TollBoothGuy
5 Years Experience
Brooklyn, NY
Male, 33
I spent just short of five years as a toll collector on the western end of New York State. Ask me anything, but please don't pay me in pennies.
I tried not to think about it, honestly. I know some coworkers have had money thrown at them in the past but nothing much beyond that. I think the only time I actually felt unsafe at a station was when I was working solo and the power went out in the middle of the night. When you lose all the lights and the hum of the electronic ticket machines, all these fun scenarios start running through your head.
I took no extra safety precautions on the job. State police units were never particularly far away, and the vast majority of conflicts with drivers are verbal and last a few seconds at most.
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I'll be honest, I'm not sure if anyone can be held liable in that situation. Usually when any kind of incident happens out on the road, drivers can request to make a report to whatever law enforcement agency has jurisdiction. Personally, I'd never instruct a car to back up out of a lane unless absolutely necessary and I would physically get out of my booth and back everyone up so that this kind of situation has as little chance of happening as possible. Sorry to hear about the damages to your vehicle.
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I don't really know anything about operations at the Triborough Bridge but this might shed some light on your experience:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triborough_Bridge_and_Tunnel_Authority_Police
It looks like these officers may collect tolls from time to time, which might explain the potential ticket. Pure speculation from my perspective, though.
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Those lots are reserved for employees and other authorized individuals and are not to be used by the general public. If you have to stop off for a second that's generally okay, but you would not be able to park your vehicle there for any significant length of time.
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I took no extra security precautions while I was out on the road. I never felt particularly unsafe, even during solo shifts.
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While roads do close in emergencies and during particularly adverse weather conditions, it is correct that toll roads do need to remain staffed at all times. If relief cannot make it to you, unfortunately you will generally be expected to remain at your post until they can safely make their way to you. In more general terms, you always try to arrive at least 10-15 mins before the official shift start time so that you can relieve earlier shifts by the time they are scheduled to leave. Some lanes will close/open depending on the time of day, but to maintain continuous service collectors generally cannot close their lane before relief is in place.
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We classify vehicles based on height and axles on the ground. Anything below 7'6" is classified a 'low' and anything above 7'6" is a 'high'. So an average car is classified as a 2L while an average tractor trailer is classified as a 5H. Luckily, we don't have to take weight or commercial status into consideration when classifying. I know that a different system was in place preceding my arrival and that it had been become somewhat complicated, so this system was installed in an effort to simply the process. (Something about noting the number of passengers on buses, etc...)
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