Count me among those who are still skeptical about MassPike toll changes

Nov. 11, 2016 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

As you read this column, I will be back from a few days at the Cape and I will have experienced the new and improved Massachusetts Turnpike experience.

Will there be additional rest stops? Will the food at the rest stops be better? Will the gasoline be less expensive?

Ah, no. The improvements are in the removal of the toll plazas and the switch from human beings taking my coins to the state setting up a special account for everyone to pay for their use of the road or receive an old-fashioned paper bill.

As a matter of introduction, I want to stress I’m not a Luddite. I do indeed embrace technology despite the fact I do have personal habits – such as I enjoy carrying a pocket watch, I’d rather talk to people than text them, I prefer physical media such as DVDs and CDs to digital forms of movies and music for example – that might indicate a reluctance to accept all the 21st Century has to offer.

I was recently urged to sign up for a transponder so I could effortless traverse the Turnpike, but to this date, I have not.

I know it’s easy and the device is small and unobtrusive. I get it.

I just don’t see why I have to go through the bother when I only use the Pike a handful of times a year.

You see I’m not an east-west kind of guy. I’m a north-south kind of guy. If the choice is to visit Boston or visit New York City, it’s NYC for me. I have neither friends nor business to the east, but plenty in the north-south corridor.

So why do I need another thing to worry about? My involvement with the Turnpike hierarchy was to hand someone several coins every now and then.  It was an easy process.

If I was traveling to the Boston area on a regular basis I would undoubtedly sign up for a transponder, but I don’t.

Yes, I know I’m going to pay more. At this point, though, I think the difference is not going to break the bank.

I also take up a contrarian point of view about the need for someone like me to support the Commonwealth’s decision to support a supposedly improvement of traffic conditions in Boston. How does that help me and my fellow citizens of Western Massachusetts?

Yes, yes, before you accuse me of something in a tersely worded email, I know the Boston area is where all of the people live and their traffic, to use the vernacular of the day, sucks.

I’ll be very curious if the elimination of the toll plazas will make a real difference in traffic flow and commuting times to the east. I honestly hope it does, because if it doesn’t that will mean the elimination of jobs and the costs of setting up this enlarged billing edifice will be all for naught.

We’ve been disappointed in the past. Remember when the talking point was the Pike was going to be a free road once  all of the bonds associated with it had been paid?

I’ll let you know how quickly I get a bill and how much my use of the Pike costs me now.

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