Thank You, Metro

I just wanted to acknowledge all of the efforts that the staff at Metro put out during the recent snow storm.  I know there have been some issues recently with tracking problems but it seems to me that they did a magnificent job of gearing up for and operating through one of the bigger storms we've had in a while. Of course, I'm writing this with temperatures in the 70's so it's hard to imagine ice on the tracks or the platforms or the sidewalks around the stations but it was there; until the crews got out and made it vanish.  To Metro General Manager Catoe I would only ask that you not cut, in an effort to save money, some of these good people who were out well before the rest of us to make the approach to the stations safer.

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Should police have to get a warrant to track somebody by placing a GPS unit on their vehicle? That's the root question being asked of a number of civil liberty groups to the federal court in Washington. The case involves a Maryland man who was followed by police using a GPS device they had planted on his vehicle. He was later arrested and charged with possession of a large amount of drugs. It's an interesting case that could have big repercussions.

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 Maryland officials have decided to raise revenue by tacking on a $1.50 monthly fee to its EZ-Pass electronic toll payment system. We talked about this some time ago when the idea was first floated and at that time I opined that it was a bad idea that was short-sighted and would undo some of the good things the system had brought to the state. Those good things included a reduction in congestion on the interstates as drivers with the EZ-Pass transponders were able to pay their tolls without having to stop; the fact that the queues in the cash payment lanes were reduced by having some of those drivers use the EZ-Pass lanes; that the state was saving money by reducing the number of toll collection staffers. These elements were part of the sales pitch that the state transportation people gave when they were trying to get approval of the system. Now, all of those benefits are ignored as the state grabs for cash from a (potentially) captive audience. Is a buck and half a month enough to convince people to stop using the system? Not if they use it on a somewhat regular basis. The bigger potential is that drivers will trade in their Maryland transponders and acquire one from Virginia, Delaware or Pennsylvania even though the latter has an upfront fee to initiate the system and an annual fee of $3.

Frankly I was surprised when my colleague from the Baltimore Sun, Michael Dresser, sided with the state in one of his columns from last week saying: "The vendor who operates E-ZPass paid for the computers and developed the software that operates the system. It pays for the building that houses the equipment and the utilities that cool it. It pays the salaries of those who keep it going. The E-ZPass consortium contracts with that vendor, and its members pay a percentage of the costs of the multistate system. The vendor has to recover its full outlay. And in the great American tradition, it makes a profit."

If the state's system of toll collection wasn't tied up in so many politics I would think that the state might be able to make more money by raising the tolls at the Bay Bridge for the first time in forever or making the toll at the Fort McHenry Tunnel a bit more than a dollar. Why penalize the people who actually did something proactive to reduce congestion and emissions?

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Comments

[SprawlandCrawl Steve]

Yes, the Fort Mac toll was indeed a typo but the fact that it hasn't been raised in six years is an issue. The Bay Bridge toll has been the same for a very long time. The reason that many of these tolls cannot be quickly raised or discounted (as you so correctly note is the case in other states that value driver's use of EZ-Pass) is that the tolls are tied into bonds that were used to pay for construction or repairs on the infrastructure. Because of that it would take an act by the bondholders to make changes.

[Joe in SS]

Steve,
I am pretty sure that this is a typo, because I think you know that the Ft. McHenry & Horrible Tunnel tolls are $2.00 each way, not $1.00 now... They raised the rates in 2003.
As for Michael Dresser, he is a curmudgeon, and reminds me a lot of Ron Shaffer when he was still with the Post. He provides little useful information, takes the least popular side of each story with an Andy Rooney style argument. As far as the MD EZ-Pass, I had both a VA & MD unit, because I got them both before VA was part of the EZ-Pass system. So for me, the answer is easy. I am sending MD their tags back this week.
One other point, most of the other states that charge monthly fees (i.e, New Jersey) offer EZ-Pass discounts on the tolls to compensate. This, on the other hand, is a pure money grab.