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Get a MacPass you morons! The “Mac Pass Only” lane is for drivers with the pass, not for you to go in, sit there honking because the bar doesn’t go up, and then hand over $0.75 to us staff. You end up backing up traffic and pissing off other drivers! —Mac’d with the Pass
This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2010.
35 Comments
but it works with coins too, right. otherwise, they would only have the passes on all lanes, instead of just a few. and maybe buddy needed to get some change.
Hah, a Bridge commissioner has dared rear its head? Claiming stupidity on the bridge drivers? when the Bridge commission is about as broken and stupid as an organization could be.
Try using the bumpers on your over-sized vehicles and push break downs and accidents off the bridge. No standing there taking a lane flirting with drivers.
Try direction changing toll lanes during rush hour.
Oh and the real burn on my ass? There should be NO TOLL, and NO BOOTHS. Your effed commission should have paid that off in the 80’s.
If the occasional person enters the wrong toll lane, do your job, which you are over-paid for, smile at the motorist, and get the effing gate open pronto – that’s your JOB!!
People do this?
IF the assholes in charge hadn’t invested really really badly, that bridge would be paid off by now !
How many millions did they lose again ???
IF they hadn’t taken the coin baskets out of some of the lanes, we could still drop a coin & get through.
If there were still tokens, you’d never see the long line in front of the ONLY booth open with a person in it to make change…the new MAcpass isn’t working for everyone as the so called planners thought. The new system which is making it harderto get across the bridge just pisses people like me who occassionally have to go to Helifax, jamming up one of your lanes is my payback for your inconveniencing me. I’ve gone in a macpass lane only a couple of times during rush hour, it is easier than trying to get in the lane with the only guy working to give change & it pisses all the macpass sheep off to no end ~:p
& that makes me smile ~;)
Morons. What are you proving, More? The fucking Macpass costs nothing to get, you can pay into it whenever you feel like it, and its costs less per trip. But no, stick it to the man, More. Btw, I’ll seeya on the other side as I breeze by your rebellious ass as you’re digging for change. lol
BRoc…I’m not in that big a hurry.
Secondly, I don’t work in Halifax very often & i am schedualed for 2 dates to be in Halisux this month.
2 times.
I’m not getting a Macpass for the conveniece of going there 1 or 2 times a month. It isn’t convenient for me. I can’t get one from the guy at the tollbooth. They make you go & get one, exactly how is that convenient ? THen there are the times I’ve taken Trucks filled with gear, that have Macpasses & the stupid damn thing don’t work. That’s just pure pleasure for me…you see I’m getting paid by the hour & I’m sitting there blocking traffic while some harried bridge person comes toddling over to ‘help me out’
Here’s an idea put the fucking tokens back in play.
I can never remember the machines failing to recognise a token, not once, not ever…change sure, macpass screw ups ,oh, yeah…tokens never once let me down !
I just don’t like the fact that it auto-replenishes itself when it’s getting low…
directly onto your credit card.
kinda irks me.
more ole buddy, i agree 1 million per cent with you about the tokens. getting rid of them was one huge fucking mistake by the bridge commotion. if they needed coins, then they get them, by way of buying tokens by the bag. it is only because some germ freak figured they’d catch a miniscule little bug from using them. to those i say, a great big fuck you.
Life Sucks…seriously ?
I thought that they got rid of them, because some overpaid bridge employee got tired of sitting upright and having to occassionally move bags of coins to the brinks truck* ( * I just picked brinks…I don’t know who picks up the money)
Plus anywhere I’ve ever seen a security firm picking up cash , they go in & get it & they lug it out !
But I suppose the guard in the building might have to open a door or #gasp# push a buzzer & let them in !
The whoe idea of one thing fits all has never worked & will never work, you need to be a bit flexible & I often stay on the 102 & go directly to Halisux bypassing the bridge, just so I don’t have the hassel.
I love my macpass – I’ve never had trouble with it… but then I travel back and forth to NB all the time so its really quick on the Cobequid too. But I totally understand, if you don’t use the bridge much (lucky you), you could at least have the decency to not play asshole and block the gate on purpose. Seems kinda juvenile…
Is that optional, zZz or is it just something they do regardless? I know you can get it coming from your bank account (I don’t have any credit cards), but I’m apprehensive of letting them have access to a bank account with an auto refill option. I’ve had definite issues with allowing someone access to my account (*coughcough* RBC *cough*) and they screwed up and took way more out than they should have and the bank wouldn’t let me cut them off (I had to close my account and open another and pay a buttload in overdraft charges). Until you can change that option with the macpass, I think I’ll pass.
There is the manual replenishment option, for all of you that are paranoid about pre authorized debits.
Just an FYI, but the bridges were paid off years ago. the only debt outstanding on the commissions books are from upgrades and renovations
I see macpass as another big brother attempt to know where you are all the time. I choose to throw my 75 cents in if by chance I have to go to the Darkside.
LOL, you guys are fucked. Enough said, seriously?? Don’t forget your tin foil hat on your way over the bridge. LOL
This bitch made me go online and order a MacPass. I take the bridge everyday… I really should have one. Thanks for the bitch OP!!
Yup, you save money every time you go across… and the toll on the cobequid is only $2 each way, vs $4. Which, when you use it a few times a month, it adds up. You can even get a couple of passes, RC, and link them to the same account. My BF and I each have one in our cars, because if I”m not going to NB, he’s coming to NS… so it makes sense.
BRoc – Yes I am serious….plus I don’t go to Dartmouth enough to get one.
Way to join the herd RC.
Fight the power!
I’m NEVER getting a macpass…. EVER.
(disclaimer: if a decent argument eventually arises, I have the right to change my mind)
I just found it cool that the thing actually works, when so many things related to road and traffic in this city don’t.
How’s that for an argument, zZz?
Here’s the thing, if you rarely go across the bridges, sure, don’t get one. Otherwise, you’re grasping at straws. Some of the comments on here are some of THE weakest “fight the man” arguments I have ever heard, but keep it up guys, it’s really entertaining
more ..i hope they take their sweet ass time getting over there to make your change …thats self-entitlement in a nutshell right there…all those angry people behind you arent going to care about the toll guy but you can bet they will remember YOU and your vehicle…
I can’t be bothered to get one cos I don’t live or work in Hali and am over there randomly at best plus a great way to get rid of loose change.
It’s funny how the way forward sends us backward once in a while – like how many times have you been in a lineup to pay for something and the person ahead of you would have been much quicker if they had used cash instead of plastic? I guess that’s another bitch.
Wow. Let’s move forward guys….
shaker542 I’m paid by the hour…take your time, I’m not the one in a hurry & if they didn’t open every damn gate at rush hour, which are then trying to squeeze from 6 or 7 lanes down to 2 …it would be easier to try to get to the only gate with a commissionair at it. You think going in the wrong lane ties things up…what do you think a 3/4 ton truck towing a trailer smashed up in a car or two at the approaches is going to do to the morning commute ?
Cue Frank Zappa’s song “Flakes”.
well i recently got a macpass b/c i changed jobs and work in burnside everyday now…. and i have to say i love having the macpass…. easy to use… convenient…. love blazing by all the “change payers” you can order it online and have it mailed…. very easy process. $.60 a toll which will save some $ too.
“jesus thinks you’re a jerk” is one of my favs frenchie
I’ll have to look it up PG, I don’t know that one. I just thought that “Flakes” fit rather well with the “I’m paid by the hour – I’m in no hurry” comment previously made. 😀
yeah i know. mr. zappa was a very unusual musician…stayin alive with ozzy is great
O.O Frank Zappa and Ozzy did a song together?!? That sounds absolutely great.
it aint the beegees bitch^^^
My name is Commandante Esposito and I’m a MacPass user. It’s been five years since I last used a coin or token to cross the bridge.
I can use any lane I want to enter and exit the bridge. I hardly slow down when I pass through the gate. I’ve made going through the gate a game of chicken. If the MacPass lane is backed up I use a coin lane if one is clear. These are the things that amuse me.
Occasionally someone does get stuck in the MacPass lane. I’ve done it myself. The MacPass system doesn’t like a 17 foot aluminum canoe on a roof rack. I suppose some even get stuck there not realizing they don’t have the coin option. I try not to worry about it, although it does slow down my game of toll gate chicken.
I think they should have kept the option of tokens, although I personally thought they were a hassle. Likewise with coinage.
I’m not worried about the MacPass allowing Big Brother to know when I cross the bridge. When I’m on a secret mission I use my inflatable dinghy and commando duds and black face paint and cross the harbour at night. It doesn’t take that long and the things I have to do across the harbour usually require the cover of darkness.
I have numerous ways of avoiding Big Brother when I want to, but if I did these things all the time Big Brother would get suspicious. MacPass records are an important part of my ‘cover’ and furnish me with ‘plausible deniability’.
My father owned a transportation service for a long time and those MacPass transponders helped me fire a few dishonest employees!
Also 80kms was the fastest I went through….scared the shit out of my brother though.
Lol Esposito