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Why I don't want the turnpike authority to put in more FastLane machines
By adamg on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 5:30pm
It's purely selfish, I'll readily admit: I now get through the Weston tolls a lot faster.
See, so many people now have transponders that they queue up something fierce at evening rush trying to get onto 128, because they can't use the lanes still staffed by actual people - of which there are typically at least four. Me? I'm a lazy cuss and I don't have a transponder. So all I have to do is weave in and out of the stalled transponder losers and get myself to one of the manned booths and I'm outta there.
Actually, even getting on the turnpike at Framingham is usually quicker for me than for the FastLane slowpokes for the same reason.
So what if this costs the authority money it doesn't have? It works for me. Thanks, Teamsters!
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Comments
Why not put FastLane in all of the toll lanes
including the ones still staffed by people?
If you're using the Pike regularly, I think you're giving up a significant discount by not having a transponder.
Discount, shmiscount
I don't think I actually use the Pike enough to make it worth the $25 deposit (or do they even charge that anymore?).
The Framingham tolls actually have one of those dual FastLane/manned lanes. Even with it, though, I still get onto the road faster because it's on the extreme left (when it's open at all) and the FastLane people all hug to the extreme right, effectively giving us trogs two lanes to their one.
...because then you could
...because then you could have people stopping in the fast lane to pay with change, and fastlane users not expecting them to have stopped, and smackarooney.
Toll interchanges are one of the most dangerous sections of road around.
Umm. EZ-Pass is in all toll
Umm. EZ-Pass is in all toll lanes in NY and they don't seem to have any problems. You actually can avoid accidents when people with or without transponders don't have to cut across traffic to get to the correct lane.
I agree with the above
I agree with the above commenter. The "EZ-Pass Accepted in All Lanes" system works extremely well in many other cities, and doesn't seem to cause accidents. Just like everywhere else on the road, people just know that if the car in front slows down, they need to as well.
I've traveled up and down the east coast, and have lived in three different markets with toll-tags. The Mass Pike is the only system where it actually feels like having the tag puts me at a disadvantage since it limits my options.
Getting onto the Pike is sometimes a challenge when the FastLane booths are only at the far right, and I know that just past them, I'll need to get way to the left.
At some interchanges (the I-495 exit comes to mind), I'll exit the Pike to find that the only FastLane enabled toll booth is ALSO open for cash... while two other lanes are cash only.
What they need to do is do
What they need to do is do like EZPass and just install the high speed receivers that work at 65 mph.
I don't use the Pike enough
to have a transponder...if they do in fact still cost cash money...but I need one. Because I drive the Pike infrequently enough that I haven't yet committed to memory the locations of all the cash-only lanes from here to Stockbridge. And so on high-traffic weekends, when the cash-only people are out in force, I find that by the time the signs get around to indicating which lane I need to be in, I am usually already trapped in the wrong lane. And then I have to creep, creep across lanes and cut in line. Or just drive through and wait and see if I get a bill in the mail.
I should probably solicit transponder contributions from my fellow motorists as I creep, creep past them.
I don't get it
I go through the Weston toll plaza, the Allston/Brighton toll plaza, and sometimes the Framingham exit every single workday, and the Cash Only lanes are always crawling. The EZ Pass lanes move pretty quickly.
The problem is that the MTA has the lanes scattered seemingly at random. EZ Pass here, Cash Only there… what they need is a system. I've always felt that, especially at the big toll plazas, EZ Pass lanes should all be on the left and Cash Only on the right. EZ Pass lanes should by "fly on through," while Cash Only is stop and pay your toll.
Honestly, especially since they raised the tolls, I see Cash Only lanes being slower than ever. Its either because the toll collectors take longer to make change, or because drivers used to chucking a buck now have to fiddle to find another 25 cents.
You can't be serious about Cash Only being faster than EZ Pass? For real?
Really
Evening rush hour, around, oh, 6 p.m., heading from the turnpike east to 128 (south in my case, but it would work for north, too), there are typically longish lines waiting to get through the FastLanes, usually short or sometimes even no lines at the manual lanes. When traffic is really backed up, past the toll plaza and onto the access ramp, it's an amazing thing to be able to snake through the lines of people with transponders and then zip up to the manual booths (after which, of course, I then get caught in whatever mess was causing the backup to begin with).
Similar phenomenon getting onto the turnpike at Framingham from Rte. 9 east - there's often a slowish line back onto the access road. Once I get around that, I can zip into the lane with the card machine.
Maybe its not so weird
I'm always headed in the other direction and experience completely different results. I definitely don't think it helps that the major plazas seem to have a system of EZPass, Cash Only, EZPass, Cash Only, EZPass, Cash Only. It seems to cause a lot of confusion. And it definitely does not help that 15-odd toll lanes condense down to 2 or 3 travel lanes on the other side. That's not an official funnel. Not fun. Not funny.
You will notice, however, how I say EZ Pass and not FastLane? Whether its more efficient or not, the FastLane is not fast.