CTRMA prepares toll policies
Mobility agency to put toll rules in gear
Authority looking at giving discounts, freebies to some, charging Capital Metro, school buses
October 27, 2004
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2004
The agency that within a few years could be running as many as eight Central Texas toll roads probably will approve a preliminary version of its turnpike policies today, including discounts for tag users, enforcement measures for scofflaws and initial periods of free or discount travel.
The toll policies, however, do not include specifics on toll charges for the various roads. Those amounts, available now in preliminary form, would be set by the board shortly before any given road opens.
Today's action by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board will not be final. The draft policies will be posted on the agency's Web site (www.ctrma.org), and November will be devoted to taking public comment on the policies, including a public hearing Nov. 10.
That hearing, to be preceded at 5:30 p.m. by an informational open house, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Norris Conference Centers in Northcross Mall, 2525 W. Anderson Lane.
The board will vote on the final version Dec. 8.
The board will be trying to strike a balance between the public and the Texas Department of Transportation, which will operate four other Central Texas turnpikes and is crafting policies of its own.
The goal, members of the board said at a committee hearing Tuesday, would be to have virtually identical policies for its roads and those run by the state, to cut down on customer confusion and frustration.
The mobility authority will build, or take over after the state Transportation Department has built, up to eight toll roads in and around Austin, a tollway program approved by local elected leaders in July.
However, the future of at least two of those projects -- Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) and Texas 45 Southwest -- remains uncertain, and transportation leaders are still talking about whether to impose tolls on a section of south MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) near William Cannon Drive.
That MoPac project is under construction and, if nothing changes, would see toll charges by spring.
Here are the highlights of four pages of proposed toll policies:
* Drivers with an electronic toll tag on their cars, a card-like device that communicates with overhead detectors and debits a toll account, would get a 10 percent discount on posted toll rates.
* Every vehicle, with the exception of police and fire vehicles, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, would be subject to tolls. That includes school and Capital Metro buses, although those buses would pay the same rate as cars rather than a charge several times that amount for larger vehicles.
* Each time a turnpike opens, everyone would be able to drive on it free for four weeks. After that, toll tag users would have a second four weeks of free use, then would pay 50 percent of the posted rates for four more months. Drivers without toll tags would have to begin paying the full charges after four weeks, going through toll booths.
* After that introductory period, if someone without a toll tag, or with a toll tag with insufficient money in its account, drives down the lanes with no toll booths, he or she would have three days to establish a toll tag account or refurbish their account. After that, the violator would be subject to the toll charge and a $25 administrative fee. But that fee could be waived if the driver makes good on an account within 30 days.
* Toll tags would be provided to customers at no charge. But to activate the card, the user would have to establish an account with at least $20 in it. Each toll tag user would get $10 of free service initially. Payment could be made with credit or debit cards, money orders, checks or cash.
* The policies include no flat monthly or yearly rates for unlimited use, or any discounts for frequent users.
bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698
© 2004 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
Authority looking at giving discounts, freebies to some, charging Capital Metro, school buses
October 27, 2004
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2004
The agency that within a few years could be running as many as eight Central Texas toll roads probably will approve a preliminary version of its turnpike policies today, including discounts for tag users, enforcement measures for scofflaws and initial periods of free or discount travel.
The toll policies, however, do not include specifics on toll charges for the various roads. Those amounts, available now in preliminary form, would be set by the board shortly before any given road opens.
Today's action by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board will not be final. The draft policies will be posted on the agency's Web site (www.ctrma.org), and November will be devoted to taking public comment on the policies, including a public hearing Nov. 10.
That hearing, to be preceded at 5:30 p.m. by an informational open house, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Norris Conference Centers in Northcross Mall, 2525 W. Anderson Lane.
The board will vote on the final version Dec. 8.
The board will be trying to strike a balance between the public and the Texas Department of Transportation, which will operate four other Central Texas turnpikes and is crafting policies of its own.
The goal, members of the board said at a committee hearing Tuesday, would be to have virtually identical policies for its roads and those run by the state, to cut down on customer confusion and frustration.
The mobility authority will build, or take over after the state Transportation Department has built, up to eight toll roads in and around Austin, a tollway program approved by local elected leaders in July.
However, the future of at least two of those projects -- Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) and Texas 45 Southwest -- remains uncertain, and transportation leaders are still talking about whether to impose tolls on a section of south MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) near William Cannon Drive.
That MoPac project is under construction and, if nothing changes, would see toll charges by spring.
Here are the highlights of four pages of proposed toll policies:
* Drivers with an electronic toll tag on their cars, a card-like device that communicates with overhead detectors and debits a toll account, would get a 10 percent discount on posted toll rates.
* Every vehicle, with the exception of police and fire vehicles, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, would be subject to tolls. That includes school and Capital Metro buses, although those buses would pay the same rate as cars rather than a charge several times that amount for larger vehicles.
* Each time a turnpike opens, everyone would be able to drive on it free for four weeks. After that, toll tag users would have a second four weeks of free use, then would pay 50 percent of the posted rates for four more months. Drivers without toll tags would have to begin paying the full charges after four weeks, going through toll booths.
* After that introductory period, if someone without a toll tag, or with a toll tag with insufficient money in its account, drives down the lanes with no toll booths, he or she would have three days to establish a toll tag account or refurbish their account. After that, the violator would be subject to the toll charge and a $25 administrative fee. But that fee could be waived if the driver makes good on an account within 30 days.
* Toll tags would be provided to customers at no charge. But to activate the card, the user would have to establish an account with at least $20 in it. Each toll tag user would get $10 of free service initially. Payment could be made with credit or debit cards, money orders, checks or cash.
* The policies include no flat monthly or yearly rates for unlimited use, or any discounts for frequent users.
bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698
© 2004 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, October 28, 2004
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