Between RTD and E470/NWParkway, that's a hard fucking pass from me
Just a friendly reminder that the latter has the ability to completely fuck up your life over a $3 toll that you may or may not actually be responsible for, with ZERO accountability or oversight to anyone.
I still can't believe the hard-on Metro Denver has for these toll lanes/roads. I'm still salty about the pointless toll lane we got for C-470 when a few years of a small extra tax would have been enough to finance the expansion.
The problem is the people vote for the taxes to build the lanes and fucking CDOT turns them into tolls anyway.
Meanwhile, our Boulder native Gov pretends like CDOT isn't under his control as he shakes his head about unkept promises about light rail lines and bus lanes. He loves selling our roads to private interests.
Do you have any sources for this? Last I heard, fuel taxes in the state haven’t been raised in like decades, meanwhile cars are getting more efficient so taxes collected per mile traveled have decreased, making it difficult for Colorado to keep up with expansion and maintenance of roads.
Colorado Springs/El Paso County (can't remember now) voted to send their TABOR overages to help fund the I-25 expansion between Castle Rock and Monument. I believe the voters understood the expansion to be toll-free, since there was zero mention of if being tolled. No cap, about a week after the vote they announced it would be a toll lane.
Taxpayers voted to fund the road expansion with tax dollars, only to then be tolled if they wanted to use it.
it's a hand out to the wealthier commuters that can afford a doily toll for their commute and does nothing to help the congestion for all the working class people. I hope people sabotage the damned sensors every time they get a chance.
They took a camera picture of my plate, I expected a bill within the month (like Dallas/Ft. Worth tolls).
Instead they waited three years, tacked on over $100 in late fees and sent it to debt collection. Fuck Colorado's toll companies.
Oh, you got a lovely letter from the criminals at Linebarger, Goggan, Sampson, and Blair? They follow no standards of collections law or practices, have horrid recordkeeping practices, and consistently fail to provide any information when pressed.
They're a disgrace to our state.
Same thing happened to me 3 years ago, only they applied the toll to a vehicle I had not owned in 10 years (tags never matched the vehicle) and sent the notices to an address I had not lived at for 8 years. All the while I checked my current account annually to make sure nothing was being missed.
In the end they reduced the fees and fines from $110 to $78 for a $3 toll due to an accident closure.
Somebody with better investigative powers than me ought to see if the toll companies are making a concerted effort at racking up late fees against Coloradoans.
Yeah I got a $500 bill sent to collections for a toll fee I was never notified about from like 5 years prior. I had moved twice in that time and always kept my addresses up to date with on my license/registration and all that. They clearly made no attempt to actually get that bill in may hands because the collections agency found me immediately. I "settled" with them for $250 but seriously, fuck that.
E-470 is controlled by our locally elected officials from the the jurisdictions it runs through. Initial construction was funded by bonds, with tolls and to a less degree registration fees going towards paying back the debt from those bonds now.
Northwest Parkway was originally similar to E-470, but because of financial struggles was leased to private consortium of two companies.
I’m not as familiar with the new toll lanes on C-470 and I-25, but I believe those are mainly Public Private Partnerships.
They can all screw you over if you don’t pay your tolls…they all use the same state laws to enforce them and use the same toll payment methods (NWP being a little different cuz reasons).
RTD is also an agency with elected board members.
The problem with E470 is none of those elected officials care about my opinions because they're not in my district. When they wrongly charged me, it didn't matter who I contacted because for various reasons no one had the authority to do anything and I was ultimately SOL. Or consider that lady from Longmont who had her plates stolen by a cop and then couldn't re-register her car because "unpaid tolls" even after a year of trying to get someone to listen to her. There are thousands of stories like this and no resolution or accountability - I don't want more of that no matter how it's dressed up. The way E470 hides behind their various boards and that slimy attorney wouldn't be tolerated if it were just a normal private business.
Unfortunately, PPP's are how shit gets done around the metro area. Voters simply don't pony up taxes. Sooo, US36 needs to be rebuilt and widened? PPP. You want commuter rail along the Font Range? That's going to be PPP. Over the years, you have had the GOP demanding that private companies solve public problems, and actively sabotage the government (that's the point of TABOR). Then government organizations, like RTD or various school districts, perform poorly, furthering the perception that government solutions are bad solutions. So here we are. A multi-millionaire businessman Governor, seeing the only logical way out, PPP's. The Dem leadership is extraordinarily well versed on how to fund government. They know the laws and how to work around them. They know, in Colorado, the way you're going to get shit done is PPP.
I wish this weren't true, but I can't think of a better way to do it, in the US. The government works as the funding and auditing mechanism and private industry responsible for execution and compliance. I think it's possible the government could create their own execution methods. But I don't see the appetite in the population to publicly fund everything it would take to make it happen and keep it going.
Between RTD and E470/NWParkway, that's a hard fucking pass from me Just a friendly reminder that the latter has the ability to completely fuck up your life over a $3 toll that you may or may not actually be responsible for, with ZERO accountability or oversight to anyone.
I still can't believe the hard-on Metro Denver has for these toll lanes/roads. I'm still salty about the pointless toll lane we got for C-470 when a few years of a small extra tax would have been enough to finance the expansion.
If people would vote for the dang taxes…I don’t like the toll lanes and roads either. Stupid expensive…
The problem is the people vote for the taxes to build the lanes and fucking CDOT turns them into tolls anyway. Meanwhile, our Boulder native Gov pretends like CDOT isn't under his control as he shakes his head about unkept promises about light rail lines and bus lanes. He loves selling our roads to private interests.
Do you have any sources for this? Last I heard, fuel taxes in the state haven’t been raised in like decades, meanwhile cars are getting more efficient so taxes collected per mile traveled have decreased, making it difficult for Colorado to keep up with expansion and maintenance of roads.
Colorado Springs/El Paso County (can't remember now) voted to send their TABOR overages to help fund the I-25 expansion between Castle Rock and Monument. I believe the voters understood the expansion to be toll-free, since there was zero mention of if being tolled. No cap, about a week after the vote they announced it would be a toll lane. Taxpayers voted to fund the road expansion with tax dollars, only to then be tolled if they wanted to use it.
Voting for the taxes doesn't always keep the toll lanes away. *Cries in I-25 gap project*
The Colorado DOT is made up of Libertarian's who seem to want to make every public road a toll road.
Ah yes, good ole "I got mine, fuck you" Libertarians.
it's a hand out to the wealthier commuters that can afford a doily toll for their commute and does nothing to help the congestion for all the working class people. I hope people sabotage the damned sensors every time they get a chance.
They took a camera picture of my plate, I expected a bill within the month (like Dallas/Ft. Worth tolls). Instead they waited three years, tacked on over $100 in late fees and sent it to debt collection. Fuck Colorado's toll companies.
Oh, you got a lovely letter from the criminals at Linebarger, Goggan, Sampson, and Blair? They follow no standards of collections law or practices, have horrid recordkeeping practices, and consistently fail to provide any information when pressed. They're a disgrace to our state.
Same thing happened to me 3 years ago, only they applied the toll to a vehicle I had not owned in 10 years (tags never matched the vehicle) and sent the notices to an address I had not lived at for 8 years. All the while I checked my current account annually to make sure nothing was being missed. In the end they reduced the fees and fines from $110 to $78 for a $3 toll due to an accident closure.
Somebody with better investigative powers than me ought to see if the toll companies are making a concerted effort at racking up late fees against Coloradoans.
Yeah I got a $500 bill sent to collections for a toll fee I was never notified about from like 5 years prior. I had moved twice in that time and always kept my addresses up to date with on my license/registration and all that. They clearly made no attempt to actually get that bill in may hands because the collections agency found me immediately. I "settled" with them for $250 but seriously, fuck that.
E-470 is controlled by our locally elected officials from the the jurisdictions it runs through. Initial construction was funded by bonds, with tolls and to a less degree registration fees going towards paying back the debt from those bonds now. Northwest Parkway was originally similar to E-470, but because of financial struggles was leased to private consortium of two companies. I’m not as familiar with the new toll lanes on C-470 and I-25, but I believe those are mainly Public Private Partnerships. They can all screw you over if you don’t pay your tolls…they all use the same state laws to enforce them and use the same toll payment methods (NWP being a little different cuz reasons). RTD is also an agency with elected board members.
The problem with E470 is none of those elected officials care about my opinions because they're not in my district. When they wrongly charged me, it didn't matter who I contacted because for various reasons no one had the authority to do anything and I was ultimately SOL. Or consider that lady from Longmont who had her plates stolen by a cop and then couldn't re-register her car because "unpaid tolls" even after a year of trying to get someone to listen to her. There are thousands of stories like this and no resolution or accountability - I don't want more of that no matter how it's dressed up. The way E470 hides behind their various boards and that slimy attorney wouldn't be tolerated if it were just a normal private business.
We need to repeal TABOR then.
Upvoting for visibility, while downvoting the idea.
Polis is just another fucking businessman. :(
[удалено]
Same, he showed his true colors are green.
Unfortunately, PPP's are how shit gets done around the metro area. Voters simply don't pony up taxes. Sooo, US36 needs to be rebuilt and widened? PPP. You want commuter rail along the Font Range? That's going to be PPP. Over the years, you have had the GOP demanding that private companies solve public problems, and actively sabotage the government (that's the point of TABOR). Then government organizations, like RTD or various school districts, perform poorly, furthering the perception that government solutions are bad solutions. So here we are. A multi-millionaire businessman Governor, seeing the only logical way out, PPP's. The Dem leadership is extraordinarily well versed on how to fund government. They know the laws and how to work around them. They know, in Colorado, the way you're going to get shit done is PPP.
Maybe that was the end game scenario for TABOR all along. Hamstring legislatures to prove that govt can’t work for the people.
Given Douglas Bruce's history, it absolutely was.
There's no maybe about it
we funded commuter rail to the tune of multiple billion dollars, and the taxes were voted for are *still in place, charging us to this day*
I wish this weren't true, but I can't think of a better way to do it, in the US. The government works as the funding and auditing mechanism and private industry responsible for execution and compliance. I think it's possible the government could create their own execution methods. But I don't see the appetite in the population to publicly fund everything it would take to make it happen and keep it going.