Hooniverse Asks: Do You Pay Extra to Get There Faster

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In case it hasn’t been made abundantly clear with the current election season here in the U.S., wealth has its advantages. Oh sure there is the heightened threat of paper cuts from counting money, and the prospect of being crushed beneath an avalanche of unnecessary possessions, but over all, it’s good to be rich.
One of the reasons why is the ability to take advantage of exclusive roads known as toll roads and pay-to-play HOV lanes. Here in LA you can slog across the San Gabriel Valley on the 10 Freeway with the rest of the schmos, a trek that on an average morning could take more than an hour, or you could pay a few bucks and make the trip in an exclusive FasTrack lane in a mere matter of minutes. It’s what separates the haves from the have nots, at least when it comes to FasTrack transponders and a bank account to fill it.
Do you value time over money and make use of these sort of extra cost time savers when it comes to your drives? I know that we’re all egalitarian here and think that we should all face the same traffic, but gosh darn it, sometimes you really have to pee! What do you say, do you ever pay extra to get there faster?
Image: thetransitcoalition.us
 

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42 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Do You Pay Extra to Get There Faster”

  1. Tiberiuswise Avatar

    I’ve done this sometimes on the NJ to VA trip. Frustrating because I never knew how much it would cost and how much time would be saved.

  2. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Confronted with a choice of A and B, may I choose C? I’d just move somewhere without such dreadful traffic.
    In Norway, typically congested roads have “fellowship lanes” (the clichés, I know): Busses, taxis and cars with at least two people in them may use them. Electric cars are always allowed in fellowship or exclusive bus and taxi lanes. This means rich folks in Oslo send their nannies on errands in Lef’s and Tesla’s – thus we’re back on topic.
    http://436.a.canopus.no/images/upload/550/w/148193.jpg

  3. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    Don’t have to deal with this on a regular basis. The closest I come is.the occasional speeding ticket every 5 years or so. There is a toll lane set up in Atlanta that has the price varying with traffic. It has been as much as $10 to get from the suburbs to downtown in rush hour, on the weekends it is $0.13.

    1. theskitter Avatar

      Reverse commute, so I pay the ~$0.25 per day to generally increase my average speed. When the price goes above $1, I start to wonder if that lane will just come to a halt like all the others.

  4. q5ka Avatar
    q5ka

    I try to avoid toll roads if at all possible but I am a private pilot with a small plane and will fly to shave hours off long trips. So yes but only when my time is worth more than the costs.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      How do you calculate cost with a small plane? Total, per hour, per distance?

      1. q5ka Avatar
        q5ka

        Cost (fuel,fees,etc) / time saved. Example, I frequent a 4 hour car drive compared to 1.25 flight for same flight (each way). It costs me about $200 to fly (vs about $60 to drive) but it saves 5.5 hours and I find my time is worth $36/hour for the round trip.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Excellent answer! I’m also surprised that a ~3h flight, all cost included (?), is only 200$.

          1. q5ka Avatar
            q5ka

            Small piston Cessna and that is fuel/fees/maintenance fund. Fuel is by far the most expensive thing with small piston flying.

          2. Hatchtopia Avatar

            So, semi-serious question, what’s your gas mileage calculate to?

          3. q5ka Avatar
            q5ka

            Wind makes miles per gallon a difficult thing so it is measured gallons burn per hour. I tend to burn 11-12 gallons per hour at around 140 knots air speed which is 161 mph. With no wind (which almost never happens) ground speed would be that. So using that as our calculation we would get 13.42 mpg. Some of the smaller planes can travel around 100 knots and burn less than 5 gph. Those would only fit 2 people and maybe an overnight bag but they still travel faster than driving (115 mph) and you are looking at numbers of around 23 mpg.

          4. Hatchtopia Avatar

            Thanks! Aircraft are completely foreign to me, other than sitting in the sardine portion of big ones. Those are surprisingly higher numbers than I thought.

          5. q5ka Avatar
            q5ka

            There are many general aviation aircraft out there with higher fuel burn with marginal speed increase. The rule with planes is if you want nicer/faster/bigger you just throw more money at it either up front, when being fixed/inspected or each time you fly it. So small and slow are “cheap” to own and operated and the costs goes up from there.

  5. ninjabortion Avatar
    ninjabortion

    I will pay in my truck, but the sensors for tolls here in Austin are as shitty as the ones for street lights so if you are on a motorcycle if you don’t ride dead center of the lane you don’t get charged. Ride near the edge of the lane and you’ll never get a bill on a bike. I can’t lane split and the red lights often have no idea i’m there, so i’ll stick it to em where i can.

    1. Dabidoh_Sambone Avatar
      Dabidoh_Sambone

      Austin’s toll roads are unAmerican. Austin (and Texas in general) have made a deal with the devil given the massive building of toll roads over the last 15 years. Sure, you get to your destination faster but … most of them are piggybacked on top of existing roads and taxpayer funded infrastructure. The 290 toll road and the one they’re building on Mopac are prime examples: taxpayers carved out those routes, then later that infrastructure is “sold” (I don’t remember receiving a check!) to developers who build tollways on them to extort us (non-rich taxpayers) into paying too damned much $$$ to drive on them.
      I lived in Japan back in the early 2000’s and I was aghast at the expense of driving cross country there. Sure the gas was expensive, sure it’s expensive to pay Shaken 車検 (inspection fees) and registrations fees are high too … but then you try to drive somewhere and discover those costs pale in comparison to tolls: you’re continually and often paying the equivalent of $10 or more. Here in the USA, and mostly thanks to Eisenhower’s visionary foresight to build infrastructure that would benefit our economy, one can get on an interstate in Miami and drive to Seattle for the cost of the gas consumed. And that’s the way it SHOULD be, but isn’t, as states make backroom deals for the roads we’ve already paid for.
      PS I didn’t realize I could dodge the fees when on my motorcycle. Thanks!

      1. ninjabortion Avatar
        ninjabortion

        Hey i’m just happy to help stick it to the damn toll roads, good luck out there. Agreed 100%, Austin toll situation is screwy.

  6. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    I have a Platepass account, so I guess I have to answer yes. I pay an extra fee ($4 or something like that) when I use it, but not stopping 3 times on the Bee Line between Orlando Int’l and the turnoff for Titusville to pay tolls is totally worth it. Plus I get a nice neat invoice to submit on my expense report.
    Wait…I guess *I* don’t pay extra. My company does.

  7. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    HOV? Toll road? Traffic?
    I don’t think GoogleMaps will let me copy a pic (or at least I don’t know how to) to show how remote my drive to work is, but needless to say, I’m a pretty lucky S.O.B. who doesn’t have to worry about any of it.

    1. GTXcellent Avatar
      GTXcellent

      Aha! My caveman tech skills have shone through loud and proud this morning – I figured out how to upload images! Here’s my highway!
      and you techie kids can stop your snickering, This is a big deal for me, and I’m pretty proud I learned a basic skill today.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        Is there an…enforced speed limit?

        1. GTXcellent Avatar
          GTXcellent

          Living so close to the Canadian border post 9/11, we are thick with Border Patrol agents, Minnesota State Patrol, and county deputies. We also have a very notorious state trooper who takes great delight in enforcing every single infraction no matter how small (and seems to make up more as she sees fit) so speeding is not advised.
          Besides, when there’s no other traffic or problems to deal with, what’s the hurry?
          Here’s a bonus pic of my gravel road.

          1. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            It’s beautiful!

          2. Guest Avatar
            Guest

            Looks like your drive is pretty similar to mine, with my average school commute consisting of ~2 miles of gravel, and ~15 of pavement (secondary highway).

            It’s a pretty relaxing, if a little boring drive. The only annoying part is that my old elementary school is on that highway, and that means going from a 100 km/h speed limit to a 30 km/h speed limit, and then back to 100 km/h, which is like going from 65 mph to 20 mph and back to 65 mph.

          3. Vairship Avatar
            Vairship

            I have to pass a school on my way home, where the speed limit is “25mph if children are outside”. This being Southern California, children are never outside, as they all come pre-packaged in buses or SUVs/CUVs, therefore I can maintain the 35mph speed.

          4. Guest Avatar
            Guest

            It’s exactly the same at that school, as it’s rural, and the nearest child lives ~5 miles away. Nobody has ever walked or even biked to that school since my dad went their.

            A conditional law would make sense, but it’s probably too unique of a situation for any bureaucrats to bother.

      2. kogashiwa Avatar
        kogashiwa

        Looks pretty much the same as on this side of the border. Which is why almost no one buys sports cars here. Handling? what’s a handling?

  8. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    Oh. Hell. Yes.
    Otherwise I’d be in DFW traffic 4 hours a day.
    My commute is about 40 minutes, 45 miles. If I took the non-toll (635/75) I’d be an hour++ in traffic. Tolls on SRT121 are fixed so it’s not bad.
    The new Texpress is a rolling rate depending on the traffic on the non-toll road. Light, 95cents. Heavy, up to $5. Rush hour used to be 1h20m drive to my son’s. Now I pay $10 for the 2 segements and get there in 25 minutes with a 75mph limit.
    The NTTA has a rewards program that’s supposed to make us feel better about spending this cash.
    With my points I’ve accumulated, I calculate I can get 954 pieces of Popeyes Chicken.
    No Joke.

    1. Texlenin Avatar
      Texlenin

      I’m sorry, but f**k the NTTA in a painful hole.

  9. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    My office is located along a toll road. If I go west, I usually end up getting on a highway 3 miles away, but it isn’t connected by an interchange. I could either pay $1.25 to get on and then exit 3/4 of a mile later and have to cut across three lanes of traffic to make the right turn, or just bypass the toll lanes and get in the right lane farther back.
    If I go east from the office, I normally turn onto a road 5 miles away. I can either enter the toll road at the $1.75 entrance or the $1.35 entrance farther up the road (that one is unstaffed and doesn’t take cash). Or I can just stay on the free lanes and get there just as fast, or maybe faster when the toll plaza is backed up.
    I will occasionally use the toll lanes if I run a crosstown errand after work, but that is usually no more than twice a year.

  10. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    Yes. I will pay to get there faster and/or more easily. Sometimes the ROI is terrible. I think I save less than an hour by paying $40 to take the PA turnpike instead of I-80, but the hour difference between 9 hours and 10 hours behind the wheel is a valuable hour to me. There is the added convenience of service areas located along the route, as well.

  11. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    So, in the Toronto area, there’s only one toll road (the 407), which basically connects the three suburb regions. It was useful when I drove all over for work (since I was frequently in those areas), but since it can pretty easily be $20/use, I didn’t get paid enough to justify it most of the time. I’ve got a 15 minute commute now, so even if I had a toll option, I doubt I’d take it.
    That said, my wife and I were willing to pay differently. She works downtown, so it’s by far more convenient to live on the local subway line (even if that means bring in a condo) rather than dealing with a commute approaching 2 hours.

  12. hwyengr Avatar
    hwyengr

    I’m okay with most of the CA implementation of the HOT lanes because you can still form a carpool to use them for “free” (except the stupid maintenance fee for the transponder…). And there is a benefit to the people in the general purpose lanes since you’re redirecting volume over to the toll lanes. The theory behind the pricing is that there’s a target average speed for the overall freeway, and the price adjusts accordingly so that enough people will pay the toll, move out of the GP lanes, then the average speed hits the target.
    In theory.

    1. hwyengr Avatar
      hwyengr

      Wait, that’s not right. There’s an average speed for the toll lanes that’s managed. The GP lanes are allowed to come to gridlock. But still, you’re getting more vehicles over into an underutilized carpool lane, which will still help somewhat.

  13. Andrew_theS2kBore Avatar
    Andrew_theS2kBore

    Yes and no. I pay above average rent to live in an area very close to the office. Same principle, different execution.

  14. Kiefmo Avatar
    Kiefmo

    “Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what’s so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what’s so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.”
    – Adams, H2G2
    Also, beware of the leopard.

    1. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      Do you have your towel?

    2. Texlenin Avatar
      Texlenin

      Oh No; not again…..

  15. The Real Number_Six Avatar
    The Real Number_Six

    Nope. Shortly after I get on the road it’s just this: http://m9.i.pbase.com/v3/82/46482/2/48931239.P9030516CS.jpg

  16. salguod Avatar

    Columbus Ohio has some of the best urban highways around, and outside of a couple of miles around downtown, it’s all 65 MPH. I commute from outside the outer-belt on the west to at the outer-belt on the NE (about 23 miles). At rush hour, through downtown, it generally takes me 30-35 minutes. No tolls.

  17. Scoutdude Avatar
    Scoutdude

    I live in Seattle and we have had HOT lanes for many years. One of the road that I used to drive ocassionally (167) was the test area. You had to have their sticker to pay to drive with one person 6a-7p M-F. Usually the toll was $.75 but it could rise to $2.00 in the peak hours. It all worked fine and I personally never used it and didn’t get the transponder so I couldn’t have legally. They just had simple readers and relied on the honor system a bit and Troopers picking out a scofflaw now and again and giving them a ticket.
    Now recently they did a major project on 405 where they widened the road so that they had 2 toll lanes from Bellevue to Almost Bothell. They went super expensive with this version. Cameras, lots and lots of Cameras and of course like CA the Double white line and limited access and exit areas. So now you had to pay to have a carpool pass or a switchable unit if you want to use it as a HOV lane any time of day and you had to have 3 people to qualify. There were many uproars over it and they have changed their tune so many times due to all the public outcry. They now have changed it to open to anyone in the 7p-6a time frame and you only need 2 people in peak times. It is a variable rate with a lot of time it being $.75 for the entire length and the most I’ve seen is $2.00 for the full distance.
    Because of the Camera system and the fact that my wife and daughter have switchable passes I’ve done it a couple of times now because my license plate is added to the acct, Doing so saves a bit over a photo generated bill. So for me it works out as cheaper since I’ve only used it twice and now that it is open on the weekends w/o a pass I don’t expect to pay more than once or twice per year.

    1. Scoutdude Avatar
      Scoutdude

      I should add that I don’t expect to pay because it is a rare thing that I will drive that area of 405 during the rush hour. I spend my time sitting on I-5 where my total commute home can be up to 1.5 hrs for a just over 30 mile trip. Now not all of that can be blamed on I-5 because it can take 10-15min just to get the mile and a half to I-5 that time of day, on a good day. The other part of the blame is that I live out in the woods and a lot of my commute is on roads with 40-50mph limits and stop lights. Some times the navigation says it would be quicker to drive a little further and go across the toll bridge but the saved time is usually only a couple of minutes and it isn’t worth it to pay as much as $1 per min saved, go further and of course finding out that the other way picked up speed after the point of no return.