Maine E-ZPass users upset with looming changes
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An estimated 23,000 regular Maine Turnpike E-ZPass users received letters last week alerting them that their commuter plan will be replaced by a volume based discount plan beginning Nov 1. Although the shift away from the commuter plan program is expected to negatively affect only about 2,000 customers, MTA spokesman Dan Morin said, those customers are responding to the letter with outrage.
That is quite the spin. Only 2,000 customers negatively affected? Tolls are going up for everyone, doesn't that negatively affect 23,000 Mainers?
Although these changes will bring in $26 million in new revenue for the turnpike, it will also remove $26 million dollars out of the Maine economy. Maine people are experiencing price increases throughout the economy, rising oil, gas, food, ezpass, prices all take money out of the pockets of consumers and businesses.
Brookings Study
Source
Among low-to-moderate-income households that do own cars, they drove about 10,000 miles and spent about $1,500 on motor fuel during 2010 when the average price of gasoline was about $2.80. Gas prices are now about $3.80 a gallon. Every dollar increase, holding the number of miles driven constant, would cost these moderate- and lower-income households an extra $530 per year. For a family with an annual income of $20,000, this is an additional 2.7% of their total income. Although higher gas prices eventually encourage consumers to cut back on driving or switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles, in the short-run they may have few options but to cut back on other expenditures in the family budget. Since low- and moderate-income families’ spend most of their income on average, in the very short run they can only choose between spending less on other items and going further into debt. In addition, less spending on other items operates much like higher taxes in slowing an incipient recovery. In other words, higher gas prices drain purchasing power from the economy. That means that these families get hit twice: once by the direct impact on their household budgets but a second time when higher prices retard the economic recovery.
Now replace the word "gas" for "toll prices" If people are going to spend more on tolls, they will spend less purchasing goods. Simple as that.
Maine open for business? LOL. Good luck finding customers.
Yeah Bruce, I pay $58.50 and also fund a seperate account with $20 which I seem to renew about 1.25 times a month. So let's call that 108.50 per quarter. With the new rate, at a minimum, figuring a 10% discount, I'll be close to $200 or more. Coupled with $4 a gallon gas, 3000 miles a month...I guess I'm one of the 2000.
Now replace the word "gas" for "toll prices" If people are going to spend more on tolls, they will spend less purchasing goods. Simple as that.
No. The answer is even simpler. If you don't like it - don't drive on the Turnpike. There are other roads which will get you where you want to go.
People are making lifestyle choices that are costing them money, and then complain. Commuting is costing too much? Move closer to work. In the "good old days" when I was growing up, my Dad walked to the corner every workday morning where he would jump in the car with three other guys for the commute to work. Every fourth week, he would be the driver. It was a pretty short commute, too. How many of those who are complaining are car-pooling?
The folks who lived through the depression knew how to pinch a penny.
David....I am a self employed professional who often has to travel to meet clients. In this economy many people are working where the work is. Who the hell are you to question those of us who may not work a 9-5 punch the clock job? Can I afford it, yeah I can. Will it have an impact on my wallet, my lifestyle, yeah it will. Why don't you realize a 100% increase isn't effective government. There is no east-west and yeah, don't take the trurnpike sounds great for those of you with no perception of having a job that isn't locked to a factory or a desk. If I need to see 4 people in a day, I cannot afford to schedule extra commute tiome either. There are folks, such as sales people, brokers, estimators, and mechandisers as well as trucking and delivery folks who are NOT on the public dole, work hard and manage budgets just like your daddy did, but work in this age, not your dream of simpler days gone by. Your comments show how weak your mental capacity is for understanding the big picture. Complaining, your darn right I am. Simple solutuon, probably not.....100% increase, if the dem's were in power you'd be screaming! Once again, the problem is the spending.....and our newly appointmed MTA officials are blowing it.
Peter freaking Mills. Always available to give the Dems bipartisan cover in the legislature and now screwing Mainers at the MTA. What a guy.
Ya now do you miss the orther guy?
Board of trustees is the culprit but iteasier to hate justne person at a time!
One of the biggest proponents of this new toll and ez pass structure is Bob Stone of AMG fame. This change is a kick in the teeth of the small business owners who are struggling to keep their businesses and families afloat in a bad economy. This has nothing to do with Mill and everything to do with a board filled with Bankers and Large business owners. Thanks to that board, we get to pay for the sins of Herr Violet. After all it was the failure of the last board to oversee poor leadership that caused this mess. In the end the little guy always gets screwed. Thanks Bob Stone, I needed one more increased bill to make things easier on my business.
I haven't seen a single post suggesting an alternative to meeting turnpike expenses. Are posters suggesting that the MTA should borrow money? run a deficit? stop plowing? delay upkeep? Where are the suggestions from the complainers?
Hi Atlas...
It's very easy to sit at a computer and knock people while hiding behind a nom de plume. But Scott Fish has no problem with anonymous contributors so we'll accept it as fair game. Let me respond to your comments:
One of the biggest proponents of this new toll and ez pass structure is Bob Stone of AMG fame.
Since you are so knowledgeable about my MTA positions, please share with AMG the full story. In fact, I was a lone board member who advocated for a different rate structure that was judged by the rest of the board as "ahead of it's time". My proposal died, but not after analysis and discussion. If you call that being a big proponent, so be it. I think you are not being truthful.
This change is a kick in the teeth of the small business owners who are struggling to keep their businesses and families afloat in a bad economy.
In fact, I worked quite hard to maintain the commercial trucking rate structure from being increased. That increase would have cost the industry over $2 million annually in increased tolls. The board agreed. I guess I plead guilty to your nonsense.
This has nothing to do with Mill and everything to do with a board filled with Bankers and Large business owners.
Here is the composition of the board:
Jim Cloutier - attorney for a small Portland law firm
Gerry Conley - retired from the railroad
Diane Doyle - real estate developer
Dan Wathen - retired Chief Justice of the Maine State Supreme Court
me - banker
John Dority - retired from the MDOT
Bruce Van Note - ex officio, Dep Commissioner of the MDOT
Pretty diverse group, not as you have characterized
Thanks to that board, we get to pay for the sins of Herr Violet.
Ney ney. The funds taken by Paul Violette have been 100% reimbursed to the MTA. Wrong again, bubba.
After all it was the failure of the last board to oversee poor leadership that caused this mess.
No, it has nothing to do with a failure to oversee leadership. It has everything to do with conscious decisions made by previous boards to load up debt retirement for the widening to the years 2013 to 2018 along with a number of other factors, including age of the pike facilities. Too long to get into here. Just know that you are...wrong again.
In the end the little guy always gets screwed. Thanks Bob Stone, I needed one more increased bill to make things easier on my business.
The process of the toll decision took many months, hours of hearings, months of financial analysis and planning, and I can sleep well, knowing I did the best I could to minimize the impacts on Maine residents/businesses. The board was extremely diligent and open. There were 6 public hearings and much testimony, where people came and stated their name and concerns. We acted on much of it. We'll have a board vacancy soon. Perhaps you should call Governor LePage and offer your considerable talents as a board member. You will have to use your full name.
A response of the finest kind Bob S..
Mills talks about "fairness " and he is full of shit. People pay to get from Biddeford to Saco but NOT Auburn to Lewiston. NOONE pays from Augusta to Houlton. I don't know in what dictionary or language that could possibly be described as "fair".
Joe...
Perhaps I can help you.
1. The cost to operate the toll booths at Lewiston and Auburn exceeded the tolls collected. The MTA saves money by NOT collecting tolls there.
2. The Maine Turnpike covers Augusta to York. Mr. Mills has no control on what happens on the non-turnpike portion of I-95.
My solution, being a West Gardiner resident, is to take the back roads to Augusta and get on 95 North and travel for free to all destinations North. It’s amazing that no tolls have been put in North of Augusta. Bangor probably sees more traffic then the West Gardiner toll both at the end of 295.
Bob,
I was hoping you would chime in....Atlas, well, apparently he has a bone to pick. I don't with you personally, but I do with your board. If you cannot operate a road which should have been paid for years ago (I know, sins of democratic leadership, but if O can't blame Bush.....anymore) with countless roads bonds piled up, well, perhaps one should look at the budget with a red pen. Perhaps phasing out the commuter rates over 12 to 18 months? Increasing the inbound from NH to $3 and removing the outbound? This increase is a tax increase, which the new admisinstration says its against. Yes, fees imposed by government are a tax. Lot's of options besides planting in the keister of those who really need it. BTW, the discounts are a joke. As someone who spends 4 to 5 times on the pike as much as most....10% is the best I will realize. That's discount option is like like playing a game with smokey's greatest shows....step right up, no matter how many times you try, you cannot win.....
As a point of disclosure.............
I'm pretty sure, Bruce Libby is/was an employee or pulling a pension from the Maine Turnpike Authority. So of course he supports anything they do to raise fees.
I thought Bruce was ex Dept of Corrections.
Bruce is many things, including a self-professed troll, but a shill for the MTA, he is not.
Please learn to post facts, rather than speculation, young Matt.
Bruce is many things, including a self-professed troll, but a shill for the MTA, he is not.
I thought at some point Bruce said he worked for the MTA. I stand corrected, I apologize.
matt888
I am a Dan Billings anointed troll and dam proud of it.
Apology excepted.
Rest assured if the authority was to reissue the bonds and pay more interest in long run most would challenge that also.
Of course we are long past remembering if the expansion hadn't been delayed ten years maybe some of this would't have been needed.
Just trying to figure out this system. I cant figure out the rate chart. There are no toll booths when exiting, so how does the rate chart know where you exited? And the york toll isnt listed on the chart. Cant the turnpike just have a website where you click entered "city" exited "city" and it lists the cost?
So what is considered a "trip"? Going through a single toll booth? Or going from one toll booth to an exit further down the pike? How does it know you exited?
If I'm at 39 trips for the month, I save 25%, but if I take 1 more trip, its 50%. Sounds like I can game the system and save $$$ just by making a few more runs through an inexpensive toll booth?
Just trying to figure out "MTA Math" When I look at the chart, all I see is this:
Discounts will be calculated by adding trips from all vehicles listed on an account (limit of 4)
So if I have a group of 4 friends who all have the same commute, we could get 1 account and 4 ezpass transponders and always get the highest discount each month and just split the bill?
Thank Bob Stone - he voted for it.
They have a website and it lists the cost from when you get on to when you get off. There are thing-a-ma-jigs that record your exit even if there's no toll booth.
"There are no toll booths when exiting, so how does the rate chart know where you exited?"
matt8888 - there are sensors at every exit on the turnpike, next time you enter/exit look up, they are those "innocuous" white squares you drive under. :-)
One new change that is good for new users of transpass is the transponders are now $10 instead of $25 !
I wil track my use for 3 months but I believe I will come out over the three months( the old quarterly fee) equal too if not a little less than old system.
Actually under the new fees I just might use other exits that previously I wouldn't have, because they were not in my commuter account plan.
Of course if it is an issue I have the option to not pay the fee and dropout and use other routes!
David Allen said: People are making lifestyle choices that are costing them money, and then complain. Commuting is costing too much? Move closer to work. In the "good old days" when I was growing up, my Dad walked to the corner every workday morning where he would jump in the car with three other guys for the commute to work. Every fourth week, he would be the driver. It was a pretty short commute, too. How many of those who are complaining are car-pooling?
The folks who lived through the depression knew how to pinch a penny.
David,
I'm glad you think everyone has the option of moving closer to work. I live in Pittsfield, and commute to Portland at least two days a week. It was five days a week, but I worked out a deal with my employer to allow me to work in Bangor three days a week. I am still going broke buying gas for those two days.
As far as moving? My house is not worth a lot, and the chance of selling it in any kind of reasonable time-frame is next to zero. Let alone the increased housing cost in Portland and its surrounding areas. Its a no brainer, I cannot afford it.
So as you can tell I am sick and tired of comments of that type.
--JoeH
The painful reality is that EVERYONE DOES HAVE the "option" to make changes. Those options may be less than desirable (losing money on an investment like your home, taking a different job with less pay) but the cold, hard reality is that life is a series of choices. We canot control what happens to us, but we do have control over how we respond. That is the fundamental lesson I drill into the heads of my two teenage boys on a daily basis.
On the flip side, it is okay to gripe a bit about ever increasing taxes, fees, revenue generators, whatever...Complaining about taxes is what started this country. Complaining is legitimate so long as the complaining is constructive.... attend the hearings, seek an appointment to the board, write letters, make phone calls, support candidates who share your positions...these are all acceptable forms of complaining...be sure you are not living with taxation without representation.
I am teaching my children to be self-reliant men who are ready and able to accept the consequences of their choices, work hard to achieve success, to accept the inherent risks of living in a sometimes volatile environment and prepared to take action to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. Life is not fair. Never has been, never will be. Once you make peace with that, and set yourself to accepting the results of your choices and the willingness to work for better, you will then sleep well at night.
.... Life is not fair. Never has been, never will be. Once you make peace with that, and set yourself to accepting the results of your choices and the willingness to work for better, you will then sleep well at night.
Spinmaker, pithy thoughts, indeed. Thank you.
there are sensors at every exit on the turnpike, next time you enter/exit look up, they are those "innocuous" white squares you drive under.
So what happens if I enter the turnpike with my ezpass, then hide it before I exit?
Matt888, So what happens if I enter the turnpike with my ezpass, then hide it before I exit? You will probably be charged the full rate from Augusta to York, just like when you used to led your paper ticket.
And after watching the debacle in NY, I would never move to a city.
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Actually it would be nice to view this from a user (EZ) pass point of view. Versus just hammering on MTA.
I am a user. I to was concerned until I got the facts from MTA.
I had a commuter pass from exit 42 to 53 Scarborough to Portland North,cost 43.80 a quarter.Additionally I had a account that I kept a few dollars in to cover occaisional trips out of my commuter pass region.
When that reached $20 it was replenished w/ $20 dollars more.
After reviewing the new tolls for EZpass users and my use monthly I will be paying no more than my quarterly old fee , except it will pay monthly billed to my account .
While I will likely not get much benefit out of discount s for high usage I still will be paying no more and have the conveinience of it.
So one end result is get a EZ pass and still save.
Of course one could look up on line and get the new EZpass tolls and other changes. Or use the whatever institute analysis of the pending end of the world.