Should MA Keep Jobs For Toll Collectors?
Gov. Deval Patrick says the state’s toll system will be fully automated by 2015.
The high-speed tolling lanes at the Hampton Toll Plaza in New Hampshire. Massachusetts might see something like this in the future, but what happens to the toll collectors?
Courtesy of aaroads.com
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Though users of the EZPass service never have to stop for a toll collector on the Mass Pike now, in just over two years, no one will have to. falmouth patch
Gov. Deval Patrick said today that all toll collectors will be phased out by 2015 to make way for a fully automated toll taking system on the Mass Pike, according to Boston.com.
Patrick the state will provide a “dignified and soft landing” for the 410 toll workers who would be laid off, according to the news site.
Do you think the state should move to the new automated system or should Massachusetts stick with the system in place now? Tell us in the comments.
Kevin
10:28 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
IMHO toll collecting should never have become more than a part time, low wage job that resonsible students, retired people looking for extra cash, or people between jobs fill. Instead, by making it a decent paying carrier we now have to provide an 11 million dollar parachute for a job that requires no training/skills/investment. Typical overpayment, by an agency that writes it's own rules at the expense of the taxpayers.
Bob St Germain
10:34 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
I 'am confused ! I thought the goal was to eliminate tolls on the Mass Pike and take the toll booth down ! What happened ?
Kevin
12:04 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Hi Bob,
Although the Mass Pike was "sold" to taxpayers as a temporary toll road that would have the tolls removed once the road was paid for, they have managed continue collecting tolls long after the road was paid for and have provided over compensated postions for many years. What they are talking about doing is eliminating the toll boths and charging your toll electronically. Besides the cost of the electronic toll equipment, taxpayers are also supposed to give the toll takers $11 million. Because my brain uses logic I am at a loss as to why such a payout is needed. Maybe we can find relatives of people whith grandparents that worked in a buggy whip factory and give them $11 million dollars. After all progress eliminated their jobs too. How did they ever survive without such a hand out?
Patrick
12:13 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
No more toll booths means fewer traffic jams and I doubt the computers taking your picture will all call in sick on a major holiday so I'm all for this. Don't know why they need so much severence though (I admit to not knowing how many there are or what they get paid), I've been laid off and all I got was a boot to the rear.
inkadink
4:27 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Its known as a hack job that is given to who you know.
Tax payers pay pay pay,but we keep voting a 1 party system.
Matt
4:28 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Computers are fine. But putting in this system is going to cost the state 100 million. So maybe they should look to see if they can do it for a lot less.
susan Smith
9:36 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Keep it the way it is. We need jobs in this state.
LCT
7:40 pm on Thursday, December 13, 2012
Yes, we do need jobs. But what we don't need is the Commonwealth being the largest employer in the state, with bloated salaries, excessive benefits & idiotic retirement plans way more generous than jobs in the private sector. We, the taxpayer, are paying outrageous sums for state workers. You'd be shocked at how many state workers, nearing retirement age, suddenly become 'disabled' & collect nearly 100% of their salaries for the rest of their lives. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
MA should, but never will, take a long hard look at what's been going on in Indiana, Wisconsin & most recently Michigan. Becoming a right-to-work state, including state union jobs, could save us millions if we had the will and courage to look honesty at our spending.
Until voters in this state wake up & pay attention we will continue to be plagued with hack jobs, inefficiency, corruption, & we will continue to be taxed to death. I am on a fixed income & continue to see my way of life slowly being depleted. My house has decreased in value in the last 4-5 years by at least 30-35% but my real estate taxes keep rising. Food costs, heating & electricity, are rising at alarming rates. My health insurance bill for 2013 just increased 24% from 2012. Maybe I'm the only one, but I once thought I was middle class but now feel myself slowly slipping into poverty & feel helpless to stop the slide. I am starting to become scared about my future & ability to take care of myself.
Kevin
8:47 am on Friday, December 14, 2012
If the toll takers job was run by a private concern it would pay about $10.00/hr with no retirement plan. Instead, it's a career with benefits. If the state would just pay what a job was worth, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Betty Smith
4:36 pm on Thursday, December 13, 2012
I wonder if we can get the automated toll booths to pay taxes?
Matt
11:19 am on Friday, December 14, 2012
Kevin. If tolls where run buy a private company $10 an hour would be fine. But what would the cost of the tolls be $50? What would prevent that company from raising cost of tolls to huge amounts?