Fun on LBJ TeXpress tonight…

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thisonelife83@reddit

Exploitation.

They installed the lanes with a goal of moving a minimum of 50 mph. What happened when they opened was they increased the price dramatically when lanes slowed on the main 635 highway. Even if there was no traffic on the TexPress — they surged prices to exploit drivers in slow traffic. They ignored their mandate to exploit traffic congestion and accidents.

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I_am_the_7th_letter@reddit

Don’t forget— they essentially converted 636/LBJ into a giant overpass so now for those few freezes we get, you’re at even more risk.

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UnknownQTY@reddit

Huh?

They do exactly what they’re designed to do and the pricing has always reflected the “demand” on the main lanes. The slower the main lanes, the higher the express.

It’s the mostly purely capitalist thing in transportation. While that’s probably not particularly moral, it is exceedingly transparent.

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

But profit is being maximized at the expense of occupancy. They leave the tool lanes so empty, I'm always driving them at more than 70 MPH.

If they let more people in, still guaranteeing the minimum promised speed of 50 MPH, there would be two clear benefits:

everybody inside it would pay less, and
that would improve the flow in the free lanes.

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

So owners make less money, and toll users opt into a slower rate of travel and more traffic, all to benefit non-toll users? The purpose of a toll is for those paying to go somewhere faster. You’re driving more than 70 because the speed limit is 75

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

I frequently drive at 90 because it's so empty. But yeah, you got a point. I was thinking of benefiting everybody, but the incentives aren't there.

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mccaigbro69@reddit

I don’t see the problem with the system. If you value the saved time it should be an easy ‘opportunity cost’ scenario for the individual to assess.

I paid $21 for 183/820Express going west one time and it was easily worth it while I was passing barely stop and go traffic.

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UnknownQTY@reddit

Yep. Sometimes I have places to be. Sometimes I wanna listen to the whole podcast and let my ACC take care of the stop and go.

It could be worse, it could be the same price, all the time, and you have no other realistic choice like the DNT or most of the NYC bridges and tunnels.

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Griffle78@reddit

Yes, when I entered it was normal price. Then I sat my ass in the exit waiting for Coit probably as long as the folks who didn’t get this lovely surprise.

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Kodiak_Wylde@reddit

My brother and I were just talking about this. I got a bill from NTTA. I gave him my car bc his was totaled in a hit and run in Dallas and I work from home. I opened it and it was like $45.73. okay not too bad, told my brother to pay it. He lost the toll tag, no biggie. I go to pay it online, it jumped $20 from the 1 hour opened the bill. I went ahead and paid so they can't add more on. Literally said highway robbery. Then he told me how 635 does "dynamic pricing". Also when I was paying, it's managed by Chase. It all makes sense now.

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

What? That's some weird shit. The dynamic pricing is charged when you're driving on it, not during payment.

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Kodiak_Wylde@reddit

No you're miss understanding. He mentioned about the dynamic pricing just in conversation. Not that he drove on 635. He said he never drives on it for this reason

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

Got it now. Yeah, it's a trap for the procrastinator in me.

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FMLUsernameTaken@reddit

Stop taking toll roads. If you are giving them money you are part of the problem.

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

Weird, paying and cruising 80 mph during peak rush hour feels like a non-problem for me

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BranSolo7460@reddit

They do it because we collectively let them.

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Leningrad_DrugStore@reddit

I’ve been fighting the good fight for years now, but I just got a letter in the mail from DPS the other day saying I got a citation for unpaid tolls. Oh well.

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Snobolski@reddit

Yeah but gas tax is low, so we win! Right?

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crewsctrl@reddit

No income tax! You just have to pay to drive to and from work.

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Ticklemextreme@reddit

Don’t forget the absolute insane property tax rate especially east Dallas

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Revolutionary_Bee251@reddit

Ship sailed years ago when these roads were being planned...Texans don't care, they love bad economic policies

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metatrevor@reddit

Not enough ceo’s getting murdered these days. We LOVE the rat race so much we’d rather kill each other :D

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YogurtclosetLow6427@reddit

How is this legal?

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

Supply and demand?

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longhairPapaBear@reddit

What a scam!

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

The voluntary roads you don’t have to take are a scam?

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GingerFly@reddit

Toll roads are optional.

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xinstinctive@reddit

Isn't that the point of dynamic tolling? The price goes up as high as it can while the lane is full, and the emptier it is, the lower the price goes. So that the people who value it most are the ones who use it. And those who don't find it valuable at a given price point don't use it.

Doing it dynamically should spread the cars and reduce traffic as much as possible.

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

Whoa whoa, careful with all this logic. We must unite and accuse the voluntary lanes with posted prices of extorting us!

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RipBright1@reddit

What is it typically?

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scatmanjack6120@reddit (OP)

$5.35 or $5.85

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VCTRYDTX@reddit

Did they do this on purpose due to the weather today? Is the city actually targeting their locals when conditions change for the worst?

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

Yes, supply and demand applies.

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scatmanjack6120@reddit (OP)

Both LBJ and TeExpress were stop and go parking lots tonight… I have never seen the price increase before… (let alone 3x the going rate…)

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Brave-Statement-8810@reddit

There is a long term contract, it is demand based to make sure the toll lanes always move >50mph. More traffic, more $$$ to take the fast lanes. Nobody has to take the express lanes on this, unlike the DNT. So it’s not a forced charge, it’s optional. This pays for the roads since they were funded by a private company instead of taxpayer $. I’m not saying I agree with it, but it’s like a 50 year contract that was inked a long time ago.

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TheReverend5@reddit

Well yes, it’s Texas. This state government exists to exploit vulnerable populations as much as possible.

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shwampchicken@reddit

No one should ever take the express lanes. As long as people pay they’ll keep charging and charging

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PossibilityOk9430@reddit

Yep and my time is worth more, so I pay and get places quicker in less traffic

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ryosuke-@reddit

That’s why I never pay.

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cfbswami@reddit

How people are SO confused by this is too funny....

Nobody here in Texas wants to admit what we can't build our own roads, because we're so kick ass...

The simple truth is CINTRA agreed to build the toll roads, basically for nothing. Their part is a contract to collect the tolls for 52 YEARS or so. THE MONEY GOES TO THEM - NOT TEXAS OR DALLAS OR FORT WORTH.

NTTA simply collects the tolls, of course TXdot technically 'owns them' - because a fucking company in Spain can't. That would look really bad...

Here we dumb Texans believe whatever we're told, most I know still think these tolls , (TexPress) are just a dollar or two. Few even check their monthly statement.

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GeekyTexan@reddit

The simple truth is CINTRA agreed to build the toll roads, basically for nothing.

Not "for nothing".

The standard for toll roads is that the company pays for about 33%, and use a loan (cosigned by taxpayers) for another 33%.

Taxpayers pay for 33%, plus donate the land, which no toll road company would be able to come up with if it were not for government helping them.

And it's the most expensive way to build a road. It needs everything a normal road has, plus a bunch of additional stuff to help track who is using it.

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

And they built it in record time (ahead of schedule, IIRC), without stopping traffic in one of the busiest freeways around that had to be completely torn apart.

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funwithfrogs@reddit

It was $42 going to Fort Worth from the airport...

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dashing_eyes@reddit

Bruh my past 2 month accumulated toll bill is over $1800 how the fcuk am I suppose to pay this. These are a total of my daily travel from Burleson to Addison just 1 way up thats it. Why in the world are we paying so much in godamn tolls.

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mccaigbro69@reddit

I drive tolls all day like at least 2x week for work, like up and down Bush, Tollway, 121, 635/183 express, etc…never had a monthly bill close to a G.

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dashing_eyes@reddit

Bro I have no clue how the hell it is that high. Like 2 yrs ago I used to work at the same location and my bill never went past 500

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

Go over the statements or feed them to an AI, and you will quickly find out what segments to avoid.

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Altruistic_Guess3098@reddit

Why do you keep using the toll road? Why did you let it get that high?

I hate toll roads but you're the only one to blame for your situation

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dashing_eyes@reddit

I know man, I guess I am just trying to justify myself in somehow paying that much. It just fcuking hurts

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

Pain is a great motivator.

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Ok-Mixture8132@reddit

Bah, amateur numbers. I’ve seen 25+ on 183/820

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Revolutionary_Bee251@reddit

Most insane rush hour highway segment in DFW

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WoodGrain817@reddit

Absolutely crazy over there

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

I hate the traffic along that stretch. I used to regularly commute between Mockingbird Lane and west Fort Worth. Pleaded for death.

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Ok-Mixture8132@reddit

Oof, that’s an horrific commute

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Level-Level-8604@reddit

Insider tip: there is actually a freeway that runs adjacent to/over top of this toll road so you never actually have to pay this toll!

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James-the-Bond-one@reddit

That freeway doesn't run adjacent to this toll road — it crawls.

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jaydee288@reddit

Highway robbery...literally

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TechnicolorViper@reddit

Freeway robbery… ironically

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ChosynLabs@reddit

Ironically literally robbery wayfree

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WagstaffLibrarian@reddit

Instructions unclear, rocking out to Freebird.

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hot_rod_kimble@reddit

Back in my day, even the rich had to sit in traffic.

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Kuchufli@reddit

I don't know who "owns" the toll roads, but I remember back in California some of the tolls were owned by private companies and they had a "No compete" clause with the state, so the state couldn't fix the freeway or add lanes because it would compete with the tolls. Insane! I wonder if there is something similar here.

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Sejbag@reddit

All of the tolls with variable pricing in DFW are operated by third party companies to my understanding

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pauliep13@reddit

From what I remember, it’s a European company.

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Bodwest9@reddit

Sort of - the obj express is a p3 (pub, private partnership) with cintra a sunspot Ferrovial the Spanish infrastructure company. So…

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xomox2012@reddit

Not exactly. NTTA is a government not for profit. TexPress on the other hand is a partnership between TX and various Euro companies, most notably Cintra.

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Casbro11@reddit

I thought NTTA was privately owned as well?

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TransportationEng@reddit

TxDOT owns them and leases the right to a private concessionaire. NTTA is contracted to collect the money and has no other stake in it.

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xomox2012@reddit

They are pseudo government. Ie managed via a not-for-profit, government-created tolling agency that is owned and operated locally by a political subdivision of the state of Texas. The idea was that the tolls were to build the road and then the road would become free which obviously never happened. A sucker and their money…

Now the tolls remain fee based as they have shifted the goalpost to ‘maintaining the roads’ and expanding the program elsewhere. There is already a government budget item for maintenance to begin with and shouldn’t the new roads fund themselves until paid for?

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WoodGrain817@reddit

NTTA needs to skedaddle

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ImOldGregg_77@reddit

jesus....

christ.....

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BigDoosh@reddit

You don’t have to do it

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affectionatvag@reddit

Ntta is da devil

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KennyDROmega@reddit

Didn't go into the office today because of weather concerns, and felt quite silly for a lot of the day.

Less so now.

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austinsutt@reddit

Man I wish I could let rain keep me from work. I’d get laughed at if I called in because of rain.

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KennyDROmega@reddit

Not going into the office doesn’t mean I didn’t work.

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Clown45@reddit

Thank you sir may I have another!

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TechnicolorViper@reddit

On April 30th, I saw the toll hit $24. I didn’t take the toll road, and I only had to sit through about two minutes of traffic.

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Edg-R@reddit

I paid $24 the other day, I normally avoid tolls altogether but I couldn’t this time.

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loves2ride1@reddit

I pay this daily. Price of doing business. Go to the east coast and pay what we were for gas taxes state tax. And don’t forget yearly car taxes and housing and homeowners you’ll gladly pay Texas prices.

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

At what point are people finding this worth it to avoid traffic?

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I_SmellFuckeryAfoot@reddit

rich people problems

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TeknoBlast@reddit

That's simply bullshit.

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jsboftx1983@reddit

Y’all, I am done with toll roads nationwide and express lanes.

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rChewbacca@reddit

This is a tough one. During a stand still traffic jam, if it charged $5 the toll lane would be pretty much just as slow. The point of the variable change is to keep the toll road at 50mph

Don’t get me wrong, as long as I pay taxes I am furious that ANY road has a toll but under our current system… it is what it is. That is the only way to keep the toll road fast.

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StealthyBlkInvestor@reddit

Criminal

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JRLDH@reddit

I rarely take the express lanes because there’s a free alternative right next to them.

But when I absolutely NEED to get somewhere fast I’m glad that they are priced so high and don’t turn into another slow moving traffic mess. See DNT.

If that was another freeway or cheap like the DNT then people would clog it and there would be no way to avoid heavy traffic.

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dallassoxfan@reddit

You have a choice. Go to the top deck. It’s free up there.

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iBizzBee@reddit

'Every single time we hit a girls' school with a Tomahawk missile, a Raytheon executive makes a profit.' - Graham Platner

Same holds true for the lack of funding for our roads while our tax dollars are literally set on fire thousands of miles away.

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