It brings new meaning to the term freeroll.
A bill that has cleared New Jersey’s Senate Transportation Committee would grant private transit companies providing regular bus service to Atlantic City with a free pass on the state’s toll roads, according to The Star-Ledger.
“The Senate Transportation Committee voted 4-1 to extend free passage on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway to companies that schedule at least one trip a week to the struggling Shore resort’s towering casinos,” the newspaper reported.
Opponents of the legislation have argued it is unfair to force motorists going to and from work to pay tolls while waiving the tolls for bus companies bringing visitors to Atlantic City.
The bill that passed the transportation committee is expected to go before the full Senate for a vote, according to The Star-Ledger; it isn’t known if an identical bill that has been introduced in the Assembly will be put on an equally fast track.
The legislation “does not include an estimate of how much revenue state agencies would sacrifice by letting the buses ride free,” the newspaper reported.
What do you think? Should buses heading to Atlantic City get a free ride?
