Patrick asks for 'full accounting' for Pike toll mess

if there is a back up for more than 20minutes , then we should be able to go thru at no charge!! and have it come out of union funds !!

They shouldn't have to change their policies in order to get the workers to do what they are overpaid to do in the first place. If they call in sick on a holiday, then fire them. Let them know the policy ahead of time so that these undereducated overpaid hacks know what is expected to them. In fact, fire them altogether, and have coin bins and then we won't even need them in the first place. That should save the Commonwealth several million in salaries, benefits and pensions.

Big surprise! So much for CHANGE! The only thing that’s changed is less respect for the public. Give me the job. Time for some new, inelegant thinking people in those jobs.

If I were concerned about keeping my job as a toll collector on the Mass Pike, I surely wouldn't have been stupid enough to call in sick on Easter day. This is another sign we should get rid of the toll takers and just use transponders.

..while also "managing through tremendous financial burdens brought on by decades of mismanagement and flawed leadership."

Title should read "Deval Patrick asks for full accounting, while once again passing all blame for current mismanagement onto previous administrations."

Sunday? Where you on the pike Friday early evening on the 10th? That was a nightmare as well.Road rage, horns sounding, arguements in the car. Not to mention missing out on concerts, dinners, meeting with family and friends. Can I get reimbursed for what I lost out on? It's bad enough that the toll takers never, ever smile on a good day, let alone a bad one.

HOW MANY OF THE TOLL COLLECTORS CALLED IN SICK. THEY SHOULD BE FIRED.

Fire LeBovidge. His little stunt probably cost a lot in tourist dollars for all those out of staters who won't come back.

The Governor has got to go back in time and remember the promises he made to the residents of Mass when he said he would reel in all of the authorities and their freewheeling spending. Between the MWRA, the Pike and the MBTA, the taxpayers in Mass are getting screwed.

Ok so if 75% of the collected money goes to toll takers, and if toll takers get time and a half on Holidays and weekends anyway, then the pike loses money by even collecting tolls on weekends and holidays right ?

But by all means, lets keep electing these clowns sheeple..

Tear down the tolls-problem solved

Why in the world does the Turnpike allow toll takers to call in sick on a holiday when they're not sick? This an another example of a government agency and ITS EMPLOYEES acting like soviet burecrats--Alan LeBovidge's job is to ensure a safe and effecienty highway transporation system--he FAILED on Sunday. All toll takers that called in sick for a major holiday should be fined, furloughed or fired.

The accountability we need is FROM the Governor. A citizen's action group called Stop The Pike Hike is organizing the first ever twitter protest where you can address the Governor directly online. go to twitter.com/stopthepikehike for instructions on how to let your voice be heard!

It absolutely rediculous for LeBovidge to argue that not enought drivers own Fast Lane transponders. I I only drive the pike once or twice a year, it's not cost effective to me to shell out the money for the Fast Lane pass to only use it once or twice. It would be costing me more money. There's a monthly fee for it, isn't there?

Terminate those toll takers who called in sick unless an invoice from a doctor or hospital dated on Easter can be produced showing actual health care was administered. If a grievance is filed, so-be-it; fight it and if you lose at least you will have cost the sand bagging employee time, and the matter will be on his or her record.

excuses, excuses, anyone involved in this stupidity should be givin a lot of sick time, think about how many people in the state that don't have jobs, and how many of them would be more than happy to collect tolls on a holiday for half of what they get paid, all of them should be fired, give the work to people that want to work. friggin unions they'll be the downfall of everything.

We all know what will come from this latest PR move from Beacon Hill.......
Nothing.

Full Accounting: Paying for the Central Artery is sucking the Turnpike Authority dry. For the next 10-15 years, half of the states federal highway funds are being used to pay off the bonds floated to pay for the Artery, and the Turnpike is paying the other half. Eliminate the Turnpike Authority, it's half comes out of MassHighway and MassPort, and the I-90 falls into the same condition as the rest of the state's highways.

That's the full accounting.

So the MTA is trying to force us to buy Fast Lane passes? Sorry, but I don't want a government organization tracking my driving habits.

Having sat in said backup, I can add this: the main problem getting from the Pike onto 128 on Sunday was that not all of the booths even HAVE Fast Lane transponders, so the natural consequence was that people were crossing back and forth within the backup trying to get into or out of the proper lanes. That greatly slowed everything down. Other toll-booth plazas (in NY, NH and Maine, for example) have transponders in every lane. Since the cost of the transponders is less, no doubt, than the cost of paying overtime to toll-takers (not even mentioning the cost of having people waste time and gas in a seven mile backup), that seemed like dumb planning to me.

All they have to do is add a couple of exact change booths, and split the west and east toll booths like they used to...for heavy traffic going one way, more booth open for business on that side, and vice versa. They did it for years and it worked great. Also, why would people who travel for holidays or vacation who don't normally use the Mass Pike or tunnels and bridges feel the need to buy a transponder? Are we supposed to make it easier for the Pike Authority instead of ourselves?...ease the government?...enough already! And by the way, lots of people are purchasing lottery tickets lately, where is the money going?...not for roads or potholes on city and town streets. This state is just moving towards blackmailing the citizens to do things their way or take the highway (pardon the pun).

If the state is looking for layoffs, those that called in sick (and Alan LeBovidge) would make a good start.

There are plenty of industries that operate with an on-call schedule. You don't have to pay someone overtime if its part of their job to be on-call. Fire anyone who fakes being sick, a job isnt a right and abusing your job is not acceptable. You want to be with your family on holiday's and you have a job that doesnt allow for that to be possible. Tough luck you chose the job. Take the bad with the good and last we were told Toll collectors get a great pension, benefits, hourly wage, and vacation package.

Full Accounting: Paying for the Central Artery is sucking the Turnpike Authority dry. For the next 10-15 years, half of the states federal highway funds are being used to pay off the bonds floated to pay for the Artery, and the Turnpike is paying the other half. Eliminate the Turnpike Authority, it's half comes out of MassHighway and MassPort, and the I-90 falls into the same condition as the rest of the state's highways.

That's the full accounting.

Don't Blame the Drivers!! Deval, you control the turnpike, don't try and blame your constituents!! Either lead or leave!!! If their behavior upsets you please join STOPTHEPIKEHIKE.org and join our first ever Twitter protest. This is Outrageous, these people need to leave office.

I have a transponder and it STILL took me 5 hours to get home from CT...there was only one cash only lane open, and that didn't matter b/c this has been happening for a long time now, not just a revelation this easter weekend. Unless you drive the pike in the middle of the day you will always run into this....my folks live in CT and any time in the past couple years I have driven home on ANY weekend it has been really bad. what happened to the weekends when (thanksgiving or christmas) drivers were allowed to drive right through...gone are the days of mitt. I am sick of hearing Du-nothing whine that there is nothing he can do about it...sure there is, he just doesn't want to.

"And LeBovidge said the authority would not soon change its overtime policy, raising the specter of more delays on a highway that is costing drivers more and more"

"LeBovidge told the Globe that the tie-ups were the result ......of not enough drivers owning Fast Lane electronic toll transponders.

Arrogance pure and simple. When will the citizens finally vote the pols out of office and hacks like LeBovidge and Aloisi that come with them?

Did anyone think to just let cars pass without paying once the backup built?? Didn't the State Police think to do something once the backup built back up onto the Pike?? Oh, wait, of course not because I assumed they would actually THINK!
Good grief, even if there was no management working to authorize this, there must be an emergency phone number of someone available to authorize the use of good judgement.
And they wonder why the regular citizens despise the whole lot of them.

I am sure this was done as a "statement" by the toll takers. Let us drivers now make a statement. Make sure when it rains you put your wipers on high. Any other suggestions on how we can (legally) make our own statement?

What a nightmare! Ruined my whole family Easter Weekend! No warning at all and nowhere to escape. I hope someone gets punished because thousands of drivers were punished for no reason by the Mass Turnpike Authority.

I guess Deval took the State Police Helicopter out to the Berkshires for Easter.

Another vote for "Fire LeBovidge!" The back ups at the tolls were a disgrace.

I am for the turnpike to start giving the toll workers time and a half! Of course, you need to cut toll takers salaries from $60-80k a year to about $20-30k a year.

Just tear down the feaking tolls and get it over with...

Get rid of the Tolls and tolltakers and all the other BS that goes along with the Turnpike authority. Let the gas tax pay for the turnpike. So much for "going green" in Mass -- let people sit at toll booths wasting gas and causing pollution. --

And no Mr Aloisi and Mr Turnpike chairman, the Fast Lane is not the answer -- it just prolongs the patronage and waste. The tolls need to come down!

Get rid of the Tolls and tolltakers and all the other BS that goes along with the Turnpike authority. Let the gas tax pay for the turnpike. So much for "going green" in Mass -- let people sit at toll booths wasting gas and causing pollution. --

And no Mr Aloisi and Mr Turnpike chairman, the Fast Lane is not the answer -- it just prolongs the patronage and waste. The tolls need to come down!

Please investigate the call in sickness that occured from toll workers this past weekend.
This should never of happened. The toll workers have a responsibilty to carry out their duties!!!!
This note is not intended for the many workers who are dedicated but to those who were not sick.
Fom a retired citizen who missed work only 12 days in 30 years of service
to my communty..

Please investigate the call in sickness that occured from toll workers this past weekend.
This should never of happened. The toll workers have a responsibilty to carry out their duties!!!!
This note is not intended for the many workers who are dedicated but to those who were not sick.
Fom a retired citizen who missed work only 12 days in 30 years of service
to my community.

These guys are a disgrace and they all need to be fired and booted out of office from the top down. From Deval and LeBovidge to the overpaid do nothing toll takers. They hold everyone hostage to make a point and we are supposed to say "OK, we deserve fee hikes and tax increases so they can put more overpaid hacks to work."

DEVAL you have turned me into a republican. You will never get my vote again. Congratulations. I never saw anyone that could ask for a full accounting of what went on when it is so obvious and do it with a straight face. Let's waste more time, money and energy investigating the obvious, do nothing to correct it and then go through it all over again on the next big holiday weekend. I have never seen anyone that is so eager to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Let's hire a do nothing highly paid hack to be my wife's assistant, let's over pay some other hack friend of mine $200 k to fill an unneccassary position that's been unfilled for years. Let's investigate how all those cops can tie up traffic on the pike and at details so they can make a point that their detal work went away and then do nothing....

energy

It's apparent who's in charge here and it's NOT our Govermernr or our representatives. The shortage of toll collectors was a deliberate 'job action' I heard today the 'the toll collectors' union wouldn't return phone calls to the media. The MBTA union 'won't hear' of joining the states health care insurance. Do the unions run our government? The governor and legislators act like toothless losers while the people they represent get raped and forced to suffer the delays on Easter Sunday. The Governor should do what Reagan did with air traffic controllers. Fuire the lot of them.Enough is eniough!

It was the current management of the Turnpike that made management decision NOT to hire sufficient staff to handle traffic on a holiday. It was a management decision to lower the amount of toll collection personnel on duty for a holiday weekend. Management was aware of the traffic problems that developed on Friday and Saturday and did nothing to prevent the back ups that everyone knew would come on Sunday. (If traffic was bad leaving on Friday and Saturday then common sense would tell you that that the volume would be greater on Sunday)
Where was all of the management staff of the Turnpike on Sunday? I am sure they were home eating a wonderful dinner and no ways near the Turnpike

why not take a closer look at those employees who are milking the 'sick' time? Also, how about establishing some type of mechanism for reporting, disrespectful, discourteous, and outright RUDE employees? some of them seem to display and attitude of entitlement and need to know where their paychecks are coming from.....

I am sure that LeBovidge was either at his fancy country club which he is the president. (He does a crappy job there also) or was home in his fancy house while we all sat in traffic.

As an earlier poster mentioned, what baffles me is that anyone was surprised by these backups. Ever since the Turnpike Authority swapped the Fast Lane booths at the Weston/RT-128 tolls from the right side to the left side (for what benefit???), every Friday evening features a 2-3 mile backup heading eastbound as transponder-less drivers in the left lane merge into the Cash Only line, and when this line reaches 15 vehicles or so, it effectively blocks all access to the Fast Lanes. It goes without saying that whoever made this arbitrary changes should be fired on the spot, but it's unbelievable that no one at the Turnpike Authority has noticed this pattern and extrapolated from it the consequences of any abnormal congestion at the tolls due to holiday traffic, toll-taker "sickness" or, as we saw this past weekend, both!

There is no mystery... these horrific Democrats did this to " Teach you Nasty Little a Lesson " ... so what if Grandma spent an extra 3 hours in the car. Lebovich's snide little comment about everyone needing a transponder is a joke. We need to eliminate every tax and spend Democrat once and for all.

Please... every Democrat in this God Forsaken little hellhole of a state... please punch yourself in the face for what you've done to all of us.

So folks whine about taxes and when a department directly saves money due to the "public outrage" comes home to roost, folks whine about that too. Every other major city has traffic jams during the holidays. It is expected. I was "stuck" in the traffic multiple times and you know what I did? got off of the Pike and took route 9 which was WIDE OPEN , oh and free *(included in the cost of driving!) Then when I got on 128 and saw the backup there, I got off and took route 16. PROBLEM SOLVED!!! If more people had Fast Lane, there would be less backups. It is shocking how few people have Fast Lane. How much gas do you think is burned just sitting at the tolls... Get Fast Lane, use a road map and stop whining.

Fire the toll takers, union and bosses....they all should be held accountable. Government officials and unions should answer to consumers like everyone else.

I think it should be law that if the back-up is over 1 mile, they must open the tolls free

How about the 9:30a Friday bridge inspection at the exit 12 on ramp backing up traffic on Easter weekend and good Friday EASTBOUND? We were lucky enough to be getting on the pike at exit 12, so we could squeeeze by, while a cherry picker and troopers had traffic blocked for as far as the eyes could see.

How bad can timing and logic be in this state and on the pike? Time for a rebellion in non-payment. Poor poor judgement and operations!

They're cooking their own goose.. as my Mom used to say. I took an alternate route on the way home and will do so in the future.. ..I'd rather have it "my way"

I am glad I moved out of Mass. After visitiing my family this weekend and sitting in these lines I am contemplating ever moving back. Any idiot can collect money. Pay soemoe who just got laid off minimum wage to work the tolls.

This ISN"T NEW! The same thing occurred the Sunday night following Thanksgiving 2008, due to lack of toll collectors at I-84/Turnpike Junction traffic was backed up for miles making it impossible to reach a Fast Lane/EZ-Pass lanes even though they were open.

While I have seen backups in NJ and elsewhere too on high traffic holiday weekends, at least they were not so bad that the EZ-Pass were not immediately accessable anyway

There was a shortage of toll takers because most of them called in sick. I think it was called "blue Sunday". Those that called in sick should be fired....if they don't have a proper reason that is.

Good Friday was a disgrace. I spent 35 minutes just on the Exit 13 west bound ramp, getting off the pike at 7pm. I suspected the toll collectors because I encountered a similar nightmarish delay earlier in the day at Newton getting into Boston.
But here is what perplexed me, There seemed to be the same number of cash booths open as always but the toll takers looked like they were on a "Go Slow", pausing between each car.
Am I mistaken, or was there some news earlier on Friday about Turnpike pay/job cuts?

Seriously if

I agree with CFZ... When will it stop!

how about they let the toll takers that show up keep half of what they collect... i'll bet they get well in a hurry.
for that matter maybe the commonwealth could give out scratch tickets when you get on and let the toll takers see what they won at the end of the shift.
how about we get rid of the MTA as we've been promised so many times already!!!!

The pols are trying to inconvenience us into coughing up more money for tolls and taxes. But they forget, they work for us, not the other way around. It's time for a clean sweep, it's time to vote for the non-incumbent.

It's also time to audit the election process, from the registrations to the ballots, to make sure that there are no dead people voting, and that legally cast ballots are counted. Really, people, are we so stupid that we would elect the same leeches over and over?

Step 1:Watch what your elected officials do in the next few days. If you are not satisfied with their response ... get even on election day.

Step 2: Don't Pay on Memorial Day. As a protest, take down your transponder if you have one and don't pay. Our power is in our numbers. Show them your not going to take it. If you sit backed up for more than 10 minutes, don't pay. It's simple. Believe me, that will get their attention.

When we are told to just wait until the Memorial Day holiday...this man is not kidding and we are being forewarned. There is going to be even less help for the summer months. I'm told that the summer help that is usually there during the high travel season will not be there...which means much longer lines. At this point I would want to see how many people actually called out this past weekend as opposed to any other weekend. I've noticed fewer people working all the time. When I asked a collector why, I've been told the number of collectors working at any given time has been dropped. We're doomed.

@art - unfortunately taking the tolls out of union funds does nothing to solve the broken, and it only screws the little guy. High-level state officials (anyone in a managerial position) aren't part of the union, so this approach won't affect those who make the stupid policies that end up causing the traffic backups. If LeBovidge won't change the policy and wants to blame the backs on costs and not enough motorists with FastLane transponders then maybe it is time for him to go just like it was Cohen's time to leave the EOT. Those who thwart change have no place in government.

When are the people of this state going to stop voting for these losers! Devil Patrick is a complete zero who cannot lead. The Turnpike tolls and Turnpike Authority need to be gone, as well as the MBTA. Enough people we need leaders not losers.

Look Deval, I gave you the benefit of the doubt for most of your term (painfull), but after the Marion Walsh thing I just don't believe a single thing that you say because you are completely out of touch with the average citizen that pays your salary.

Exactly how much of every dollar collected in tolls going to funding whatever it is the tolls allegedly fund?

I'm betting a very large majority of it goes to salaries, benefits, pension funds, etc. Fire the lot of them.

I take the Pike less than once a year on average -- there is no way I'm getting a transponder, linking it to my bank account or credit card, and paying a fee no matter how minimal for something I will use so infrequently. But for those who use it a lot have EZ Pass/FastLane at every booth so that transponder users don't have to change lanes to use their passes -- and install credit/debit machines at the rest. If McDonald's, DunkinDonuts, CVS, and the supermarket can figure it out, surely the Pike can too. I take the T, I don't deal with fare collector, I buy groceries, I don't deal with cashier, I do nearly all my banking online or at an ATM -- and it all works out fine. Toll booth collectors are like elevator operators -- outmoded, expensive, and unnecessary.

Another vote to take down the toll booths...Didn't anyone think to let the cars go through with out paying.. It is called the K.I.S.S. PRINCIPLE (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID).

Thank G-d the Gov was stuck in traffic -- now he wants to know why. Not such a cushy ride from on Manse to Another. Too bad!! So Sad ;)~

Otherwise we would have once again been referred to as cynical. Nice!

Change you can believe in...

They say that the problem was because "not enough drivers own Fast Lane electronic toll transponders." They're really turning things on their heads here. The problems is with the Fast Lanes in the first place!

They should get the message that we really don't want the Fast Lane transponders and we aren't going to get them. What we really need are for the exact change lanes to be put back in. All these problems started when they were removed. Now someone with exact change in coins needs to wait behind clueless people with $20 bills.

Governor Patrick, your call. People are disgusted with this fiasco. FIRE THEM.

Just thinking, Governor tells Mass Pike to save money, LeBovidge executes no OT plan and allows tolls to become roadblock - management at its best!
"LeBovidge states that the tie-ups were the result ......of not enough drivers owning Fast Lane electronic toll transponders" sounds like " Teach you Nasty Little a Lesson " was going on but you have to wonder who he was teaching. Was this done as a "statement" by the toll takers. Plenty of companies operate with an on-call schedule and you don't have to pay someone overtime if its part of their job. By the way, if I had a Fast Lane pass but was stuck in a 7 mile backup could I just zip up to the front... Circus Clown management has come to town.

If LeBovidge can't LEARN from his mistakes on this holiday weekend to prevent the same scenario on MEMORIAL DAY, then if folks are stuck in mile long backups, EVERYONE should simply proceed through any and all toll booths without paying. Their system will be so 'traffic jammed' with all the photos, mailing, etc - Then if everyone sends in a request to a trial, the entire system will be clogged up - Let the public give back a Traffic Jam of their own!

LeBovidge, if you don't have enough toll collectors, its pretty simple: Do what every other major toll booth in the area does on Holidays / Jam ups: Let a large group of cars on through to reduce the traffic jam. It's not rocket science and your ignorance to this and your unwillingness to do this screams to the public that it is your intent to create these jams as your intent to stick it to the public. Do you honestly think you are fooling ANYONE by saying you don't have enough money? 50-90k toll collectors. There's your money.
LeBovidge, in the words of Donald Trump - You're fired!

Together we can (get rid of Patrick)

Eliminate all tolls and the toll collectors. The collectors apparently don't appreciate the fact that most of them make close to 100K per year plus benifits. If they think they are qualified for another type of job based on there experience and education then lay them off and we'll see if that is true.

It's all a plot to get us to get transponders, but I refuse to have to pay them extra to be able to drive on the turnpike maybe 10 times per year. The extra monthly fees add to my cost to drive on the road. I refuse to pay for NOT driving on the Turnpike.

I hear lot of complaints about this. Great. These tolls were supposed to be short term - they should have long disappeared. But they do not. Because no government program even ends.

But, aren't we the same stupid people of this commonwealth who voted 70-30 to keep the damn'd income tax.

This is an attempt to coerce people to use Fast Lane, which is hardly "free" as stated.

The MTA will be charging a monthly maintenance fee for Fast Lane starting this summer - which you can be sure with rise within a year. They are assessing this fee even on people who already PAID for these devices, which currently is 98% of Fast Lane holders. Future toll hikes will be much easier when individuals do not see the cost of each transaction and tolls are simply billed to their accounts.

What does the future hold? Revenue will rule. Driving habits will become accessible by law enforcement. and perhaps automatic tickets for toll A to B times that compute to speeding will finally be adopted. Time-of-day surcharges, fees for using the Pike during snowy days, or even premiums to exit at Copley/Prudential on Red Sox game days are not impossible.

Eventually speeding cameras will be installed across the roadways as well, with the Pike a likely first adopter as the agency seeks new revenue sources. Ultimately, I predict that the Pike will be sold to a private company for a multi-billion dollar one-time payment and takeover of part of the legacy debt. While rates will soar after private ownership, at least service and traffic will not be an issue.

If a cashier at Stop and Shop calls in sick, they call in another one. Of course, the toll takers job is much simpler than a cashier at a super market. You should be able to get someone to do that job for $10 an hour ... what a crime to have all those people delayed because of such a trivial task not being performed.

YOU WANTED HIM.... WELL YOU GOT HIM.. NOT TO HAPPY ARE YA....
MITT ALL THE WAY BABY...................

Little Obama could care less about the little people "toads" sitting in traffic for hours. I hope your all happy. Can I have another!!!

Heard on the news tonight that Patrick and the turnpike commissioner are blaming the public for the traffic jams, BRILLIANT STATEMENTS FROM TWO OF THE BIGGEST IDIOTS IN THE STATE!
They were saying that the public won't give them the funds to operate the turnpike efficiently. What the hell do you call paying some politician's family member $75,000 a year to stick out their hand and collect tolls called, welfare!
These jerks make themselves out to be total morons every time they open their mouths.

Good grief - this is what happens when you starve an agency for funds. I bet none of you complaining are willing to pay the increase in gas tax or any more to fund the Turnpike Authority. Especially those complaining about "tax and spend" Democrats. Well, if you don't like paying taxes, we can go back to dirt roads. This is what's wrong with this country- people who want filet mignon services from the government at hamburger helper prices.

Take down the toll booths once and for all. Raise the gas tax to pay for the poor road conditions throughout the state. Transponders are FREE.
Do not collect cash on holiday and summer weekends. Even with a transponder going into Boston on a Friday night can be a disaster.
WHERE HAS ALL THE COMMON SENSE GONE??

First of all, sitting in a toll booth for hours a day is an avoidable health hazard - especially when traffic is backed up. Sitting in backed-up traffic to pay a toll is also an avoidable health hazard. No booth, no logjam.

Given today's transponder technology, people should no longer be placed in the vicinity of collection sites! As much as I hate the idea of transponders and collection sites, it's a quicker and less expensive process than using people..

As much as I hate excessive taxation, I'd rather see toll collection sites torn down and fuel taxes raised just enough to keep roads and bridges in good condition. It's a fairer way of doing it. Of course, I'd want to wring as much waste out of the process as possible. Bloated bureaucracies and road crews aren't known their efficiency, especially in this corrupt state. That's why I'm headed for Florida within a month after retiring. I'll be spending summers in NH. No more ridiculously complex state income tax forms!

Honestly, get an EZ-Pass. Oh wait, I mean a FastLane. I don't understand all of these retarded Massachusetts drivers who use the Pike every day but don't have a tag. These back-ups occur every day, and they happen because you people are stupid or lazy or crazy or all three.

A stunt by LeBovidge to get more funding. He shoudl be fired.

Meanwhile, every other state I've been to does something specific to fix this on the fly when it happens: They stop collecting tolls and just wave the traffic through. Of course LeBovidge didn't order that to be done, because day long backup were his obvious goal.

FIRE LeBovidge, NOW!

LeBovidge needs to resign NOW. He's hopelessly screwing up. That political stunt of not covering absentees cost thousands if not millions of dollars in gas turned to soot in idling engines. Wagging his finger at the workers for doing what they've always done is juvenile. This is mismanagement plain and simple.

Imagine if a middle manager at a corporation whined that his budget was cut too much and his subordinates come in late and don't respect him. He'd be out on his ear.

I can offer a full accounting and circumvent a drawn out, unnecessary, and expensive process that will produce nonsensical data about how "hard" everyone is working in such tought conditions and how to "improve" the MTA in the future. Here's some practical advice, based on my accounting of the situation, FIRE the toll collectors that abuse the system, FIRE the managers who, based on this weekend's debacle, and many other prior instances of BRAINLESS behavior, can't manage. There - a full accounting. Any disagreement?

Vote Devil Deval out! Vote Devil Deval out!

Deval Patrick = Ray Nagan in a better suit. The ability to govern for both are on the same level.

This is the "magic" you Patrick supporters voted for. No wonder we are the laughing stock.

The Gov and his crew blamed the toll takers not showing up for work on Sunday for the mess --- but tonight WBZ TV reported that that what actually happened was that the turnpike brass cut the number of tolltakers in half on sunday. They sent around a memo on friday saying that the reduction would start on Sunday onthe 2nd and 3rd shift -----Why would anyone do that on Easter Sunday Traffic? They know full well that that is a busy travel day. They were trying to generate support for the gas tax hike but it backfired. Bottom line Patrick, Aloisi, LoBovidge --- all LIARS!!!!!!

I took my son back to college in Western Mass early Easter Sunday evening. The trip usually takes 3 hours round trip, even with heavy traffic. It took me nearly 5 hours. I left from the Watertown area at 7:00 and I was still in traffic at 11:30. This is the worst, most irresponsible and inexcusable mismanagement in the history of roadways. I know this must ultimately be a Toll Collectors Union scam. They make so much money that we can't even afford to pay for the overtime on a holiday! It's time to start running the Turnpike Authority like a business, just like the Post Office! Why aren't the State Police trained to help with toll taking in an emergency? Why isn't this guy Alan LeBovidge out there helping collect tolls instead of blaming drivers? Is he too lazy to help out? Most of us have worked retail at one time or other in our lives. Scanning a turnpike ticket and taking the toll money can't be any harder than running a cash register! How simple does it get!

This has nothing to do with Deval people...HELLO! Yes, he's a politician and YES he has to come up with an intelligent response of some sort.
Fact is that WE pay for the Dunkin Donuts-eating, 6hr 55 min workers calling in sick because we have such a pathetic population that 10 years later can't sign up for a transponder...
How about 10 minutes less at the TV people...
A world of ignoramuses....
Amazing....

The only change this country and state has seen since electing Democrats is higher taxes and abysmal service.

LeBovidge should be fired today. He cannot handle his own staff. Everyone who called in sick should need a Drs note in order to return. This is just another union that needs to go. All financial problems in this state are caused buy unions. Think about it ; teachers ,firefighters ,the T. Teachers should be considered part time for only working 180 days a year while the rest of put in around 260. The T now wants to cut back service but I would bet there are no layoffs. They still have to deal with there pension and healthcare which is out of control.

Set the toll taker's salaries at $40,000......fire them if they don't agree.

You'll have LINES of people applying for the jobs!

I use fast lane.

I was in that back up on Easter Sunday. I agree with other commentators that in a case like that, the toll booths should be open and cars should be allowed to pass free of charge. The issue as I see is also a matter of safety. The tie ups could cause accidents since drivers are in a great hurry to go through and they cut in line.

FastLane passes would not have been effective: We could not REACH the fastlane! This is environmental Terrorism on a grand scale. Imagine the thousands of pounds of hydrocarbons, particulate matter, CO2 dumped needless into the atmosphere because the authority was making a point. Criminal, I say! Reckless and Criminal!