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Airport travelers to get socked by tolls
By adamg on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 1:28pm
The Globe reports on toll increases approved by the turnpike authority today for the Weston and Allston/Brighton tolls and the harbor tunnels, starting in February or March. Most notable: Tolls at the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels will increase from $3.50 to $7 - although FastLane users will get to pay just $6.
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Comments
Welcome to Manhattan
Or something like that.
What about people living in Eastie?
Will they still get a discount, or are they now going to get socked with a $7 toll every day?
Not only that
Not only that, but how about the people who want to get to Eastie to visit their friends? While I understand that they want to milk the airport for all it's worth, this also ends up isolating East Bostonians even further. The only cheap way to get to and from Eastie will be via T and that back way through Chelsea and Everett.
One-way toll
You can get to Eastie for free. It's the coming back that'll cost you.
That's what I'm saying
Unless you plan on visiting and never leaving...it will cost you quite a bit more to visit by car. Sure, you can leave the back way, but it's roundabout and not well known.
I agree this is going to
I agree this is going to kill East Boston, Chelsea and Winthrop (and maybe Revere) as this new entry point had been the best kept secret of that area. This is not what those areas need during an economic downturn as their home prices have dropped more sharply then the state average. Its not going to be good for any of them as people start to balk at the prices they have to pay to visit.
As far as I know, the East
As far as I know, the East Boston discount will stay as is. Many area politicians have already voiced their support of the discount regardless of how fares go up. Unfortuantely that's not going to help our great restaurants like Santarpio's Pizza and ECCO with new customers from downtown. Plus after a late night in town the cab fare to get back home has now risen as well.
Take public transportation
The T is looking better and better.
The Silver Line from Logan will get you downtown for only $1.70.
And only takes around 90 minutes longer than a cab!
re: T to Airport
Oh yeah? Try putting $1.70 on a CharlieTicket.
OK then, $2.00
still cheaper than the toll.
re: OK then
Oh, doubtless. I just have gripes about the automated fare ripoff surcharge devices, since you don't get change back, it's a giant money-vaccuum as my parents experienced when they visited recently.
The system they have where you never get money back and end up with balances that are useless due to the lack of redemption should be illegal, because they're scamming people.
Don't get change back?
I don't understand. If you put in a $20 bill but only buy $4 worth of fare, you get back $16 change. Now granted, it comes back as dollar coins rather than bills, but you do get change.
Dollars and sense
Anon is making some sense about the cents. If you put in $2 to put onto your card for a single ride, then the gate charges you $1.70 for that ride, the MBTA still gets to sit on your $0.30 and there's no method for redemption. They charge an odd amount off of the dollar to *intentionally* trap some of your money in their system for investment, etc. It's still your money and if you wanted to get it out, you could do 10 rides after putting in $17.00 or something, but in the interim, they get to use your money for their own investment, etc...not you. It's a bit of a swindle and one reason why they like the declining balance virtual card (it helps detach you mentally from your own money's value in the long run too).
But you don't have to put $2 on the card
If you really want to, you can put $1.70 on the card and get back 30 cents of change. I doubt that many people find this worthwhile to do, though.
Back when the T had tokens, most people would buy a few at a time and carry them around. That's the same principle as a declining balance card.
Huh? You can put as much or
Huh?
You can put as much or as little money as you want at the machines in all the Logan terminals or at any subway station, including courthouse.
CharlieTicket requires $2.00, CharlieCard requires $1.70
at least I think that's the point the commenter was trying to make.
Charlie Cards aren't that
Charlie Cards aren't that hard to come by, and give ya free transfers between bus and subway, and bus-to-bus...
I always keep a few spares around for friends. I just ask for them from time to time when i notice one of the T's friendly and helpful customer service persons hanging around doing not enough.
(and every time I go thru downtown crossing and notice the seldom-open Courtesy Counter is open.
why on earth would you use a
why on earth would you use a charlie ticket? (unless you were a tourist)
and its really easy to do that anyway. You could put as little as 5 cents on the thing (or maybe even 1 cent with a credit card)
That's why I fly Manchester!
Only 75 cents at the Bedford, NH tolls
Free bus
There's also a free shuttle bus that runs between the Orange Line (Community College stop?) and Manchester Airport.
You just have to show your ticket/boarding pass to use it.
This isn't a recommendation however; I've never actually used it myself yet.
Really?
I'll have to remember that.
No more free Manchester shuttle
Sorry, looks like the free service ended and was replaced by a shuttle that costs $19 each way. From Sullivan station (or Anderson-Woburn station), not Community College.
Thanks
Thanks, I hadn't looked into it lately. I guess the fuel costs just got to them for the most part.
I'd never used it either
and didn't even realize it had ended until I looked it up just now.
Detour
I guess I'll be taking the Chelsea/pothole run from the airport back to Somerville more often.
shhhhh!
shhhhh!
Also, will the Tobin Bridge toll remain at $3?
If it does, I predict that a lot of traffic is going to divert away from the tunnels and onto the bridge. This is not necessarily a good thing.
Time to string Fred Salvucci from the highest yardarm
Commute-a-holic, who drives in from the west, is outraged, would rather see gas taxes go up than tolls and and blames it all on Fred Salvucci, the Dukaksian transportation secretary who started the whole Big Dig thing rolling:
What a tool
This guy lives in Blackstone Valley, works outside the city, and then complains about the tolls and says the Big Dig didn't help traffic?
Huh??
First of all, if the other toll suggestions go through, this guy will be able to use the Pike out in BV without having to pay unless he comes inside of Weston. Secondly, 10 years ago 93 was an absolute NIGHTMARE and now it's free-flowing nearly 24/7. Getting to the airport doesn't even require getting onto 93 at all any more and traffic downtown is nothing like what it was when the surface roads had to weave beneath the elevated highway...nevermind the tremendously improved scenery and air quality!
What a tool. The Big Dig may not have been financed well or planned correctly, but the results are dramatically better for the city in many ways. I absolutely detest that 93 isn't being taxed to pay for itself and that the gas tax isn't being increased to support an issue with paying for a roadway project, but to claim that the effort was *entirely* wasted is absurd.
Things are better, and if
Things are better, and if they dont mess it up by increasing tolls on these underused portions of road ways, god willing, then we will see people using these new options rather then using the "old route". If you slap a 7 dollar entrance fee people are going to run away from it, and it will become a road thats only used by those who can afford the 7 bucks, and cut the rest of us out.
I use the East Boston
I use the East Boston tunnels to get onto the Pike or head towards South Boston. They already have restrictions and tolls which cause them to be so lightly used that they actually give you a free ride from 93 North (on the Quincy side of the city) to the tunnels towards the airport. This is INSANE! If anything they should increase the tolls on the Tobin Bridge southbound (from zero to anything else) (I know its a different authority) because that stupid thing gets more traffic then the tunnels do.
this is just not right
Okay, this is just not right. What can we do about this? How do we start a movement against this? They have to find some other way to pay for the big dig. Raising the tolls that much in this economy is just alienating entire communities.
Another comment from East Boston
Fabulously Out There doesn't hold back:
Can you please link to her blog post? Thanks.
.
i forget ...
I forget, why do East Boston residents get in free?
HERE HERE! This is how
HERE HERE!
This is how revolutions start, doesnt Deval know theres an election coming up and the North Shore already is sour on him?
This is short sighted and obviously aimed at a group that he doesnt think will fight back.
Tell him to take his Cadillac, and expensive drapes and put tolls up in Milton!
what does he care? that
what does he care? that caddie will be collecting dust once he starts commuting via the Logan-Reagan shuttle
First I do extend my
First I do extend my sympathies to Fabulously - w/r/t general cab issues and those that will be a result of the increase. But her issue is more with the Boston Police Department and its regulation of hackney carriages (taxicabs to you newbies), not the Pike. My advice to her is to contact Capt. Chiccolo at BPD who heads up hackney (a great guy who takes pride in what he does - and who is very good at it, except when superiors and politicians get in the way as the do with amazing frequency) and ask him to set up a sting operation on the drivers refusing to go to eastie. word will spread like wildfire amongst the drivers when a couple of them get busted and have their hackney licenses pulled.
I will also say here what I have said elsewhere. The people who are really getting screwed are the 15,000 - 20,000 people who work at Logan. I'm talking people who work at Dunkin Donuts and who lug your baggage around. These are not highly paid positions. They go to the airport nearly everyday, and are not eligible for any toll discounts. I would be saying that a labor disaster was coming at the airport, except that many of these folks already endure incredibly long T rides (and then shuttle bus rides) rather than pay an hour's wage or more in tolls. But almost all of the folks who work overnight (the airport is a 24/7 operation) will get creamed (they generally can't take the T either on the way in or the way out).