I like having an EZ Pass. But I'm not a fan of totally cashless tolls. Not everyone needs EZ Pass. When you send a driver the bill for a toll in the mail. You have the cost of postage, paying a person to mail out bills and the expense of keeping track of who paid and who didn't. Are we really saving money? Last week, thanks to "right to know laws" the Associated Press was able to see an internal report to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission from last July. The report was not released to the public. So the Associated Press had to go looking for it. Now we know why. After going to a cashless system last year, nearly 11 million trips on the Pennsylvania Turnpike generated no revenue. The cameras set up to take a picture of driver's license plates couldn't get a clear enough picture all those times. That meant drivers who didn't have an EZ Pass stood a 50/50 chance of not getting a bill. This cost the Pennsylvania Turnpike more than $100 Million in lost revenue. The chief executive of the commission says they are "leaving no stone unturned" in the way they're going after "leakage." I think this shows we still need to have some toll collectors. I wonder how much revenue other "cashless" toll bridges and roads are costing us?
Source: Pocono Record
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