can someone explain to me why there are people sitting in the toll booths in the lanes with drop in buckets in Hooksett and Manchester. Everytime I pass through and drop my change in there is a person just sitting there, doing nothing. Blows my mind.

I don't understand
 

I thought one of the arguments for the easy pass was to reduce the head count working at the toll booths. They were going to reduce labor by getting rid of the tokens which would also save money.

What really gets me is the confusion caused by the signage that sends people over here with cash and over there if you have coins or cash??? Someone is going to be killed by the lane crossers cutting in front of the ez passers.

What I heard is that they have people in the exact change lanes on very busy days. This is because people grumpy from the toll booth traffic sometimes "forget" to pay. Seeing a person there usually reminds them.

Exact change or ?
 

That and the fact that some of the "exact change" lanes are exact change or cash ... meaning people wait for their change from the toll-taker. Isn't this supposed to occur in the far right lanes ?

Civil Service .... gotta luv it!
 

Are you serious? The toll-collector's union would never stand for being replaced by machines. I'll venture to say that not one full-time/permanent toll-collector position has been eliminated by the introduction of ez-pass in NH. I remember reading somewhere that since the installation of ez-pass, toll collection costs have measurably risen! Despite valiant determination, NH is becoming more & more like Massachusetts; good, bad, or indifferent.

right lane only
 

I always use the far left lane at the tolls. The "exact" change lanes. And each time I pass through, there's our tax money at work (or not) just sitting there as I place my quarters into the basket. How do I get a job like that.

Waste of taxpayer money
 

One of the reasons the "cash" lane is to the LEFT is because on many highways, including in NH, the LEFT lane can be changed to go either way, depending upon the volume of traffic, ie, Friday night heading north, or Sunday afternoon heading south. If this lane was rigged out with E-Z pass equipment it might not be able to be changed. Oh, I just thought of something - they could hire some additional help to be E-Z Pass Lane lane direction changers during busy times.

I have an idea
 

During my long wait in traffic at the toll on Saturday, I could not help but think that "I am going to Finlay get their and hardly any of these people are going to be using the fast lanes". (3)

Sure enough, the majority of the folks in the middle were busy trying to cut into line on the right or left.

I thought, what if they painted the middle lane purple or labeled it "FAST LANE ONLY" for the last mile every 100 feet on the lane. Then write Bills on the right lane and Coins on the left lane.

Maybe when folks see how much shorter the fast lane truly is they would get a transponder. If they did not opt for it, at least I could get to the traffic in Concord sooner.

Maybe Kramer could adopt the highway....and repaint the lanes.