Tolls Going Up!

September has been deemed “Get a Tag Month” by the North Texas Tollway Authority. The NTTA Board of Directors recently voted to move to all “cashless” toll roads by 2010 – at least at the main plazas & all future NTTA turnpike projects will be planned as “All Electronic Toll” (ETC) facilities. So, if you don’t currently have a toll tag, you had better start considering it! For now, however, all you need to worry about is the upcoming toll increases that will go into affect on September 29th, 2007. At the main plazas, Toll Tag customers will pay an increase of 10 cents & cash customers will pay an increase of 25 cents.

I know a lot of people don’t travel the Tollways enough to think they need to purchase a Toll tag but you do. It is easy to subscribe with your credit card for a beginning charge of $40.00 and when you have used that amount in Tolls, they charge another $40.00. You can get up to three Toll Tags per account at no additional charge. A Toll Tag provides you up to a 40% discount on tolls & it can even be used to pay for parking at Love Field & DFW Airport. In addition, you’ll have access to all express toll lanes across the State of Texas. Your account can be managed online 24/7 & you can pay more to get a readout of where you & your other toll tags have been!

Another reason to get a Toll Tag is that Plano will soon be surrounded by Toll Roads and I guess Frisco will be also! Plano has George Bush to the South, the Dallas North Tollway on the West, and soon to be 121 Tollway on the North with only 75 on the east that will be free to drive on. Now, will that force the “cheaper” drivers onto the interior streets to travel through Plano, like Coit and Preston and Parker and Park? Will it provide any relief for the traffic within the Cities or cause more traffic to “cut through?”

One benefit of the “All-ETC” conversion that the NTTA is proposing is the reduction of pollution from sitting in lines, using gas, and polluting the air with our cars. Makes sense, huh? The negative is that “Big Brother” knows your every move, but they know that with your cell phone anyway and GPS in your car. More of that security watching is coming!

If you are interested in getting a Toll Tag, call the Customer Service Center at 972-818-NTTA (6882) or visit www.ntta.org. You’ll need the following vehicle information on hand when registering:

• Permanent metal license plate number
• Vehicle year, color, make & model
• Credit/Debit Card