aside.
Amorello’s resignation will be effective Aug. 15, but he will continue to receive his $223,000 annual salary through Feb. 15. He will leave the board completely, not just step down as chairman and chief executive.
He announced his decision an hour before a scheduled hearing in the governor’s office during which Gov. Mitt Romney planned to seek his removal.
Such a simple solution and so very effective. I am amazed no one took it upon themselves to simple remove the cones or whatever was blocking the toll lanes and just simply drive through.
...and get blue lights in your rear view mirror and an order to pull over...
Why not suspend the tolls?
Vs.
Being sued for poor management in a high traffic area leading to road rage accidents.
I assure you that no managerial consequences whatsoever will accrue from this farcical debacle. The official response will be a large orchestrated media campaign to drive commuters to adopt transponders in order to avoid future “problems” of this sort.
It’s like living in Springfield with Homer Simpson as mayor.
Just click the political arrogance dial up one notch.
Can’t pull ‘em all over....
...and get blue lights in your rear view mirror and an order to pull over
I would think there weren’t too many cops waiting for someone to pull thru without paying if hundreds decieded to run thru without paying just what are the odds of getting caught? But I guess the rats arent to bright to figure that out and rather sit in line burning up gas creeping along for hours on end. serves them right idiots.
True...
Hey libs/environmentalists, how about all the gas that got burned up,
all the damage done to the atmosphere, by idling cars?
Margery Eagan’s Herald column:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1165492
>>Marcia Gregg and her family left Pittsfield at 4:30 Sunday afternoon. They planned to be back in Boston by suppertime.
Instead, they spent nearly six hours simmering on the Massachusetts Turnpike. They didn’t get home until 10 p.m., by which time they were at a boil. Like untold thousands of drivers, they were trapped by the whims of toll takers who called in sick on the holiday.
>>The Greggs watched all of “Slumdog Millionaire” on their car’s DVD. They went through every song on the iPod. Marcia’s teenage daughter, unable to get to her homework and a 20-page paper that’s due Thursday, was beside herself. Her husband? Ready to kill, kill, kill!
Figuratively speaking, of course.
“What was going on? We keep waiting to see where the accident was. It was the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Gregg, who said the slowdown began in Springfield.
>>But here’s the sorry state of affairs between the beleaguered citizenry and the political class around here. Or, put another way, between tapped-out taxpayers and Beacon Hill scam-aholics. Gregg was one of several Easter Hell survivors who told me Deval Patrick’s Turnpike minions pulled this stunt on purpose, to make a point. They want to raise tolls and/or get a gas tax. The public’s complaining? So stick it to ’em. Shut off the lights on the Lenny Zakim Bridge. Let the toll takers call in sick. There’s an eight-mile backup in Framingham? So what. See how the whiners like it.
>>“The government’s supposed to be on our side,” Gregg said. “Instead they hold us in contempt.”
Gregg’s completely right, of course. I’m just always surprised to find regular people as deeply suspicious as me.
The Pike’s “wave through” policy is long gone
Consider this: Would you take part in an unarmed “human wave” attack against an enemy you know doesn’t have nearly enough bullets? It guarantees a win for your side, but are you willing to take the chance of being an unlucky one who catches one of those bullets?
I have no sympathy at all for the wretched masses of Massachusetts. If they don’t like it perhaps they should move to Michigan
So, was this an organized labor action? It sounds like the union “suggested” that their members call in.
At least we don’t have toll roads in Michigan.
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