EZ Pass Cost Increase Is The Wrong Approach

Last night I saw a news article that Virginia intends to begin charging EZ-Pass customers a monthly fee. The justification is to help pay for all these new toll lanes they are adding.

Excuse me?

First, the whole toll lane idea was misconceived. It was insanely expensive and won’t really do much to help traffic.

Second, the whole idea of EZ Pass was that it would cut costs by reducing the number of toll collectors needed.

Finally, adding a fee, even a modest one such as this (and we all know fees will just continue to go up over time), will just encourage occasional EZ-Pass users like me to ditch EZ-Pass. This will only serve to make traffic worse, not better.

If anything, increase the fare for cash tolls to encourage people to move to EZ Pass. That speeds up movement and still increases funding.

Better yet, ditch all these toll lanes and put all that money toward a real mass transit system that could get significant amounts of traffic off the roads.