Tolls up to $1

[CNHT]

What the hell kind of country do you live in Captain!   

[KBCraig]

As of August 2007, the toll for driving the fixed link is as follows (one way trip):
Vehicle    Danish currency[1]    Swedish currency[2]
Motorcycle    135 DKK    165 SEK
Standard car    245 DKK    300 SEK
Motorhome/Car+Caravan    490 DKK    600 SEK
Minibus (6-9 meters)    585 DKK    725 SEK
Bus (longer than 9 meters)    1065 DKK    1315 SEK
Lorry (9-12 meters)    820 DKK    1015 SEK
Lorry (12- meters)    970 DKK    1200 SEK

So, that's $21 for a motorcycle, up to $205 for a bus, one-way on a 5 mile long bridge! 

[mvpel]

How much did the ferry cost?  Have the outlawed ferries yet?  Seems like there might be an entrepreneurial opportunity here to undercut the toll.

[burnthebeautiful]

How much did the ferry cost?  Have the outlawed ferries yet?  Seems like there might be an entrepreneurial opportunity here to undercut the toll.

The ferries that went to and from Malmo-Copenhagen (where the bridge goes) cost something like $6. They went out of business shortly after the bridge opened, but there are still boats that go back and forth between smaller towns farther away. I went on one of those boats a few years ago. It had a gambling area and a liquor store on board, I thought it was pretty cool

I might be missing a part of the story where the government forced the ferry companies to shut down, but as I understand it, the ferry companies simply went out of business after all their customers abandoned them in favor of the trains.

[supperman15]

just goes to show there is more to a market then simply price

[mvpel]

I might be missing a part of the story where the government forced the ferry companies to shut down, but as I understand it, the ferry companies simply went out of business after all their customers abandoned them in favor of the trains.

Considering the two countries involved, I wouldn't count on it.  Governments around the world impose monopolies by force, even when it's against the law - just look at New Hampshire liquor stores.

[KBCraig]

Gardner Goldsmith speaks out:

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Gardner+Goldsmith%3a+Car+trouble+in+NH&articleId=d5704f8e-6d92-49b5-9910-41088908e527

Gardner Goldsmith: Car trouble in NH

By GARDNER GOLDSMITH
Another View

Toll hikes in New Hampshire take effect today. There are troubling questions that should have been answered before the state forced on us higher costs for a turnpike system which appears to be very mismanaged.

More than two years ago, New Hampshire drivers were told that the E-ZPass system would not only save them time at the tolls, it would save the state money. There would arise systematic efficiencies as well as the ability of the state to let go of a few toll-takers it would no longer need.

This seemed a bit sketchy, since Gov. Lynch announced that the discount for E-ZPass would be 30 percent rather than the 50 percent that was given for the tokens. Why would you offer less of a discount for a more efficient system that would allow the state to cut employees and save money? Perhaps the government wanted more money, or the system was not as efficient as purported.

Upon initiating E-ZPass, why did the state refuse to accept tokens it had sold to customers under the previous pretext that they could be redeemed? This forced those people to lose a lot of their own money, but, of course, it gave the government a windfall.

It also led to the inevitable and absurd situation of seeing toll takers posted at the "exact change" lanes, where they would take into their hands all change to be tossed at the collection bins, hold it, stare at it to make sure there were no evil tokens in the group of coins, and then, yeah, you got it, toss them into the bins themselves, doing what the drivers could have done if the state had lived up to its agreements to those who had already bought tokens!

This led to backups at the booths and the wonderful situation of the state jailing a Braintree, Mass., man for three days after he was found guilty of using the tokens he had bought from the state before E-ZPass, under the belief that the state would uphold its end of the deal.

As that man, Thomas Jensen, told me and other reporters, "I could have written a check for $150, but I was the one who was wronged." Why didn't the state simply continue to accept the tokens it had sold, thus making good on its promises, and then simply stop selling them?

Why did Gov. John Lynch continue into the fall of 2005 to sell E-ZPass transponders for $5 each "" or $14 below what they cost the state "" when a law passed in late spring of 2005 ordered that all transponders were to be sold at $19 beginning in July? And why did then-DOT Commissioner Carol Murray claim that she had been called by Lynch into a meeting in July to figure out ways to continue selling them at this massive loss, despite the law that had just been passed?!

Has anyone asked about the fact that the governor is alleged to have broken the law? And had anyone quantified the massive amount of money lost by the state during that period of lawbreaking?

We found out some answers when I recently interviewed the assistant commissioner of transportation. I asked him if we had actually seen any of the toll takers let go. He answered, "No." I asked him if we had seen any savings from the supposed "efficiencies" John Lynch lauded. The answer, to paraphrase: "No, we have not. E-ZPass is a very complicated system to run."

I asked him how much money was lost in 2005 due to John Lynch's breach of the law, and his continued insistence that the transponders be sold at $14 less than what they cost the state, and the answer was, "$5 million." Great.

I asked him about the supposed rationale that there are lots of bridges that are "red-lined" and need fixing now. Weren't these "red-lined" years ago, and what happened to the money budgeted to fix them in previous legislative sessions?

He agreed, that, yes, many had been noted before, and money had been allocated to fix them, but, well, it just didn't happen.

So what happened to that money?

Oh, never mind. You're paying higher tolls now to replace it. Whatever, right?

Gardner Goldsmith of Amherst is host of "Against The Grain" on WTPL-FM.

[bill rose]

do you know about the southern nh planning comm plan to set up a road use tax based on your carbon foot print
if you want to find the new world order in nh look there first