If anyone who living in large city like LA or NYC, you know how much you hate stack in traffic jam everyday! And so does in Japan. But there a way to reduce commute time and cost you extra 6 bucks everyday. Here is my story, I have been monitoring my evening commute for past few weeks. And result was I have been stack in traffic jam for at least 25min everyday. (Stack means not moving or moving around 8mph). But if I uses toll road save me tons of time and it cost me 6bucks. Seriously if I save 25min my time, I can do whole other things. Is it worst it to pay extra 6bucks? I would think yes but other hand I'm going to spend 30bucks every week or 1470buck for 49weeks! What do you think guys/girls? Will you use toll road or not use toll road?
Is your time worth more than $15/hour? Mine is, by a long shot. I'd pay the $6 without hesitation to save 25 minutes and the accompanying stress and frustration of a traffic jam.
I'd pay the $6, no question about it. But better yet, I'd move somewhere where "traffic jam" means waiting an extra cycle of the lights to get through the worst intersection in rush hour. Hey, I already did.
I think there's a plan afoot to create a separate toll bridge in Washington (state) -- a 2nd Tacoma Narrows Bridge? I'm unfamiliar with the issue, though. Toll roads are very rare in the Pacific Northwest...
We have a toll bridge here. Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN are separated by the great Red River of the North, and connected by three bridges downtown and the interstate on the south side, but there was no bridge on the north side. So they put in a toll bridge. Cost is 75 cents, but it driops to 50 cents if you buy $5 worth of tokens. The idea of course is if you are going from north Fargo to north Moorhead it saves you a couple of miles of driving. But I use it sometimes just to avoid the busy downtown streets.
I would strongly recommend it. At first I thought toll roads were stupid, "Why should I pay to go on a road?" However, when I was with my dad going from Inner Loop Houston to the Intercontinental Airport, we had the choice of the crowded I-45 or we could take the Hardy Toll road that hardly anyone ever uses and isn't patrolled by cops for $1. He uses EZ pass(automatic paying system) and drove at about 120 mph in his BMW.... that saved us about 40 minutes, which for him is a lot. It depends what your time is worth. Do you want to be around loved ones or do you want to be stuck in a "stack"?
For now I'm commuting on Toll road. I know that stretch of Hardy Toll Road (from Loop to belt 8 ) :mrgreen: I'm former to Houstonian. I use drive the stretch of road pre-first, when I had my Camaro Z28 and GTi :mrgreen:
There are other factors. To some people, that $6 a day would be financially impossible. Unless they could use the extra 25 min/day working at a job where they could recover at least the $6, it may not be a choice at all. So, in the end, it depends on how much you can afford in cash to get back some time and what will you NOT be doing with that money: buy food, save for retirement, whatever. Everything has an opportunity cost. Some years ago, they replaced an old toll ($0.50) bridge between VT and NY across a narrow part of Lake Champlain. They were going to increase the toll to help pay for it. Then they figured out it cost more to pay the toll booth people than they would take in! Of course this isn't LA, NYC or San Francisco with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of cars going over the bridge every day.
Here in Orlando the city has many toll roads going through town. When I first moved here 22 years ago they were relatively cheap to use but over the years they have added many new routes and lanes to get you around the city faster. Prices have risen over the years but with E-pass you get a break if you spend a certain amount of money. However with all the traffic in the city the toll roads are clogged at rush hour,which seems to last longer each year and the city streets are just a nightmare most of the day. It never ends they add more lanes widen the streets but until growth is controlled it will be a mess every day on the streets,highways and toll roads.
Curious if they have an option for you to buy a pass that allows you to drive through and pay either in advance or post? In some cases, you can save extra time and / or money.
