Toll rates are going up.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Peak-I-10-toll-price-increasing-to-10-6274039.php

Saw that on the news last night. Which is strange, because that is probably the first time I had the actual news on in a year.

Anyway - $10 each way from Katy to downtown during peak hours is fugskin highway robbery (literally, I suppose).

At 260 working days a year, minus 15 for vacation, you are looking at $4900 just to drive down the damned highway!

$0.33/minute for a 30 minute commute seems excessive.

Gotta make the roads move somehow.

They should do this on Westpark as well.

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Saw that on the news last night. Which is strange, because that is probably the first time I had the actual news on in a year.

Anyway - $10 each way from Katy to downtown during peak hours is fugskin highway robbery (literally, I suppose).

At 260 working days a year, minus 15 for vacation, you are looking at $4900 just to drive down the damned highway!

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You could always drive on the non toll part of I-10 with the lolpoors.

I hate taking 290 from GOOF to College Station on game weekends. I usually go 610-I10-GP-290.

Since there are seven home games this year it might cost me about $140 more to see the Aggies.

This hits close to home.

Soon it will be like NYC where you have to pay a toll to get into the city, or Shanghai where you can only drive 2 or 3 days per week. Worker productivity arguments would seem to favor putting work in the suburbs.

You take managed lanes on weekends?

And at least there's a choice to pay or not.

I drove around Austin for the first time in years and it seems like EVERY freeway around that hippy cesspool is a 24/7 toll road. At least with managed lanes you can take the normal lanes on the weekends and down times.

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I hate taking 290 from GOOF to College Station on game weekends. I usually go 610-I10-GP-290.

Since there are seven home games this year it might cost me about $140 more to see the Aggies.

This hits close to home.

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Unless you are headed there on a friday afternoon, why are you taking the toll lanes on a saturday?

I do go to CS on Fridays as soon as I can get out of work. I have a free bed in CS and no kids.

Party on, Wayne.

They should do this in all toll roads that have regular traffic jams. Obviously supply > demand.

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It's effectively a commuter tax.

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It's coming


Combination of cars being more efficient and the increase of hybrid and electric cars has caused gas tax revenue to remain flat or decrease. Federal and state governments are not just going to sit by and watch tax revenues go away. They will just come up with different taxes.

Anyone commute from Kingsland PR to downtown?? I drive in probably 6-7 times per month and would love to avoid $10 going home or hell even the current $7..

Send me a PM or post here..(email in profile as well)

I like it. It makes it more possible to have emergency trips. Say on rare days that you have yo get into midtown or out to Katy ASAP and not just a normal commute day. You will be happy to pay the $10+ for that day and happy that you have the option instead of paying the $7 or whatever and just get there a few mins sooner.

Make every day "take your kids to work day" so you can use the HOV lane.

Not just for the bedroom anymore - put one in the front seat

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Make every day "take your kids to work day" so you can use the HOV lane.

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If you read the article they are considering making a rule that someone has to be in the front passenger seat to use the HOV to cut down on people using the lane with kids in the back.

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Make every day "take your kids to work day" so you can use the HOV lane.

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If you read the article they are considering making a rule that someone has to be in the front passenger seat to use the HOV to cut down on people using the lane with kids in the back.

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Sucks. I take the managed lanes home with a baby in the back but I guess she can ride up front if I strap the rear-facing seat in.

I don't think they really check though cause I've never been pulled over.

It's only a $3 increase, 3rdCoast. Seven home games makes it $21 extra you have to pay. The horror!

I like the increase. When toll lanes slow down, raise the rates again so they're worth a s**t. I don't mind paying $$ to move, but I hate paying and having to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic still.

I'll take toll roads on the weekend when headed back into town and I want to avoid the road ragin houstonians. Especially when I have my kids in the back.

I'm fine with the raise. Of course, I hardly use em in the first place.

Not to mention...you are headed to a football game that you pay at least 100 bucks per seat to go to.

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I hate taking 290 from GOOF to College Station on game weekends. I usually go 610-I10-GP-290.

Since there are seven home games this year it might cost me about $140 more to see the Aggies.

This hits close to home.

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Unless you are headed there on a friday afternoon, why are you taking the toll lanes on a saturday?

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And how the hell is that any faster?

I just find it funny and frustrating that this monster freeway is completely full both ways. I reverse commute on it and it is still terrible. They talk about forcing people onto other forms of transportation but a lot of people are going to west chase, energy corridor or galleria. There aren't many options in either direction besides driving.

I guess I don't have an issue with it as increasing toll rates to make sure that traffic flows at a certain MPH was the deal from the beginning. HCTRA fronted a huge part of the entire (not just the toll-road center lanes) of the entire Katy freeway reconstruction, which cut the estimated original timeline using only public funds to reconstruct I-10, from some kind of timeline of 10+ years for all the sections to a very compressed timeline. So for people that don't want to use the toll lanes, don't use it. For those in the main-lanes, they would likely still be under construction if not for the toll road. I end up using the HOV anyway if I'm on I-10 so hopefully this speeds that up as well from Hwy 6 - 610.

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oops, NM

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Make every day "take your kids to work day" so you can use the HOV lane.

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If you read the article they are considering making a rule that someone has to be in the front passenger seat to use the HOV to cut down on people using the lane with kids in the back.

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Sucks. I take the managed lanes home with a baby in the back but I guess she can ride up front if I strap the rear-facing seat in.

I don't think they really check though cause I've never been pulled over.

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Kid passengers should not be included in the count because they are dependent on you to get around. HOV should be riders that carpool and cut down on the vehicles on the road. Your little crotch monsters in the backseat do nothing to help reduce traffic.

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It was pretty nice taking advantage of this back when my 2 little guys were little as we had them in a daycare next my wife's office. We would carpool many days, but would always start the week by driving both cars in to our office (both in the Galleria area) on Monday morning and leave one in case someone had to work late during the week or if a kiddo got sick and we had to pick them up. We would pull out of the driveway in Katy with a 1 year old in one car and a 3 year old in the other and follow each other down the HOV!