Posted on 01/08/2017 8:12:18 AM PST by lowbridge
A FOX 5 staff member driving on Interstate 495 found a sign showing the toll for the Express Lanes starting from nearby the Tysons Corner area to the I-395/95 exit would cost a whopping $30! Using the lanes to I-66 would be just shy of $10.
-snip
A spokesperson for Transurban, the company that manages the Express Lanes, said from around 4:30 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. Thursday, two salt and plow trucks were working on the southbound Express Lanes on I-495 and I-95, causing traffic to slow and increasing the toll on those lanes. The company said there is no cap on the toll and the prices will fluctuate based on the real-time traffic demand.
-snip
Tolls for the Express Lanes are dynamic, meaning they change periodically based on real-time traffic conditions to keep the Lanes free-flowing. Because toll prices are based on demand, it is difficult to predict exactly what the tolls will be at any given time.Tolls can range from as low as $0.20 per mile during less busy times, and up to approximately $1.00 per mile in some sections during rush hour. However, rates may rise significantly above the typical range for periods of time in the event of unusually heavy congestion or a specific event like a traffic accident or lane(s) closure.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5dc.com ...
This HAS to be considered price gouging at its worst.
Another fraud by the left, joined in by crony capitalists, for which too often the right has fallen, forgetting the conditions necessary for free market efficiencies.
Lemme get this right. The slower it’s going the more they charge. That’s communism.
Here’s one for you, Tol.
For you Libertarian-leaning weanies that JUST LOVE privatization of the highways by Crony Capitalists, please note the the following giveaway here:
“The company said there is no cap on the toll and the prices will fluctuate based on the real-time traffic demand.”
By the way, the politicians that give away our highways, of course, don’t have to pay these tolls - they’re always exempted.
Taxes to build it. Taxed to use it. Taxed to pay the exorbitant pensions for those who you paid. Nice work if you can get it. NFL. “NOT FOR LONG”!
Rural farmers would cultivate a mudhole in a dirt road, then charge exorbitant fees to extract stuck wagons.
That’s insane!
Transurban manages and develops urban toll road networks in Australia and North America. It is a Top 20 company on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and has been in business since 1996.
So crony capitalism thrives in Australia as well.
“This HAS to be considered price gouging at its worst.”
No, it’s “FREE MARKET”. They should charge WHATEVER THEY WANT, at least according to the Libertarian types on this site. Yea, let’s PRIVATIZE THE ROADS!!!! Yea, that will solve everything.
The fact that Crony-Capitalist POLITICIANS make the deals that give these companies MONOPOLIES on their highways (by not permitting parallel highway construction/widening), and then sign contracts for 49 to 99 years with NO RECOURSE, doesn’t seem to get through to that bunch.
All I can say to the Libertarian types here - I SURE YOU HAVE LOTS OF MONEY if you plan to drive on the roads you want privatized.
nope this ain’t price gouging
just simple supply and demand - it’s called capitalism
all interstates should be privatized
[So crony capitalism thrives in Australia as well.]
South Africa owns the Illinois toll roads.
lesson learned for me: stay off toll roads during snow storm
Time to revive an old word: Highwaymen. They laid in wait for travelers and robbed them. This is no different. That it’s DC Bubblecrats adds a nice Robin Hood touch, but still, it is what it is. Robbery, almost rising to the level of ransom. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch, but it’s coming to a town near you if it’s not nipped in the bud and right now. Those roads were paid for with taxes upon you and me, maintained via taxes upon you and me. Sold to some foreign interest, but where did the profit go? Not to you and me, but we’ll get to pay the freight for whatever they decide to charge, to drive on the roads that we built. You can’t tell me we’re not being treated as a conquered people.
You're kidding right? You have to be kidding me.
Just like how Obama, Congress, and their staffs exempted themselves from Obamacare.
Would it be possible for Trump to issue an EO requiring that ALL elected officials be subject to the same laws they obligate everyone else to live under?
It would probably get shot down in the courts as exceeding his mandate. But imagine the public anger it would arouse: that "our betters" dare think they aren't beholden to the same laws as the rest of us. Trump could ride that into a second term easy...
But they were built with my money. How can someone charge me to drive on a road I built and own? If they want to buy the road (at it’s current money-making value), then how do I get my share back in cash instead of it enriching some other politician or crony or getting spent on social engineering projects I don’t get a say in vetoing?
Good strategy! He could then Tweet something like:
“EO to make Congress live by same rules as everyone else, shot down by courts, tells you something about our courts, and Congress.”
...but only if Congress misbehaves.
I don't know about EO, but I've been saying this for years. No more exemptions for elected officials or employees of Federal government, they must be fully subject to every single law and regulation to which the rest of the citizenry are subject. Otherwise, we'll continue to get ridiculous, ham-handed, destructive laws and regulations. The final straw for me, was US Senators crying crocodile tears because their staffers couldn't afford Obamacare, so they exempted them. Grrrrr. Still steams me to think about it.
Demon Rat governor of Virginia, Terry Mcawful, is worth $30,000,000. So this increase in the tolls won't bother him.
Nice move, Virginia.
And the money goes to another country! Here in Texas, many tollroads are built by foreign companies and they get the tolls for 40 years, I think. Set the toll and leave it be - these variable tolls stink to high heaven!
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