🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1lhjfsINNekr@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca>, leffler@physics.ubc.ca (Steve Leffler ) writes:
|> shan@ (Amar Shan) writes:
|> 
|> >The point of the toll is to pay for the construction of the bridge.  The
|> >government is adopting a "user pay" approach, where those who benefit from
|> >new roadways pay the cost.  The tolls are expected to be lifted when the
|> >cost of the bridge is fully paid.
|> 
|>    Yeah, right.  If you actually believe that the toll would ever be
|> removed, I have some swamp land in Florida you might be interested in. :)
|> Governments just don't give up sources of revenue that easily, and they're
|> even less likely to if they've spent money putting in a fancy high-tech
|> toll system.
|> 
|> 				     ---Steven Leffler
|> 					leffler@physics.ubc.ca
|> 

Note that I said "expected".  I am not so foolish as to believe that 
tolls would be automatically lifted once the cost of the bridge has
been recovered.  On the other hand, lifting the toll would probably 
make a nice election year goodie!

Also, please remember that when the Lion's Gate was originally built,
a toll was imposed to pay for its construction.  The toll was lifted
when the cost had been recouped.  So there is a precedent.

Lastly, think about what is involved in this "high-tech" toll system.
Commuters attach a device to their vehicle which makes electronic
identification possible.  On the bridge itself, there would be a sensor
to pick up the tag.  When the bridge was paid for, it would be relatively
straightforward to pick up the sensors and re-deploy them on a new route.
If the government was planning to use this strategy for financing future
construction, the commuter's money has not been wasted as it permits
him/her to travel these new routes without stopping to pay a toll.

BTW, I am not thrilled about this system.  It makes it far too easy for
greedy governments of the future to turn ALL roadways into "toll" roads.
Think of all the "benefits":

   1.	ICBC - can track the number of miles you actually drive.  Oh, you
	actually drove 15,000 km rather than the lower limit you claimed
	on your insurance?  Tsk, tsk.  Your insurance is void.

   2.	You can be taxed directly on the amount of driving you do (rather
	than the indirect mechanism of taxing you through gasoline).  Social
	agendas can be furthered by giving selected people tax credits, etc.

   3.	Police could utilize such a system to track the location of a vehicle
	anywhere in the city.

and so on ...

Amar