Friday, April 17, 2009

Mass Jo(pi)ke

That's right. The tolls of the Mass. Pike are an absolute joke with an easy solution. Did you know it costs nearly as much in revenue to RUN the Mass. Pike every year as the agency collects each year? Unbelievable!

Here's a pretty simple solution:

How many people actually carry cash/exact change with them when they cruise the highway nowadays? Not a lot. How many people are now taking advantage of FastLane? More and more each year. So doesn't this clue in Massachusetts?

All they have to do is install tolls in which a person can insert exact change or slide their credit/debit cards. They receive a quick receipt and move right on. There requires no staffing problems and more lanes can be opened, and opened constantly. It should save about $110,000 per day, at least. And that, if you're counting is $40,150,000 per year saved, just on the tolls. Now, DOUBLE that amount, as the revenue that was paid to the employees can now be TAKEN OUT of the state budget, leaving more than $80 million is new revenue for the state, which can be implemented late next year (after all the tolls are switched over to automated).

That's enough to give every town in Massachusetts at least $100,000 with plenty left over for those towns that need extra revenue. That amount saves at least three teachers and/or three town workers in each town from being laid off for EACH year. That's an incredible amount of change we need.

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