Floridians Beg State to Drop Tolls During COVID-19 Pandemic
Life has changed around the country thanks to the arrival of novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. On March 19, Florida tollbooths stopped accepting cash and card for tolls to protect Central Florida Expressway Authority employees, opting instead to bill drivers via the mail. Now, drivers have mobilized to ask that tolls be waived altogether.
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Asking Florida to stop accepting tolls is not a small request. According to WESH, the state collects about $500,000 in tolls a day for a total of $1.5 billion in a year. However, local communities are suffering from the loss of revenue and employment from the entertainment industry that drives tourists to the southern state this time of year. Like the rest of the states in the crosshairs of COVID-19, many service industry employees like hairdressers, waiters, and retail staff are also out of work. Tolls add up quickly, and eliminating them temporarily would remove a financial burden from these affected groups.
Linda Sibley, a resident of Orange County, started circulating her petition to cease toll collection and reported on Monday that she had more than 1,200 signatures. She plans to send it to Governor Ron DeSantis.
Once hearing of the petition, DeSantis told local media that he didn’t think it was necessary to suspend tolls because social distancing was reducing traffic across the state. Toll roads are typically a shortcut or a way to avoid heavy traffic, but the lack of cars on the non-toll roads made them just as expedient as their paid counterparts.
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Should Florida and other states suspend tolls during the coronavirus crisis? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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