And the voices will get louder and louder. Maybe the time is now to call for a convoy to Albany to converge on the crapitol bldg or the thruway authority’s 80 million dollar building.
Senate called for hearings and the one in Buffalo is slated for Monday, I will be the 4th to testify. Why is it that the Democrats didn’t invite me to speak? Think they don’t want to hear what I have to say…..? 
I feel hurt.
Truckers are loud and clear on NY Thruway toll increases
Truckers are loud and clear on NY Thruway toll increases
In New York, lawmakers are getting an earful on the toll increases planned for the New York Thruway.
“This is New York’s Main Street; it goes right across the doggone state,” said OOIDA member Gene Schafer, Corfu, NY. “Increased tolls won’t do.”
The New York Assembly’s Standing Committee on Transportation will gather public concerns of truckers and others at four hearings concerning Thruway toll increases. The Democratic-controlled committee also asked New York Thruway Authority officials to delay any toll increases until after the state comptroller completes an audit.
Five recent hearings held by New York Assembly Republicans have drawn truckers to the podium to demand that the Thruway Authority not raise tolls by 10 percent in January 2008 or by another 5 percent in 2009 and 2010.
Truckers who run on the Thruway have made it clear that a proposed toll increase could force them onto toll-free local roads.
OOIDA board member and New Yorker Terry Button offered testimony to the committee on behalf of the Association. Button said that the decision of truck drivers to use less suitable routes is based not on an attempt to maximize their profits but on an exercise in survival.
“The tolls will impose a severe financial hardship on small business truckers who are already coping with narrow to nonexistent profit margins,” Button said. “Since small business truckers are paid by the mile and not by the hour, waiting in traffic on secondary roads is often better than shaving a few hours off of travel time and paying large tolls out of pocket.
“As has been commonly seen in states where tolls are applied or where toll rates have been raised, traffic congestion will increase significantly on alternative routes, adjacent communities will be disrupted, and the safety of the traveling public on these secondary roads will be dramatically reduced because of the increased traffic loads.”
Button told lawmakers that aside from safety, the diversion of traffic will have an adverse impact on the financial stability of companies that depend on the Thruway such as truck stops, motels, restaurants or gas stations.
Trucker Gene Schafer says while meetings are good, lawmakers still don’t fully understand the impact that the costs of tolls have on truckers.
“Running down to the state line from where I live in Corfu – 292 miles – dropping a trailer or whatever then coming home, it works out to be nearly $30,000 a year – that’s doing that route every day, 50 weeks a year, with one truck,” Schafer said. “I try to stress to politicians that if I were running that same distance on a non-toll interstate, it wouldn’t cost a thing!”
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Tags: grand island tolls
[...] Albanyâ??s Insanity â?? â??No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do … added an interesting post on Truckers are loud and clear on NY Thruway toll increasesHere’s a small excerpt [...]
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[...] Albanyâ??s Insanity â?? â??No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do … added an interesting post on Truckers are loud and clear on NY Thruway toll increasesHere’s a small excerpt [...]