Houston
Sponsored by

Most toll roads in houston have no debt on them

7,701 Views | 57 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by Buck O Five
agracer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
The Wonderer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
You want to ban buses during prime commuting hours? I think people using the park and ride would have a problem with that.


And banning large vehicles will never happen in a city like Houston.
Punked Shank
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Why not do what dallas does and have them send you a bill if you don't have a tag on BW8?

Seems like best of both options. Eliminate bottlenecks and still keep "cash" option open..
YellAg2004
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.
BigPuma
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
You want to ban buses during prime commuting hours? I think people using the park and ride would have a problem with that.


And banning large vehicles will never happen in a city like Houston.
Except for buses, why not ban hammer large vehicles from certain lanes during certain times, etc.
gindaloon
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.

Made up facts are made up.
The Wonderer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
You want to ban buses during prime commuting hours? I think people using the park and ride would have a problem with that.


And banning large vehicles will never happen in a city like Houston.
Except for buses, why not ban hammer large vehicles from certain lanes during certain times, etc.
You mean like when Houston banned trucks from the left lane and made them drive 5 mph slower than the speed limit for cars?

Also, in a city that is a hub of trade, you won't be able to limit when large commercial vehicles can manuever around the city for two reasons: 1) you'd restrict logistics leading to more unintended consequences and 2) it's like letting a pack of dogs loose all at once if you restricted large commercial traffic to certain time periods and this would cause even larger traffic problems imho.
BigPuma
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.

Made up facts are made up.
I would wager heavily with you that this is pretty accurate.
BigPuma
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yeah i was really a fan of keep trucks the eff out of left lanes and hov lanes. I don't want them to drive slower though. That was a dumb rule
Bregxit
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.

Made up facts are made up.
I would wager heavily with you that this is pretty accurate.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Harris-County-racks-up-358M-in-unpaid-tolls-6748471.php

Hard to tell. The above article does point out some of the silliness involved though. There is $22 million of unpaid tolls going back to 2000, but with fees and other crap tacked on the "debt" is $358 million. Sounds like loan sharking to me.

I also find it funny that they have all the "VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED" signs but there are people out there with balances exceeding $20,000. That is felony territory as far as theft of service goes.
agracer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
You want to ban buses during prime commuting hours? I think people using the park and ride would have a problem with that.


And banning large vehicles will never happen in a city like Houston.
Buses use the HOV lane. But no, not ban them...but for sure 18 wheelers.
The Wonderer
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:
quote:


Fuggin 18 wheelers, concrete trucks, busses and other large commercial vehicles should not be on the toll road. Neither should Asians, Canadians or Mexicans for that matter. Canadians,on motorcycles are perfectly OK, because they universally haul serious ass.
That should be all Houston freeways between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.....and 4:30 - 6:30 PM
You want to ban buses during prime commuting hours? I think people using the park and ride would have a problem with that.


And banning large vehicles will never happen in a city like Houston.
Buses use the HOV lane. But no, not ban them...but for sure 18 wheelers.
The long commuters do, but there are also buses on the main lanes.
Gator92
How long do you want to ignore this user?
YellAg2004
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.

Made up facts are made up.
Suffice it to say that I'm pretty close to the situation, so you can believe what I said or not. Makes no difference to me.

As I've said on other threads, the majority of people on TexAgs are not "normal" violators. I would assume that most on here are college educated and honest people that pay bills that they owe. If that is the case, you should also know by now that you are in the minority with regards to being responsible. So a bunch of posters claiming that they would pay their toll-by-mail bill doesn't surprise me. But it also wouldn't move the needle compared to the vast majority of people who would just toss it in the trash.

At the end of the day, the toll road must answer to the county commissioners and the bond holders. Part of that responsibility includes catching/prosecuting violators. If your commute takes you through the Sam North Toll Plaza (the one between 249 and I-45), you've seen the army of constables parked along the shoulders the last few months. They are waiting for serial violators to come through the plaza. Depending on how much they owe, they may be given a citation and escorted off the toll road or they may actually be arrested and their car impounded.

If the HCTRA system hadn't come into existence until 15 years ago, it's highly likely that pay-by-mail would be accepted. However, since HCTRA was in existence before pay-by-mail was an option, the toll/violation policies that HCTRA operates under were already in place. Changing those policies isn't exactly a small undertaking and the power-that-be have determined that it's not in HCTRA's/Harris County's/bond holders' best interest to make those changes.
Zobel
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Second this question. They just started up a new co2 capture + oilfield injection project there.
Dr. Doctor
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:
Because the vast majority of drivers don't pay the bill when they get it in the mail.

Made up facts are made up.
I would wager heavily with you that this is pretty accurate.
IIRC, HEB had like $800k worth of just unpaid tolls. Fees/fines brought this back up to like $2MM or something.

The annoying thing was they settled with the county for less than just the fines. Make them pay; I have to pay, why shouldn't they?

~egon
Dr. Doctor
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
Two options:

1) Pay tolls and that money goes to build other roads

2) Increase taxes and that goes to build roads.


Those are your options.

~egon


No, they are not the two only options.
Pray tell, what is your options? (Sorry, been out vacationing).

You want more roads. You have to pay. Either raise more money via taxes or raise more money via tolls. What is the mythical way to build them?

~egon
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
quote:
quote:
Two options:

1) Pay tolls and that money goes to build other roads

2) Increase taxes and that goes to build roads.


Those are your options.

~egon


No, they are not the two only options.
Pray tell, what is your options? (Sorry, been out vacationing).

You want more roads. You have to pay. Either raise more money via taxes or raise more money via tolls. What is the mythical way to build them?

~egon
Ohhhh, I don't know....stupid idiotic things could also be implemented. I'm just spitballing here, so bear with me....

1. Actually use the gas tax for roads and bridges and stop raiding it to fund other projects. I know it doesn't cover the entire bill, so.....
2. Quit spending money on stupid projects, special interests or other things that are absolute wastes of my taxpayer money. Novel concept, I know. it covers a hell of a lot of subjects, but i always find it amazing that left leaning folks just can't seem to grasp the concept of "spend less ****ing money than you take in" and always seem to default to "raise taxes!" or "pay more!".

You know, stupid stuff like that.
Dr. Doctor
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
You realize I linked the numbers for both of those, right?

If you cut out the so called BS, you only have AT MOST 50% of your road budget. Say TxDOT could be cut to $9 billion, gas tax is ONLY $3.3 billion. Where you getting the rest?

Which means you need more money or you build less roads.

So which is it? Less roads or raise prices/taxes?

~egon
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
You realize I linked the numbers for both of those, right?

If you cut out the so called BS, you only have AT MOST 50% of your road budget. Say TxDOT could be cut to $9 billion, gas tax is ONLY $3.3 billion. Where you getting the rest?

Which means you need more money or you build less roads.

So which is it? Less roads or raise prices/taxes?

~egon


You do realize that there is a lot more waste across the board in government than the little slice of the pie you are talking about, right?

Hell, the county is going to spend $100mm on a falling apart stadium that needs to be torn down. That is just but one of hundreds of examples of stupid spending,of taxpayer dollars - and that is just at the local level. State and federal are beyond stupid and orders of magnitude higher.

The very method in which budgets are allocated needs to,change as well.

But i know your answer is to raise taxes, it always has been. Actually addressing the problem is apparently not something that could ever be discussed.
Dr. Doctor
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yes, but your suggestion was use all the gas tax for roads.

I linked the gas tax revenue and the road costs. I'm not bringing in Astrodome, Police Body cameras, Overtime for BLM rallies, etc.

Taking JUST gas tax (hell, add in vehicle registration for an additional $3 Billion) and applying to road repair/building shows you are short by several billion dollars.



So taking your idea of just the gas tax paying for roads means you either need to A) raise taxes or B) build less roads/fix them less. Those are your only 2 options. Your replied there was another way. There isn't, if we are JUST using gas tax (and/or vehicle registration fees).

I've stated that the gas tax hasn't changed in 20+ years. But I think inflation has changed in 20+ years. Working in contracting, I see the changes from month to month, much less year to year. So unless the gas tax was supplying a major portion of the budget in 1991, we have always been running a road deficit.


Sure, we can use other sources and cut out some stupid things. But the rallying cry of conservatives is "pay for your own use" (or something along those lines); so in order to do that, we either build less roads or raise the taxes on cars and gas.

~egon
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I said to use the gas tax for roads only, and specifically stated that I knew it wouldn't cover the bill.

But there are umpteen thousand sources of "income" for the .gov, and there are by definition umpteen thousand avenues of waste and fraud and overspending that shoudl be addressed.
sts7049
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
if i read what you are saying, we should spend less money on wasteful projects but then still redirect that other money towards something else it still wasn't intended for?
Buck O Five
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
What I will never get are the people that will bother to pay but won't get a tag and will sit in those half a mile long lines on BW8 to pay $1.75.


These are the voters that got us Trump and Hillary.
Refresh
Page 2 of 2
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.