Go to one of the big metropolitan areas in Texas and you are sure to see one thing˳ From Highway 183 and 290 in Austin to the Interstate Highway 10 and Loop 8 of Houston˳ Over to the same I-10 in San Antonio, up to I-35E and U˳S˳ 75 Central Expressway in Dallas˳ On the windshields of cars driven by Texans is a little blue square with an orange “T” in the middle˳ No, this is not some weird Texas tradition˳ At least, it is not one we enjoy˳
The little sticker is in essence a discount card for the use on Tollroads in the state˳ You receive a 50% lower rate on tolls you pay when you register for a TollTag˳ It links to a bank account, and money is pulled and added to your account automatically˳ In Texas, we do not slow down and throw quarters in some basket because we are driving 75-85 MPH and that would cause us to stop˳ Sorry, it is not our style˳
People outside Texas may think we walk around in cowboy boots, ride horses, and take long rides on the range˳ In reality, we sit in traffic and pay to use the majority of roadways we drive on˳ Not exactly the ideal Texas South that Hollywood portrays˳
The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) is a political subdivision of the State of Texas˳ A political subdivision is defined by the Encyclopedia of Political Science as a local government set up by a State˳ As with cities, political subdivisions are considered special districts and run similar to a city government˳
For Texans on roadways in Dallas, Austin, Houston, or San Antonio it does not take long before you make a turn and are met with a Tollway sign˳ An excellent piece of information is giving the cost of driving on the roadway˳ But, for as long as it takes to get out of Texas, the question proceeds in that, “Does Texas have more toll roads than other States?” In short, yes˳ And by a lot˳
The State of California has a total of four toll roads˳ New York holds three, and Oklahoma the largest in a total of nine˳ Well, except for Texas˳ The Lone Star State is the home of a total of 23 toll roads, and three “Express Lanes,” which are toll roads built adjacent to main highways˳ All with a clever marketing pitch that the roadway is a type of luxury service to help those commuting for a small fee˳
But, what happens when these roadways become the main way of commuting? Well, communities in developing areas in the north suburbs of Dallas are feeling that reality˳ Up and coming suburbs of Frisco, The Colony, and Prosper are left with two choices when commuting to the big city of Dallas˳ A toll road or low-roads that would add between an hour to an hour and a half to the time of travel˳
As an example, when leaving Frisco and heading to Downtown Dallas, you have a few options˳ You can get on the Sam Rayburn Tollway and head south to be connected to the Dallas North Tollway (DNT)˳ You can take the DNT all the way directly south through Addison, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, University Park, and land directly in Downtown Dallas˳ The alternative route would take an exit to get on the President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) and go through one toll booth and join up at U˳S˳ 75 Central Expressway, which too is evidently is not a tollway˳
For those that wanted to avoid the toll roads when commuting from Frisco would be met with a long drive, but possible˳ From Main Street in Frisco, you would need to navigate to Coit Rd˳ Going south on 35 to 40 mph roadways, as well as stop lights and school zones˳ You would eventually make your way into Richardson and find your way to either Campbell Rd, Spring Creek Pkwy, or Belt Line Rd and head East to join U˳S˳ 75˳ Sound confusing? It is, and that is why thousands of people every day hop on the toll roads and just keep on rolling˳
The question arises and must be asked; when is it too much? And it is a question many people are starting to talk about˳ Living in the North Dallas area myself I travel on the PGBT and DNT frequently˳ There are options of maneuvering around the roadway to avoid the charges, but the time it would take is not just inconvenient, but impossible for me in, for instance, getting from work to pick up my son from child care˳ Or in dropping off my son and arriving at work on time, and sometimes late if traffic is bad˳ These are circumstances that it is not a fact of being impatient, but realistic and finding the possible way of traveling˳
The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) has not been free of controversy˳ From a rumor of being a foreign company to paying their Board of Directors large salaries, rumors fly that are false and also some questions that are not answered˳ To lay the claim to rest, no the NTTA is not a foreign company that owns the toll roads of Texas˳ Although there has not been significant transparency in what sources are used in contracts of building the roads, as far as the NTTA in itself it is not considered a company, at least on paper˳
One rumor that is true is that in 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a search of the NTTA˳ They questioned multiple board members on actions of previous members of the council in an investigation related to fraud˳ There has been no word from either the NTTA or FBI to details of this search˳
The NTTA addresses on the website, which includes a large portion devoted to questions and answers, that the nine members of the Board of Directors serve for a two-year term and are unpaid˳ Now, it is explained that the board members are appointed by the counties that the toll road is located in˳ It is not addressed if these same counties give the members a paycheck˳ Although only my opinion, I highly doubt someone would do the job of leading the NTTA and not be somehow compensated monetarily˳ It seems highly unlikely, but without detailed views of where the money goes exactly, we cannot be sure˳
The agency touts a sound basis for paying 80% of employees health insurance, a retirement program, and other incentives and benefits that make them appear to be a good and outstanding entity˳ Not until you dig deep into the 103 page PDF document released by the Authority that you find on page 58 a breakdown of their structure˳ Boasting 776 employees and growing, you see that out of these employees only 54 are full-time positions˳ Sadly, this means only 7% of their employees would be able to cash in on these great benefits˳
The other aspect that is surprising is the division of staff members in their structure˳ The majority of staffing is in the Customer Support department (289)˳ Following is in Incident Management (98), and only a handful in Finance, Internal Audit, and Public Affairs˳ They take this customer care topic very seriously! Where you would expect large amounts of people in the departments over keeping the roadways safe, clean, maintained, and at a top level, it is found only to have around 30-40 staff members slated in this position˳ That is very few to cover four major cities and 26 roadways˳
Using the term “Customer” is fascinating˳ The consensus in the business world is that a customer is an individual that decides to buy a service or product˳ In that, they have the free choice to either purchase or not˳ And they can go to your competitor for whatever reason they deem necessary˳
In this regard, the NTTA is in an excellent spot˳ First, they have no competition˳ There is no choice of which toll road to use˳ Secondly, for as many that have been presented above, the use of their service that is given as an alternative is many times the opposite˳ They have no viable option to get from one point to another than from driving through the electronic toll collection system˳
Do toll roads make much money? Well, from the 26 in Texas and also including the 3 Express Lanes, in 2015 the NTTA had a revenue of $608,368,030˳ Their operating budget was $137,513,520˳ And Net Debt Service came to an impressive $359,946,028˳ The term “Net Debt Service” is the total of all debt held by the company˳
Although many would assume that with a revenue far surpassing both operating costs and debt owned by the company that this would be immediately paid off is incorrect˳ The NTTA gives a detailed breakdown of how they break their debt into “Tiers” and pay it off a little at a time, ranging between $51,000,000 to $148,000,000 in a given year˳ Meaning that in 2015 if they paid their top tier of debt and subtracting the cost of operating, the company had a nice chunk of change left over around the figure of $322,202,141 and some pennies˳
We arrive at the place where the transparency of the NTTA ends and becomes cloudy˳ It is what fuels the distrust in the entity professed to be a not-for-profit agency˳ We could assume the leftover funds are saved to pay for future expansions but are left with the question of why the amount of debt the NTTA holds continues to rise when developments are completed˳
Sadly, I cannot answer the questions of where the money lands and if there are some coverup or money dealings under the table˳ All I can do is obtain the information that is provided by the Authority and look at it critically and logically and attempt to find answers to questions˳ Many people have looked into these issues and are refused or given answers in generic non-informative ways˳
The question begs to be answered: at what level do residents of Texas say “Enough!” to the construction of more toll roads and lanes being devoted to Express Lanes˳ And at what point does the charges incurred in all the cloaks of being presented as a type of luxury, in fact, become a tax to drive on direly needed roadways?
In Texas, it is known that the Texas government does their own thing, and citizens continue living their life˳ In 2014 we experienced the first debate between the two candidates running for the Governor’s office in over ten years˳ And talking to Texans, even those involved in following politics rarely knows much of what is going on˳ Even when Former Governor Rick Perry slashed the Education budget in half in 2009 from $10,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000, the citizens rarely knew or even cared˳ Maybe it is time to change that˳
Texans need to realize that these roadways are sprouting up and are continuing to grow˳ Many new developments lead to more remote areas which will only extend the fact of no other option than a toll road is available to get to your desired location˳ In the idea of a pay-as-you-drive to help build better roadways is a good idea, there has to be a limit and understanding of the length of payment˳ At present, no laws are restricting the range a toll road is continued in operating, leading any intelligent individual to assume with profits like the NTTA is raking in, we shouldn’t expect the DNT to be toll free anytime soon˳
Raise your voice˳ Every opinion matters˳ But in the meantime, if you are driving in a large city in Texas, do not forget your check book!
Source by https://ezinearticles˳com/?Welcome-to-Texas!-If-You-Drive,-Do-Not-Forget-Your-Check-Book!&id=9369888
