Freeway Tolls: An Observation

In San Diego, the regional planning authority is proposing a per mile charge to drivers. This is going to be a difficult sell, but one that might be necessary to fund the future of mobility is our city.

I browsed the new regional plan and understand the concept. My initial thoughts and concerns are the amount of goals attempting to be achieved. I think about the use of technology to implement the plan and the positive and negative aspects associated with commuter fees.

My observations are based upon my numerous travels to Japan. They too have a toll system that is based upon zones of travel. When commuting on the expressway, you reach the strategically placed toll booths when you pass a few coins to the booth keeper and be on your way.

My travels were many years ago and I am positive that things have changed. My thoughts are based upon those experiences and what I imagine those places are today and how those mental images are transposed into our current city situation.

When you leave or enter the urban center, you are charged a toll. When you cross between regional jurisdictions, there is a toll. When you cross a bridge, there is a toll. In addition to the tolls utilized to pay for infrastructure, the toll booths provide stable employment for many people.

In San Diego and Orange County, we once had booth keepers, but they were replaced by automated systems. I understand the need for efficiency and how that efficiency increases the profitability of the system. I do see a need to question that automation, especially when there is an opportunity to create jobs. If our future is heading towards systems that do not require human supervision, the result could be a lack of lower scale or entry level employment.

A fully automated fare pay system, like Fastrak, is convenient and decreases congestion by keeping the flow of traffic moving. A supervised system might slightly decrease efficiency but contribute to societal stability by providing entry level positions to bolster the next generation’s employment base.

The toll booth doesn’t need to be seen as a type of employment “trap.” It can be a revolving shift where other responsibilities are required.

During my stays in Japan, I’ve seen the toll booth workers sweeping the adjacent areas. When viewed from this lens, the toll booth system operators will double as maintenance workers along a small stretch of toll ways.

I am sure there are many strategies to consider, and also many negative aspects to having people overseeing these operations. My thoughts are centered around a new generation of American workers that will enter the market place where automation is prevalent.

Technology should not be ignored and we should never turn away from human progress - we should continually find small ways to integrate human work into future systems while we make a full transition towards automated systems. These transitions and contrasts between humans and systems should be a critical component of the planning process.

An additional observation from my travels is the toll station integration into the built environment. In Japan, many of the toll stations that act as jurisdictional boundaries are apart of small commercial zones which include small hotels and inns, eating establishments, spas, mini-marts, gas stations, car washes, truck stops, and vehicle repair shops. These toll areas become small employment centers which can bolster micro economies of semi-rural areas where employment stagnation could be more pronounced than in urban center.

When viewed from that angle, the toll system can be utilized to prevent stagnation and potentially create new living choices for future residents. Our planning processes should take these elements into consideration.