Slugging & HOT lane Wash Post article

From today's Washington Post, an article on how HOT lanes might impact sluggers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902092_2.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Good thing is that slugs are "in" and hybrids with one person "out".

Now, let's just see what actually happens. :)

So I take it these ridiculous HOT lanes are a done deal, and no amount of calling our Congresspeople is going to be able to change anyone's mind?

I guess what with the $3000 speeding tickets not working out, this is the best they could come up with to impoverish the VA taxpayers?

ain't free speech a wonderful thing, until you don't like the views being stated? - Ceejay2

Yes, that very fact was illustrated on 20 July 2008 in a Washington Post article saying how HOV 3 will cost the Commonwealth millions more than expected. Here is what I posted the day after the article came out in this forum under the topic ""Surprise" HOT Costs":

"Washington Post had an article on the "unexpected" costs of HOV on the Commonwealth. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/19/AR2008071901651.html


As I have stated all along, HOV will not remain free and once the contract is signed, you will begin to hear this from Richmond. Well, that time has arrived and this article is the first acknowledgement of that by VDOT. Virginia has agreed to pay 70% of the toll for all HOV when their numbers exceed 24% of all traffic. VDOT and Barbara Reese estimated that this amount would not exceed $1 million dollars a year. Now that the contract is signed, VDOT is thinking it will be much higher and therefore a possible drain on the Commonwealth budget. Therefore, our elected idiots in Richmond will now say they don't have the funding for HOV subsidies and will quickly move to cut them and HOV will end. VDOT, Homer Pierce, Barbara Reese are either in the back pocket of Transurban Fluor Daniels or they are so grossly incompetent that they should immediately be fired and possibly investigated. When will Northern Virginians wake up."


Its good to see others are finally catching on to the fact HOV 3 will not remain free. I predict within two years of HOT lanes being implemented, HOV 3 vehicles will pay either a portion or the full toll because Richmond will suddenly not have the necessary funding for HOV 3 in Northern Virginia. Of course, only then will everyone be up in arms and railing against Richmond, but by then it will be too late. HOV 3 getting to use the toll road for free is only a gimmick to ensure the contract gets signed. Once signed and implemented, funding from Richmond will dry up and Transurban will be allowed to charge HOV 3. Get out your wallets commuters, you're fixing to pay to carpool.

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Originally posted by Drive3

From today's Washington Post, an article on how HOT lanes might impact sluggers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902092_2.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Good thing is that slugs are "in" and hybrids with one person "out".

Now, let's just see what actually happens. :)

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The hybrid exemption may or may not be "out" any more than slugs will be "in". Turns out that it is NOT part of the contract language either way, according to SecTrans spokeperson.

You completely missed the point. No one here has claimed that the toll operator will change the HOV-3 requirement. We are absolutely concerned about what Richmond will do to us. We know that only the Virginia legislature can change the HOV-3 clause in the contract and that is what worries us. Once our Delegates and Senators in Richmond, who in the past have been EVER so generous with transportation funding for Northern Virginia, discover the true cost of funding HOV-3, it is widely assumed they will kill that funding especially in tight budget times like we are experiencing now. You can continue to feel good about HOV-3 remaining free based on "legislation" from Richmond, but for those of us who commute in Northern Virginia, we know what Richmond is capable of doing to us when it comes to transportation funding. Transportation funds like the gas tax are to be taken from Northern Virginia and spent everywhere but in Northern Virginia and that is what will happen with HOV-3 funds. Funding for "HOV-3 for free" will die upon the first budget shortfall or when someone in Richmond decides they need funding for some pork project somewhere other than Northern Virginia. Bottom line is a current form of mass transit that does not need funding from Richmond will now be totally reliant on funding from Richmond to survive. That fact should scare everyone in Northern Virginia.