If Seattle’s cost of living is too high, why would some drivers pay tolls?
Dec 16, 2015, 12:40 PM | Updated: 2:50 pm
A survey by Charles Schwab details that while it is widely believed that the city is "one of the best" for jobs in the tech industry and has a high quality of life, it is just too expensive. But the number of people willing to pay to drive in the I-405 express toll lanes may prove otherwise. (WSDOT)
(WSDOT)
A recent survey shows that about 45 percent of people believe the cost of living is too high in Seattle.
The survey by Charles Schwab details that while it is widely believed that the city is “one of the best” for jobs in the tech industry and has a high quality of life, it is just too expensive.
But the number of people willing to pay to drive in the I-405 express toll lanes may prove otherwise. The lanes between Bellevue and Lynnwood recently reached their peak of $10. Even so, many drivers were still willing to pay the fee; so much so that the lanes noticeably slowed down, Danny Westneat points out.
Related: Dori predicted $10 toll on I-405
It’s a topic KIRO Radio’s John Curley and Tom Tangney tried to work through.
John Curley: It’s hard to put money in the future when you’re spending a lot on rent and enjoying fine micro-brews and other benefits of living in Seattle.
Tom Tangney: People love living in Seattle, other than the fact that it’s expensive.
JC: Westneat says we’re richer than we think we are. Willing to spend $10 to drive in the toll lanes.
TT: If you make $60 an hour, you’re willing to spend about $30 an hour to save an hour of time. The state can have tolls between $20 to $40 for one-third of us. One-third of the population makes about $120,000 a year. Forty-percent in Bellevue make about $135,000 a year.
JC: I would say the people in those lanes are probably time sensitive. It’s not BMWs and Mercedes in those lanes.
TT: And yet, here, it’s still jammed at $10.
JC: If that’s $10 out of your pocket, it’s $10 that could have gone somewhere else.
TT: The objection is we’re already paying for those roads with taxes. If the people that need to get places faster aren’t just richer – there are people that are desperate, now we are gouging lower classes.
JC: It’s the same with taxing cigarettes and alcohol. It doesn’t effect most people — a poor person is paying $7 to $8, so we all feel better.
TT: We’re more sympathetic to people that need to get places in their cars, but still, point taken, John.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for The John Curley Show.
