799 sats \ 2 replies \ @ek 3 Jan \ on: BuT, wHaT aBoUt ThE rOaDs? libertarian
As an European who is mostly used to "free" roads (I know, there are no free lunches), the experience with toll roads always sucked so hearing "private roads" immediately triggers something in me, lol
The experience sucked because it felt like the only choices you have is to either a) pay the toll (€20-70 iirc?) or b) drive a long way back to take another road that might not even exist or costs you 2x or 3x the time.
So you're kind of "forced" to pay the toll that might even surprise you if you didn't check your route for any tolls beforehand since you're not used to toll roads. They tend to be in bottlenecks though.
Maybe we're just spoiled.
btw, once we even had to pay the toll twice because we took a wrong turn and then had to reenter the toll road to drive all the way back.
I grew up in a land with no toll roads and never really encountered them until I went to grad school, so I share your instinctual revulsion and urge to avoid them.
Tolls are only one option for road owners. A much less onerous method is a subscription service. Some also speculate that retailers might buy some of the road network near their stores and either have them be free or do something analogous to validated parking for their customers.