{"id":12751,"date":"2008-10-05T22:20:01","date_gmt":"2008-10-06T05:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/10\/05\/paying-the-toll.html"},"modified":"2008-10-05T22:20:01","modified_gmt":"2008-10-06T05:20:01","slug":"paying_the_toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/05\/paying_the_toll.html","title":{"rendered":"Paying the toll"},"content":{"rendered":"

So the southwest and northwest beltway around Denver is the E-470 toll road. It provides a convenient, low-traffic route around the city from our house to Denver International Airport (not to mention to at least one good friend’s house). To that end, we purchased transponders for both our cars so that we could travel from here to there without going through the cash lanes.<\/p>\n

An interesting thing<\/a> is going on.<\/p>\n

\n

On January 1, 2009<\/b>, toll payments will change on E-470.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

License Plate Toll will become available on January 1, 2009 as another option to pay a toll. License Plate Toll customers will be billed for their travel through any lanes. For those vehicles without an EXpressToll transponder, cameras will photograph the front and rear license plates and a bill will be sent one month later to the registered owner of the vehicle, for all the tolls incurred during that period. Cash and coin payments will still be accepted through July 3, 2009.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No advance registration is required. You just enter the toll highway. You will be billed later. Payment must be received by the date specified on the bill or the transactions listed on the statement will eventually become toll violations. In that case, a toll violation citation for each toll will be sent to the vehicle\u2019s registered owner.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

So if you take the tollway, without a transponder, and don’t go through the cash lanes, your license plate will be photographed, and the state will provide the E-470 authority with your identity and address and the like, and you’ll be sent a bill.<\/p>\n

\n

On July 4, 2009<\/b>, coin and currency payment will no longer be available on E-470. Payment will be made only <\/i>through an EXpressToll account or License Plate Toll bill. If the customer does not have an EXpressToll transponder, the owner of the vehicle will receive a License Plate Toll invoice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I.e., the cash lanes will close, and you’ll either get a bill through the mail or (if you have a transponder) the amount will be deducted from your credit card.<\/p>\n

\n

Why convert to non-stop tolling?<\/em><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  • E-470 will offer a discounted toll rate over License Plate Toll and cash customers.<\/li>\n
  • Removing stop-and-start cash toll collection and adding License Plate Toll payment system will enhance the safety, speed and convenience of the E-470 driving experience.<\/li>\n
  • Non-stop tolling is environmentally-friendly because stop-and-go traffic as well as idling in cash lanes will be eliminated. It also saves fuel consumption by not having to stop.<\/li>\n
  • Over 70 percent of E-470\u2019s toll payments are currently made with EXpressToll.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Which skips the biggest reason, i.e., they save a lot of money. No more automated “throw your change into the hopper” toll stops, or, worse, actually paying people to accept toll money. That’s a huge savings in operating expenses for the E-470 authority.<\/p>\n

    But, oddly enough, that’s not given as a reason.<\/p>\n

    (Note that only the second and third reasons are actually reasons, from a consumer perspective; the other two are simply conditions that the authority is providing).<\/p>\n

    Now, frankly, from my own use of the system, there’s not going to be a difference. And for the overall efficiency of the system, this makes a lot of sense. But I would feel a heck of a lot better if they were up-front about it, e.g.,<\/p>\n

    In order to reduce operating expenses, we will be eliminating cash payments and toll booth attendants on E-470. Drivers without transponders will be sent a bill based on their license plate (via information from the state of Colorado) as they pass through toll stations. We believe this will benefit drivers by providing faster, easier, ‘at-speed’ toll experiences while driving down E-470.<\/p>\n

    If they said that, it wouldn’t raise any flags. By painting it solely as a “convenience” without acknowledging that they’re working with the state or that they’re really saving money this way, even as they make life ostensibly easier for drivers, just makes it seem like they’re trying to hide something here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    So the southwest and northwest beltway around Denver is the E-470 toll road. It provides a convenient, low-traffic route around the city from our house to Denver International Airport (not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32192,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/14\/toll-lane-ahead-for-c-470.html","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":0},"title":"Toll lane ahead for C-470","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jan-13 6:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Living just north of the freeway, the impact of the rush hour on it and any parallel roads during that time is pretty significant, and directly affects us even if we avoid the freeway proper.I took the survey they described, and they really did come up with a variety of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51979,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/28\/toll-lanes-coming-soon-to-a-highway-near-me.html","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":1},"title":"Toll lanes, coming soon to a highway near … me","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-Jul-15 3:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"C-470 does indeed get pretty crowded in the evening (and morning) commute, something I've been mercifully immune to, between time-shifting and light rail usage. I'd much rather see a broader regional tax to cover expansion of the freeway, rather than adding toll lanes, but such lanes have definitely been under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130364,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/04\/traffic-madness-takes-its-toll-no-exact-change-necessary.html","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":2},"title":"Traffic Madness Takes Its Toll (no exact change necessary)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Apr-16 11:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not looking forward to the mess that construction will make of C-470 (which sits just a few blocks south of me), nor of the toll lanes that will follow (because toll are cool but taxes are evil, I guess) -- but I do agree that traffic can get awfully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8921,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/23\/traffic_taking.html","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":3},"title":"Traffic taking its toll","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Mar-06 7:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Margie and I manage to miss most of the congestion on C470 down in our neck of the woods. 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