Don’t Ever Trust Government! – OPINION
February 10, 2010
For years we have been told the only way to cut traffic and to reduce pollution was to use public transit or car pool. Not so long ago even hybrids with only one driver were approved to drive in the HOV (high occupancy vehicles) lane as a “reward” for being green. On the Golden Gate Bridge, car pools have been getting a FREE ride through the toll booths for years… but that is about to come to an end.
If you trusted government to continue to reward you for your environmental efforts, think again. In a recent story from the San Francisco Chronicle, the GGBD District, a special district and bureaucracy formed to manage the bridge and all its issues, is considering charging car pools for crossing. Oh, you will still get a half price discount, but that is not what you were promised for cramming 4 or 5 people into a Prius, was it? And do you know the best part? THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. The Golden Gate Bridge District is a self-governing body that answers to nobody. In other words, we can’t vote them out!
Once again, it has nothing to do with “saving the planet” but more about “show me the money!” If the Golden Gate Bridge were put under contract to a private company, I would bet they could reduce expenses and turn a profit within a year. After all, what other choice do we have if we want to get into the City? The ferry? Only if you have several hours to kill both directions.
Like all government or government-like bureaucracies, the GGBD is running out of money and needs to boost its rates… all those expensive Supervisors, I guess. The pull quote from the Chronicle reads, “The carpool tolls are expected to generate about $1.3 million a year.” Another caveat is that all carpoolers will have to use FasTrak, another scam put forth by our government to collect tolls BEFORE we use the system. An amount of anywhere between $25 to $50 is charged on your credit card. A positive balance is maintained until it reaches a threshold where another charge is made to keep your balance of unused dollars up there. Multiply that by many thousands of drivers and you can see it adds up to an extra stash of cash for our FasTrak bureaucracy.)
On the positive side for FasTrak, it has cut the back ups at the bridge toll booths. The downside? Traffic now piles up just past the toll booths on Doyle Drive! Great fix. But don’t worry. San Francisco got some of that Obama cash to improve the 19th St. off ramp and the road down to the Richardson Drive off ramp, so we will have to wait to see if it gets better after it gets worse from all the construction.
Once again, the sheep who fell in line with the nonsense that only carpools and hybrids would save our planet are being “fleeced” again. I say it serves them right for trusting the government.
- FedUpEditor
PS: There was a rumor that the state was considering putting transponders in the HOV lanes and charge people for using them. As our state runs up its deficit, you can bet this idea will get some traction.
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