Alert! Heard on the radio this morning that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is releasing 500 individuals including toll takers on I-70/76 and making their roadway a permanent "cashless" route. This means you will need a credit card or the EZ-Pass (or its equivalent) to travel on I-70/76 through Pennsylvania. Will be interesting to see if this trend expands to other toll roads. Here is one of the articles:

 

POST-GAZETTE.COM

Pa. Turnpike permanently going cashless immediately; 500 collectors losing jobs

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission 

My guess: the tolls did not decrease now that 500 less people need to be paid.

Technology is inevitable. Some people don't like that but I'm afraid it's the way it will be. The world belongs to the educated.

 

I have a 2015 ford pickup. The aluminum one. They tooled up a new plant to build them. I saw a documentary about it a short while ago. Very few people working on it compared to traditional assembly plants. A guy at a computer screen keeps track of the robots on a conveyor belt. The benefit, according to the narrator.... if they get a vehicle right every one of them is exactly like the previous one. No Sunday help lemons. If there is a flaw they correct it an all vehicles will follow suit. Robots duplicate exactly. They showed gloved people looking the finish over at the end of the line. When corporations got the tax cut many began tooling up like this.

 

And I can attest.... It's the best vehicle I've ever owned... since 1973. I wonder what things will look like 50 yrs from now. Progress I guess.

1 hour ago, DanielG said:

Technology is inevitable. Some people don't like that but I'm afraid it's the way it will be. The world belongs to the educated.

 

   Technology exists. It has existed for thousands of years. What you're calling "inevitable" is change, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with technology.

   As for the world belonging to the educated, there are different kinds of "education". What one person learns, another doesn't. And what one person doesn't, another does.

   Some kinds of education are simply havens of self-congratulation.     jj

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   Technology exists. It has existed for thousands of years. What you're calling "inevitable" is change, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with technology.

   As for the world belonging to the educated, there are different kinds of "education". What one person learns, another doesn't. And what one person doesn't, another does.

   Some kinds of education are simply havens of self-congratulation.     jj

Regarding the OP's turnpike post it's technology this time. And yes no one can be educated in everything but whatever they learn is education. So, the future is the educated. Education is education unless someone does it for self-congratulation.

Toll collectors are a thing of the past. Sorry about the people that lost their jobs. But working as a toll collector is pretty hazardous, sitting there all day in a box filled with auto exhaust is not good for people. It causes emphysema, COPD and lung cancer. People will be better off with almost any other job at this point in time.

On 6/6/2020 at 1:11 PM, CrankFate said:

Toll collectors are a thing of the past. Sorry about the people that lost their jobs.

Yep, sums it up nicely. Been coming for a long time if you were paying attention.

 

Funny story when the family and I were vacationing in Pennsylvania. We took a trip from our Poconos resort to the nearest Cabelas. I must have gotten on one of those EZ pass only entrances without EZ pass. When I got to the destination I got charge by the toll collector the maximum toll because I didn’t have a ticket or EZ pass. $50 to go to Cabelas. I was super bummed and ticked.

 

I was one of those folks that didn’t get EZpass to save toll collectors jobs as long as possible. After that trip I got EZpass...
 

 

14 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Yep, sums it up nicely. Been coming for a long time if you were paying attention.

 

Funny story when the family and I were vacationing in Pennsylvania. We took a trip from our Poconos resort to the nearest Cabelas. I must have gotten on one of those EZ pass only entrances without EZ pass. When I got to the destination I got charge by the toll collector the maximum toll because I didn’t have a ticket or EZ pass. $50 to go to Cabelas. I was super bummed and ticked.

 

I was one of those folks that didn’t get EZpass to save toll collectors jobs as long as possible. After that trip I got EZpass...
 

 

Bummer. I woulda thought the maximum toll was like $6.80.