![]() The MBA and toll staff will be encouraging transition to non-cash payments beginning Wednesday. The Mackinac Bridge will no longer accept cash for those wanting to cross the bridge beginning Saturday amid concerns of the coronavirus, the bridge authority announced Wednesday.īridge customers will need to pay with a credit or debit card, or use a MacPass card or windshield sticker. Remaining toll roads (like the Thruway) would then be required to become free once all current bonds are paid off, allowing the interstate system to finally fulfill Ike's vision of a US Autobahn.Watch Video: Coronavirus vs. If I had my way, tolls would only be allowed on major bridges/tunnels (like the Mackinac) or as dynamically priced HOT lanes with a requirement for parallel free lanes (exception for I-66 inside the Beltway, as it was never open to SOVs during rush hour due to the special arrangement that allowed it to be built at all and the conversion to HOT lanes didn't actually take away any free capacity). ![]() The interstates were intended to be free. If they're already proposing it, then clearly not having E-ZPass on the bridge isn't acting as an impediment.įor the record, I'm not exactly a fan of tolling everything. ![]() I don't get where you got this idea that Rothman and I want to toll all the roads in Michigan by having the Mackinac Bridge be interoperable with E-ZPass? What we've been saying is that whether the bridge takes E-ZPass or not doesn't affect whether Michigan would toll anything else or not. Honestly, I wish every single toll facility on the continent took E-ZPass (and also that any remaining cash-only or cash-only-below-a-certain-amount places would take credit cards cash is SO inconvenient, though bill by mail is worse). Why force those of us who would rather use E-ZPass to use cash instead just because you hate change (pun not intended)? I couldn't care less if you want to be a Luddite or not, I just don't want to be inconvenienced as a result. They're so obstinate against E-ZPass, they're even considering going AET with no transponder - bill by mail only (presumably their commuter decals would still somehow be accepted).ĭo you guys think your lifestyle is threatened or something? Want to use cash? You don't have to get E-ZPass. That, and the people on the island see the tolls as a way to keep out-of-towners out (among a bunch of other measures, like parking restrictions and implementing a maze of one-way streets). I would hope that the Macinac Bridge is not like the Atlantic Beach Bridge, which has refused E-ZPass mainly because they're a corrupt political patronage operation that doesn't want anyone to know what their financials look like. Is there some Midwest cultural thing against electronic tolling and interoperability? Plus the Wabash Bridge was famous for having its own proprietary transponder despite being in E-ZPass territory. Maybe that's why MacPass is more expensive than even the 407's transponder.Ĭome to think of it, Buffalo was the area in NY (with electronic tolling) with the lowest E-ZPass usage rate, and I want to say that the Ohio Turnpike was the last major toll facility east of the Mississippi (and possibly the whole country) to implement a transponder. In fact, I would think it would have been easier and cheaper than creating their own proprietary transponder that works nowhere else, which is what they did. They could just switch the MacPass lanes to E-ZPass. Family gatherings gave me the ability to compare/contrast the cash experience, as my parents didn't get E-ZPass until the Thruway went AET.Īlso, this idea that toll plazas would need to be reconfigured is ludicrous, to the point where I question whether the people against E-ZPass in this thread have ever driven on roads like the Ohio Turnpike, PA Turnpike, NJ Turnpike, or the Thruway prior to AET implementation. When I went off to college, getting E-ZPass was one of the first things I did because I didn't want to be fumbling with cash while driving myself on the Thruway. For those of us who don't use cash often, having to stuff a large amount of change back into our wallet after breaking a 20 (and then later having to find some way to get rid of the change that makes said wallet feel inconveniently thick). For those of us who don't have passengers to get the money, holding up the line to get out our wallet and money.ģ. Even just drviing through a booth at 10 mph is far faster and more convienent than the following:Ģ.
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