Thought of the Day - 02/16/2010

Did you see the story in today’s Herald about open road tolling?

Supposedly, Governor Patrick is already looking to hire someone to implement the system along the Massachusetts Turnpike -- at a salary of $102,000 a year.

I find it disappointing that, of all the different ways Governor Patrick could try to make government more efficient, he is focusing on more efficient ways to collect money from people.

Open road tolling probably would save money in the long run by eliminating some of the infrastructure needed to collect tolls from motorists. So, on the surface at least, it looks like a worthwhile reform to explore. But you have to take a step back and think about the situation to understand what’s really going on here.

First of all, as the salary of the Governor’s proposed new “toll czar” indicates, implementing a new open road tolling system will cost money. Essentially, it’s going to cost us money to save money. Unfortunately, as I’ve pointed out before, that seems to be a common theme whenever Governor Patrick talks about reforming our state’s transportation system.

Second, the Patrick Administration says that open road tolling would be limited only to the Turnpike, where we already have toll collection in place. In other words, it would only replace existing, inefficient ways of collecting tolls; the state wouldn’t use the system to collect new tolls. Call me cynical, but are we really to believe that the state won’t expand the use of open road tolling technology to new roadways if it proves to be efficient and if we need additional money to pay for transportation?

This leads me to my third -- and most important -- point. This whole idea for open road tolling misses the mark because the focus should be on ELIMINATING the tolls, not on finding more ingenious and efficient ways of collecting them from motorists.

Someone needs to remind Governor Patrick that the most cost-effective toll system is no system at all. Coincidentally, that’s exactly the sort of system that was envisioned when the Turnpike was built. The Turnpike tolls were never meant to last forever, and it’s time for us to start finding ways to eliminate them once and for all.

What do you think about open road tolling? Please post a comment below.

Thought of the Day - 02/09/2010

There are two issues circulating around Beacon Hill today that I’m particularly focused on today.

The first is a $35 million bailout bill for the City of Lawrence that’s up for a public hearing today and scheduled for a House vote tomorrow.

There’s no question that the people of Lawrence are in a tough spot and they need help. But I don’t think the solution is to give more money to the same politicians who got the city into trouble in the first place. I think we need to be taking a more serious look at placing the city under receivership or a finance control board that would make the difficult decisions the city needs to get back on-track responsibly, and to make sure that state taxpayers ultimately won’t be on the hook to pay back any money the city receives in loans.

The other issue is a proposal by Governor Patrick to institute electronic toll collection systems along the Mass. Turnpike. Open-road tolling sounds attractive when you hear the Governor talk about the fact that it would dramatically reduce or eliminate toll collectors along the Turnpike and thereby save money. But, as the Boston Herald reports, the system would cost us $100 million to implement, and we can’t afford that – especially while we still have a bloated Turnpike and toll collection system in place.

And, at a more basic level, I wish the Governor would place more emphasis on eliminating tolls along the Turnpike (especially the Western Turnpike) instead of finding more efficient ways to collect them from drivers.

I’m interested to see what my colleagues think about these proposals. I’ll keep you updated on what I hear from them. But more importantly, I’d like to hear from you. What do you think about the Lawrence bailout bill or open-road tolling? Please post a comment to let me know.