pay the fiddler…depending on the day of the dance?

i am no stranger to the toll road system…

…lord knows they get enough of my dough.

in my lesser financially stable times i used them a bit TOO much, fell victim to their legendary late fees, and ended up in court, which i paid for in a couple ways:

1. i have a bi-monthly payment of $50 forever it seems to cover the debt

2. i get to wait till 2020 to get rid of a picture i hate because i renewed my license the night before said court date online since the worst they could do was suspend renewal…but that meant i had to use the same pic. to prove karma’s a thing even for bloodletting government agencies, the same pic was duped off on my gun permit, so i have a horrible pic of myself in my wallet for years…twice.

one thing i like about em – consistency. they do raise rates from time to time, but it’s rare and it sticks. if a road was a dollar and then goes up to a dollar ten it stays…except the new MoPac toll road through the heart of austin. that, apparently, is set to vary based on traffic. and WIDELY vary.

i took it the first time and it was a quarter for the segment i used. as in two dimes and a nickel. shaved a bunch of time due to MoPac traffic as a result. so fast forward to me going in on a friday around three when traffic is building to it’s shittiest crescendo and i thought, “fuck it – drop the quarter and toll it up MoPac!”. imagine my surprise when the rate had skyrocketed to almost four bucks!

i still took it.

but as i rolled up the road, between slight bursts of profanity, something occurred to me – all the toll roads had done what i called the “hook you” period, where it was mega cheap or free to show you fast and convenient they were, then they went up to normal price. i figured that’s what had happened – i had just tried it during that initial period and then taken it on the chin with normal price. so it goes…

…i thought. but no. the next week, because it was pre-noon on a thursday, it was only a quarter. so apparently we now have a “supply and demand” toll road. it’s interesting driving on a paved scratch off ticket.