Direct from Toll Road News in the Boston Globe.
"The study says the MassPike spends a higher percentage on those expenses than any of the other 34 toll roads surveyed. Most other toll roads spend less than half of what they collect on operations."
WRRB/Telegram District City Council Forum 10/18
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This forum is for all district council candidates; all candidates are here
today. Format: 14 total questions, 4 questions across districts (for all
candida...
5 months ago
15 comments:
WOW!
What a spin!
The Mass Turnpike is actually spending their revenues on operations, and is being chastised for not collecting more.
Masspike is another Mass Joke..........$25 per hour, entitled, surly, hack toll collectors....who couldnt make $10 pr hr if they we were all termianted tomorrow........with 80% pensions and a lifetime health ins during retirment.....see it pays to work for a monoploy............poor Stop & Shop cashiers make $11/hr.........they should fire 90% of the toll collectors and make pike 100% electronic toll system ...........toll botths were supposed to be demo'ed in 1984.......30 yrs after the bonds were issued & paid off......now they talking about re-erecting a toll plaza that Bill Weld personally demo'ed in Newton back in the 90's....talk about going backwards..........small wonder out of staters call us Massh+les.........
My Goodness. After a while you figure it out. You begin to see that goverment on all levels and especially our state govt., is all about expanding big paying union dominated jobs to the politically connected. They wont take down the tolls because they know the electorate is too busy watching dancing with the stars and if they do happen to show up, the connected will be there in even bigger numbers. Always remember, govt. is controlled by the people who show up. Horrible eh?
Being someone who comes from government family...many in the la familia have worked for the state ovah the past 40 years ..just showing up don't mean to much to this lad, mate..lookin' at the state of Woostah..I'd say to many ovah the years have been doin' just dat.."showin' up"
Kim Duclos was a top American women yesterday at Boston..she won my Hyannis Marathon in February..broke a 20+ year old record to..cost me $500:>)
Wouldn't it be somethinbg Anom...if we in Woostah could create something other than gov. jobs and be responsible for something other than entitlement distribution...just thinkin' out loud today!
Anonymous, they will not take down the tolls b/c all their relatives and friends are very gainfully employed as toll takers and in other lucrative positions on the Masspike.
Please remember if they lose their tolltaker jobs...........they're at Stop & Shop making $11.00 and much less in bennies.........you're talking a 60-70% total compensation cut going from the pike to Stop & Shop......I am tired of stopping and shopping at the Masspike monopoly
There are two types of workers as we go forward here..........those who work for the gov't and thsoe who dont work for the gov't.....working for the gov't also includes jobs like Masspike, massport, MWRA and other quais-gov't agencies/authorities.......as well as jobs working for the likes of Community Dev'ment Corps, Community Healthlink, and other non profits that are entirely or substantailly dependent on gov't money....
Just look at the City of Worc.........city labor controls the council........except for Lukes........and i dare say the only way it will end is when the money runs out........do we really have 600 city empoyees out on I.O.D. (injured on duty) status?............or did Mr Rushton misspeak last week on the radio when he said this??...
imagine if Worc was a private company and 12% (600'ees) of the workforce was out on IOD.........do you think the board of directors (city councillors) of a private company would be diddling with things like the Bull++++ that our council does if 12% of their work force was being paid not to work?? No way in Hell !
I fergot to add Kim DuClos is a Worcester native...
Woostah is becoming a distribution center for entitlement programs and mostly at the discretion of our Congressman whom it seems has the ability to use Worcester as his private social engineering lily pad (no one else wants the place)..we have no large job opportunities..I'd dare say for every one person working we have two that are not and by choice...this negative pool seems to be increasing also...two bldgs in the rear of me (both on the WOMAG top ten crapiest houses in the city) have been bought by a usual Worcester inner city property owner..one who loads em' up with sexy 8 recipients:>) More fun down the "PIKE" for me...pun intended Anon:>)
Name a city that has as many colleges and are unable to keep the kids in the town educated..when was the last time we read a story of two, three WPI students starting a company locally..leasing up space somewhere in the city..hiring 2,3,4 more WPI graduates..
jahn glad i have my boots on first $25 per hr is a cba(collective bargain agreement) between turnpike and employees u should channel your anger toward turnpike management 80% pension comes from yrs of service combined with age lifetime health ins is paid by the employees sick time accured during employment 2nd toll system will work only on entry but a toll collector is needed on exit...your right about bonds being paid of in 84 but bonds were issued for major projects (bridges paving etc)......3rd talk to the people in newton about that toll plaza traffic throughout the town during rush hours o ya u forgot about the tolls being free in the western part of the state the only ones that make out are the out-of-staters... to travel the entire 135m ile road in 1953 as compared to now the increase i believe is under a dollar but if that is to much travel rt9 or rt20
I am paying $1,000+ a year to travel from Worcester to Boston..that in itself can be a deal breaker for folks thinking of living in Worcester and commuting to Boston or Greater Boston to work..kick in the price of gas now and a poor transit system and I am sure that scondary cities like Lynn, Lowell, Brockton are getting first looksies before Worcester
I'm stuck in the Newton & Cambridge toll booth jungle fuck 2-3 times a week..one can plan a schedule perfect...have no traffic straight thru and then lose 10 minutes waiting for some toll guy who can't count:>)
Back in the late 70's..I was offered a job on the Tobin bridge..uncle worked for the Speakah..I had to get my GED (I had dropped out of Malden Catholic)..decided that the World offered more:>)..it took awhile but I found my niche...to each his own but it wouldn't have been for me!
My point on this blog was 80 cents on every dollar is spent on operations and maintenance, which according to Toll Road News is one of the worst in the country.
It is always easier to pick on the toll takers, but it is not the toll takers or the other "on the ground" workers who cause this problem. It is multiple levels of mid-mgmt that cause these problems.
We need to compare the Mass Pike in relation to other toll roads. I bet you we are much more top heavy then all the other toll roads. The probem is not the actual workers that actually maintain the PIKE, the problem is in in the mgmt.
I like to attack em all Will..most of em' aint friendly..on the phone...complain cause you give em' pennies or lots of change..
Anyway Jahn..the trees are blooming on Chandler East ..have you had a chance to check em' out??
A disproportionately large # of the toll takers have attitude IMO. FWIW i dont use the pike regularly. I wonder how many of them are out on IOD or disability. Go up to NH and see what the toll takers make up where Rte 3 runs in into Cow Hampshire........I dont know what it is............but I have been told it's considerably less.
I dont doubt that they're top with overpaid management personnel, too.
Maybe we s/b blaming the pols who let these overpaid hacks continue in their littel sinecures..............the pols didnt allow the tolls to come down in 1984...........and they continue to do all they can to keep their pals employed at outrageous compensation......by perpetrating the toll system.....the taxpayer & tollpayers be dammed.........
Sorry Paulie I havent driven Chandler St in a probably few weeks ......I dont wanna get capped !!!....LOL.............i sure hope the trees dont die of lead poisonong from a wayward projectile
A few years ago I was driving on a backroad in Worcester county. I had bad directions, but I knew I needed to take the next right. Well, lo and behold, I took it right through a MassPike service gate that was left open.
Anonymous, I had always assumed the pike toll collectors were in a union/collective bargaining agreement. How else could an $11/hr job be converted into a $25/hr with superb benefits to boot. I am curious, are they in the Teamsters union like some of out local constabulary
Yes the 80% pension does come from years of service, but please dont forget the money to fund the pensions comes from outrageous tolls that should have gone the way of the dinosoar back in 1984 when the original bonds were paid off.
You're telling me that unused sick time accrued during employemnt is used to pay for employee health care during retirement? There is no way that accrued sick time could ever cover the costs associated with 20 to 30 years of health ins. during retirement for workers & their spouses. What about those who had to use their sicktime during employemnt and who have little or no sicktime accrued? Where does the money come from to fund their lifetime ins.? Additionally everyone has different amts of sicktime accrued. Although I dont know the exact numbers, your claim that accrued sick time pays for lifetime health ins. seems on its face to more fuzzy math.
I realize that a toll collector (or two) would always still be required upon exit from the pike, That is why I suggested only 90% of the toll collectors be done away and more electronic devices used in their place. Electronic devices dont require accrued sicktime and they save the customers of the pike money. (Electronic toll devices also dont post dubious claims on internet blogs.) The customers come first, not the toll collectors.
My heart goes out to the residents of Newton (and HeartBreak Hill) who have to endure add'l rush hour traffic (and Patriots Day crowds) as a result of free Masspike egress in their town. Poor souls! Wonder how many of them are Newtonites using the free egress them selves? BTW, Masspike west bound egress in Newton has been toll plaza free for 55 yrs.
I have to endure a Park Ave traffic "rush hour" 12 hours a day in Worcester. Additionally, I have to endure long lines at toll plazas when I have to use the pike during rush hour...which toll plazas should have been razed 24 years ago. Where's the sympathy from Masspike afficianados for the rush hour choas and back ups that toll plazas cause?
As far as free/discounted western MAss tolls, I have always made out quite well with that deal ($1.50 a pop?) and I live in Mass....as have many other Massachusetts residents. BTW the further west one goes, the more friendly the toll collectors seem to be. Any correlation between a toll free (or discount) ride and friednly employees?
You're also saying the cost to travel the entire 135 mile Masspike has only increased under a dollar since 1953. Wow, I never realized that. Please get us the facts/numbers on that. BTW how much have other shorter trips on the pike increaed over the years? How much would it cost if Western Mass wasnt free/discounted. It would be inconsistent of you to complain about free/discount tolls in western Mass and then tout a 135mile trip as having increaed less than a dollar over 55 years which small increase is the result of a free/discounted ride in western Mass. Also, please remember there was no Masspike beyond Rte 128 in 1953. Framingham to Allston Brighton was $.25 in 1984. It is now at least $1.00. I actually think it maybe $1.25 So that's an increase of either 4x or 5x........and that's over only 24 yrs..........yet you claim somehow that the cost to travel the entire pike has risen less than a dollar since 1953.....which is 55 years ago.......but Framingham to Allston has risen a dollar in just the last 24 years? ($.75 in the last 6 years)....surely you jest. April 1st was 3 weeks ago !!!
Where do you think the money comes from that paid toll collectors $3.46 an hour in 1969....and that now pays them $25.00 an hour? Increased tolls...be it the entire pike or just fractional usage of the pike.
Please get me those figures re: a 135 miles pike in 1953 vs now.
Thanx
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