The 520 Bridge roll rates are on Sunday, with a 2.5 percent scheduled increase.
At peak commute hours, the Good to Go toll will rise from $3.50 to $3.59 a crossing; and Pay by Mail will rise from $5 to $5.13 a crossing. (Click here to see a table of the new rates.)
The Washington State Department of Transportation says traffic now flows more freely during commute hours than before tolling and that revenue is ahead of projections. But we asked readers to report how the changes are affecting their lives.
A reader who signed herself Disgusted Citizen wrote in an email that the toll is "anti-working man:"
The whole thing is SO anti-working man and to tell us that it has "gone smoothly" is SUCH a SHAM! REALLY. This is a state with a reasonably equitable distribution of wealth. C'mon you money-grubbing bureaucrats -- this whole endeavor is deplorable -- I indulged in traversing the bridge I crossed free daily for 35 years the other day to the tune of $5 -- this is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too high and to make it higher means you are ever more greedy. Get a grip. I luckily am an artist. I can go the long way. But my friends who open up grocery stores-- good, decent people who are the BACKBONE of society and corporations...are paying an extra $200-$300 per month for this debacle. FIND ANOTHER SOURCE OF REVENUE OTHER THAN THE WORKING MAN. You're starting to sounds like Scott Walker. Cousin of GW.
However, not everyone is so upset about the changes.
Bellevue Patch reader commented he's glad that the state is on track and that the plan is working so far.
I remember many predictions that (1) traffic would be less than WS-DOT predicted, and (2) the toll-collection hardware was faulty and (3) plate covers, strategic spatters of mud, and good-to-go non-compliance would foil the collection effort. It's good to see WS-DOT is performing well. I drive almost as much as before (half driving and half busing), and contribute to the needed replacement bridge.
posted similar comments on Kirkland Patch:
Glad tolling is working so well. Suck it up and get used to tolls. Voters of the state have consistently said they don't want taxes any higher, but they still want roads and services. Can't have one without the other, maybe not as musically as love and marriage, but if you want something, you have to pay for it one way or another. If road taxes spread throughout the population aren't acceptible, then user fees for those who use specific roads are the only way left to go.
The positive thing about tolls is that they drop off after the project is paid off, at least unless a smaller toll continues to pay for upkeep. Things could be worse -- we could have privately run turnpikes like they have in eastern states such as Massachusetts. There, you have to pay tolls about every 10 miles to pay the private contractor for keeping that part of the turnpike maintained. (Or maybe that's what people of Washington do want, since they keep rejecting every other way of paying for stuff.)
Some Patch readers have changed their habits.
Jan Stout posted on the Bellevue Patch Facebook page that her family has been able to plan around the tolls:
We are retired, so we are generally able to plan our trips for mid day or weekends to avoid the highest toll times. However, this toll seems much harder on our budget than it did when the toll was $.35!
Writing on Kirkland Patch, says she also changed her habits:
The toll has affected me in two ways:
1. I use my ORCA card more and enjoy the scenery as I ride the bus across the bridge and save $.
2. When I cross the bridge in my car and pay the toll, I'm delighted to be paying something toward my share of the cost of construction.I'd prefer a tax structure where we'd all invest in quality public services, education, infrastructure construction and maintenance.
Another reader emailed Bellevue Patch and said that she hasn't crossed the lake since January.
I haven't been to Seattle since tolling started and haven't missed it.
We'll still take your comments. Email your thoughts on tolling to ann.archer@patch.com or post on our Facebook page.
