IDS 1: Toll Road Abolishment Act (Passed)

[Maxwell]

It's time for the IDS to get rid of toll roads. I am here to answer questions and hear out alternative revenue sources in lieu of this, but I think this is the best thing we can do.

[Maxwell]

Are some of these toll roads owned by private firms?

this was something that I proposed and it failed in the Midwest. I can't imagine it is here, but I will go through the law books.

[Maxwell]

I'm definitely going to need to see the budgetary impact of this, but putting that aside, I'm not sure if eliminating toll roads is the best idea.  Other regions still have tolls and I don't think it's fair to give people traveling through here from those regions a free ride while our citizens continue to fund their roads.  I also think any long-term impact this will have on our economy will be dismal, so I don't see the urgency for us to pass this bill.

I think this bill encourages people to come here, and they will spend money elsewhere. I agree it's a small change, but I think it will be a positive change. However, I am willing to use this bill to talk about toll roads in general, and what we should do about them or with them, because I think there should be a change in the future, even if this bill may go too far for some.

[Maxwell]

I looked into some research, while I don't have anything exact, An elimination of Texas 103 toll road would cost the Government $3 Billion dollars. likely abolishing toll roads all together in the IDS would cost us a lot more. I'm starting to turn against my own idea, since any cuts would be to the bone of a lot of these programs we have.

Is there anything we can do instead here? I'll be reading up on toll roads to see anything we could change. If nothing, then I'm wondering what the procedure is for pulling a bill and moving on to the next big thing.

[Maxwell]

Do you guys in other states have a system similar to PikePass? You can put money into a card and that pays for tolls? We could just eventually transfer to a system where we only do this.

https://www.pikepass.com/

[Maxwell]

I had in mind creating an Infrastructure Department website where people can buy passes, and eventually making that the system in which toll roads are paid.

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I want to see if there's anything else I can add to make this better.

[Maxwell]

I thought all the states already had a 'pass' system.  Those are typically bought by people who need to frequently cross state lines to get to work, if I'm not mistaken.

I was thinking of doing a regional pass system then.

[Maxwell]

I thought all the states already had a 'pass' system.  Those are typically bought by people who need to frequently cross state lines to get to work, if I'm not mistaken.

I was thinking of doing a regional pass system then.

Would that be any different from the status quo?  I might be completely wrong about this, but I always figured that each individual state in Atlasia, for the sake of aesthetics, had its own governing body along with towns and municipalities, just with very limited power.

Regions seem to function as state governments in this scenario, so maybe bringing it up a level so that it makes more sense? The only difference would be, instead of being in the states hands, it would be in the regions hands.

I'm kind of running out of ideas on this topic.

[Maxwell]

Maybe this is purely from a game perspective, but I'd be supportive of that change. Status Quo is a no go, and I think this expansion may make our roads better.

[Maxwell]

Amending the bill by replacing the original text with this:

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[Maxwell]

Changing the title of this thread would be helpful.

Aye, change either direction on this issue is fine for me.

[Maxwell]

It passed 4-1