Should Transponder Users Get Discount?
February 27th, 2008 by ed friedrichWith new Narrows Bridge tolls in the works, there has been some
debate from commenters about whether drivers who get transponders
should receive a discount. Some argue that just being able to
bypass the toll booths should be incentive enough. Others say buses
and ferries have frequent-user discounts and it should be the same
with bridge users.
I’m not going to take one side or the other but will try to provide
some perspective.
I get the impression that some drivers think that discounts were
always part of the plan and it’s their right to keep them. That’s
not true. It wasn’t until early 2007 that the Transportation
Commission considered discounts and not until May that it approved
them. They were only intended to be used the first year to make
sure enough transponders were issued to keep toll-booth traffic
from backing onto the highway. There were no promises beyond
that.
There might be a good argument that transponder users should get a
discount because they’re less expensive to process. That’s a hard
thing to pin down, but Greg Selstead, the state’s director of
tolling operations, said he’d provide a ballpark figure at the
citizens advisory committee meeting on Thursday.
The sheer numbers of transponder users will make it hard to cut
them a deal. Because 75 percent of bridge users have them, the
other 25 percent would pay a big hike to make up for the discount.
Selstead said to give a discount of 25 cents off a $3 toll,
toll-booth users would have to pay $4. And that would raise the
same revenue as everybody paying $3.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
February 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I think it would be a gesture if all of the frequent bridge users used the toll booths for a week instead of their transponders.
It would demonstrate the point on why transponders are vital to the success of the bridge.
Whether a reality or not, most transponder owners were enticed by the discount and thoroughly expect it to continue. Just like ALL other frequent commuter discounts around Puget Sound.
Transponder users SHOULD get a discount. So what if if have to pay for it a little longer or may have to raise the rates. Transponder users should NOT have to pay for the toll booth operators. They are doing their part to reduce bridge costs and should be compensated accordingly. Toll booth users should pay more than transponder users as they are incurring more costs than transponder users.
It’s only fair.