(FL) Turnpike to point drivers to Citgo rivals

[DoYouEverWonder]

November 30, 2006

Motorists who find it politically offensive that Citgo is the only brand of fuel available at service plazas on Florida's Turnpike will be getting some roadside assistance on other options.

In the next couple of months, signs will go up at turnpike exits listing gas stations just off the highway. Drivers will not have to pay an additional toll if they get off to fill up.

"Providing drivers with more information so they can best plan their trip and purchase fuel at the location of their choice is a good thing," state Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, said Wednesday.

Hasner wanted to boot Citgo off the tollway after Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called President Bush "the devil" in a September speech at the United Nations. The move would have been a wake-up call that the United States cannot be dependent on hostile countries for its energy future, he said. But state officials said there was no legal grounds to do so.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2006/11/30/a6a_citgo_1130.html

What a bunch of crap. You can't get on and off an exit to go to the bathroom (service plazas are over 40 miles apart) but now they'll let us get on and off to avoid buying gas at these same service plazas because they don't like a democratically elected government official.

[Binka]

1. Fucking Nazis

I love me some HUGO! Fuck these FL ass carrots!

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Did the Nazis post road signs telling people about other gas stations?

:shrug:

[Binka]

18. Thanks For Asking Freddie

The computer says..... YES! Have a really wonderful day.

I love me some HUGO!

[Tight_rope]

36. I love me some HUGO too!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. Gas stations and other businesses.

Particularly, Jewish businesses.

[Bullshot]

2. I get it! Don't buy Citgo because it comes from a country whose leader called Bush a mean name.

Buy your gas instead from companies whose oil comes from Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries who spawn the terrorists that attack our country.

Yeah! That's the ticket.

This is the same brain-dead mindset that brought us "Freedom Fries" because they're pissed at the French for not being Bush's lapdog in the early days of our current war in Iraq.

The sad part is there are a lot of lemmings in this country who will follow this stupid logic and boycott Citgo.

[Binka]

20. You Make A Most Excellent Point Bull

"Buy your gas instead from companies whose oil comes from Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries who spawn the terrorists that attack our country."

There are some folks RIGHT here on DU that that hate Hugo so much they boycott Citgo. Go figure! :hi:

[JudyM]

24. What a perfect point you make. n/t

[zbdent]

3. Hey, if these people want to pay extra to avoid paying for gas on the pike

fine by me (the "extra" they pay is the extra amount they will end up paying for getting off, and then back on the turnpike ... instead of a straight shot) ...

Yes, gas stations on the turnpike have higher prices ... but gas stations right near the turnpikes also have higher prices than those a few miles away from the turnpike exits/entrances ... so, if these people want to charge themselves extra ... they're stupid ...

[meganmonkey]

4. I just drove through Florida

and was so pleasantly surprised to see that CITGO was on the turnpike. This is so silly. I doubt many people will inconvenience themselves by exiting, with or without an additional toll.

:shrug:

[William769]

6. Why I don't agree why they are doing it.

It is a good idea. The limited access we have on this turnpike is ridiculous.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. This appears to be anti-competitive, and thus

antitrust, and thus a federal violation of commerce laws.

[hughee99]

13. Anti-competitive?

What am I missing here? Citgo is the only gas you can get on the turnpike. They're going to put up signs so people know that if they get off the turnpike, they can get other kinds of gas. This seems to be providing more competition, not less.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Seems anticompetitive as there is an attendant underlying message of

boycott Citgo, providing free access to other stations to buy otherwise.

[hughee99]

19. I don't see it like that.

As a driver on the turnpike, the Citgo-provided stations are still on the highway and still more convenient. They're saying that IF you want to get off the highway, fill up, and get back on, we won't charge you more for doing it. If you want to get Citgo gas, you won't notice the difference. They're not providing any incentive to not buy Citgo gas.

They may have a contract issue with the company that runs the Turnpike gas stations (Martin Petroleum), though, since I'm sure they went into this contract thinking they were getting a monopoly, and now that is being taken away from them.

[AngryAmish]

23. Was the Montgomery Bus Boycott anti-competitive?

Y'all should read up on antitrust law. Yours is a deeply ill-informed and silly opinion.

[dansolo]

29. He wants to subsidize the non-Citgo customers

By allowing people exiting to buy gas to avoid paying tolls. I don't see how this can be done, without eliminating the tolls entirely. I can't see them giving up that revenue.

[hughee99]

33. They're not avoiding paying the tolls...

As this is written (as I understand it), a person drives from one end of the turnpike to the other and gets gas on the highway. The toll at the end is $10 (for example). Another person makes the same trip, but gets off the highway for gas, and then back on. At the end, they pay the same $10. The only people that would be "subsidized" by this are people who get off the highway under the cover of getting gas, and just don't pay any tolls at all (people who would be breaking the law), and I do see the problem with this but it's not the same thing as subsidizing non-Citgo customers.

As far as removing the tolls completely, that's certainly one way to get around it. Another would be to make them pay the toll when the get off and get a new ticket when they get back on, but set the tolls so they don't cost extra to go from point A to point B if you get off the highway. If the toll from Exit A to Exit C was equal to the toll from Exit A to Exit B + the toll from Exit B to Exit C, this would do that.

[LiberalFighter]

39. Will there be a minimum gas fill-up requirement?

And proof that they stopped for gas?

[hughee99]

40. Personally,

I have no idea how they're going to enforce it, and there are lots of problems with it (based on the info available) I just don't see how it's "anti-competitive".

[LiberalFighter]

44. Why is it that Republicans come up with great ideas that don't work?

[ContraBass Black]

41. Showing a reciept for gas bought a few minutes earlier should do.

[LiberalFighter]

43. I am sure that will be easy to do....

Can you imagine what it would be like if the weather was bad? Or the drivers that use that route get upset about something related to the government or toll-road what they would do to cause traffic to come to a halt?

[ContraBass Black]

45. If the weather is bad, it would be like paying a toll in bad weather.

If the motorists get upset, they can do the same things they can do when they get upset now.

How are these new problems? The cars already have to go through the tollbooth.

[LiberalFighter]

38. This idea is a dork... They need to be told there are other brands

off the toll-road? DUHHHHHH

Edited for possible offensive language

[hughee99]

47. I think the just need to be informed where they are...

if you come up on an exit and you need gas, it would be helpful to know that you're going to find a gas station at this exit. All the better if it won't cost you extra to get off the highway and fill up and get back on. Personally, I live in Massachusetts where I don't believe you can find a Citgo on the Turnpike anywhere. At least none of the rest stops I pass are Citgo. Exxon/Mobil (I think) will be happy to overcharge you, though. I would be happy to have the option to get off the highway and fill up somewhere else rather than give them my money. I figure if that's my opinion up here about it, then it would certainly be hypocritical of me to take the opposite position on the Florida turnpike just because it's Citgo on the turnpike instead of Exxon/Mobil. I favor giving the people more choices rather than having the state set up little monopolies and contracting them out to the highest bidder. The state may get a good deal, but it's at the expense of it's people.

[LiberalFighter]

51. Which is another reason I don't use the toll-road if I don't have to.

Especially now that they have privatized it here in Indiana. I use the state road instead.

I fill up in Ft Wayne before I start my trip then fill up again in Merrillville before I head up through Illinois to Wisconsin using the toll-road in Illinois. Don't stop in Illinois except to pay the toll.

[alcibiades_mystery]

48. Citgo likely pays handsomely for the rent

And one of the reasons why exclusive turnpike rights are expensive is for this reason. Citgo should sue for breach of contract - if there is a clause to this effect (and I suspect there is) - or at least for reduction in rent.

[aceman2373]

26. Huh ?

[wakeme2008]

8. QUESTION Rep. Adam Hasner how many cars are going to get OFF

to get gas and not get back on and bypass that silly TOLL.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Imagine the traffic jams at the toll booths

while they try to sort it out when people get on the turnpike.

[momster]

11. That was my question, too!

I guess they'll just take people's word for it...but the backups at the toll plazas will increase since each person 'just going for gas' will have to stop and explain that to the toll-taker. This idea has a short life-span, I'll bet!

[E-Z-B]

16. lol, good point.

[trof]

10. Miz t. sez she will go out of her way to buy from Citgo.

Same here.

[Binka]

21. You & Miz T Have Class Baby! n/t

[BushOut06]

12. I only buy gas from Citgo

I'd much rather my money go to support Chavez than Bush's cronies.

[RebelOne]

14. Same here. In fact, I will go out of my way to find a Citgo station. n/t

[hughee99]

15. I used to...

All things being equal, I would continue to, but the Citgo station near where I live is consistently 10-15 cents more a gallon than the locally owned station down the road (which I believe is supplied with Shell oil).

[JudyM]

25. Me too. Happily, they took over a station near me.

I only go to Exxon to put free air in my tires.

[yellowcanine]

22. Actually I have always thought that it sucked that there is no choice on some turnpikes.

On the PA turnpike for years it was Howard Johnsons or nothing if you wanted to eat or stay overnight. That is anticompetitive - not giving people choices. So while I don't agree with their reason for doing it, I think it is a good idea as general policy. Actually, many turnpikes/toll roads have choices of service stations, places to eat already.

[MGKrebs]

27. Oops. Unfortunate leap of logic.

Hugo calling Bush "the devil" does not make them a "hostile country". It more likely just means that Hugo doesn't like George.

"George" is not "the country".

[w4rma]

28. Republicans pointing motorists to the oil companies who fund terrorism in the middle east. (nt)

[daleo]

30. It seems like this would violate the spirit of the contract (if not the wording)

"Pompano Beach-based Martin Petroleum has a contract that runs through December 2008 to operate the eight turnpike service plazas. The company gets its fuel from Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company."

I presume that this company must have paid the state for these exclusive rights to stations along the turnpike. So, it looks like the state is effectively breaking the contract (by allowing motorists on and off the turnpike at no charge to avoid buying gas at the contracted gas stations).

[Doctor_J]

32. How is the secession paperwork coming?

How soon can we cut TX, LA, AL, TN, MS, GA, SC, and FL loose? They can call themselves The Christian Theocratic Dictatorship, and see how they get by with all of the Blue State tax dollars. They can print new money with pictures of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy swaggart, and Jeb Bush on it.

[KamaAina]

34. LA may have a better idea

needless to say, the concepts "Christian Theocratic" and "New Orleans" do not exactly mesh, hence:

[Doctor_J]

37. I heard that one of the main reasons tha NOLA was left to drown

was that it was mostly Dems who lived there anyway. So many of them were displaced that LA went from blue to red because of Katrina.

[saigon68]

35. THEY CAN PRINT MONEY WITH THIS PHOTO ON IT



[Dude_CalmDown]

42. Don't care for the motivation but why did Citgo have a monopoly

on the turnpike exit advertising space in the first place?

[alcibiades_mystery]

49. It's not advertising space...it's physical space on the turnpike

Companies pay handsome rent for turnpike spots, precisely because people won't get off the turnpike. These are in rest stations, etc.

At the end of the day, this probably won't matter much, since most people will just go to the rest station for gas anyway. This is symbolic bullshit for the miamicubanos.

[RagingInMiami]

46. This is bullshit

Total bullshit. I've been buying Citgo ever since this mess started. Not that I am a huge fan of Chavez, but I am an even less fan of Bush.

[Javaman]

50. And buying oil from exxon and mobile is sooooooooo much better

than buying it from a Democratically elected country.

WTF?

What gets me is those pigs at exxon and mobile and the rest of them get their fucking oil from the fascist saudi's that have a deplorable human rights record as well as does everything it can to limit or cancel woman's rights.

We truly live in bizarro land. I just don't fucking get it.

Yeah life will be difficult at first without oil, but honestly, I can't wait for it to happen.

Remove it from the equation and suddenly everyone is on even footing.

[calimary]

52. Let me guess: "Freedom signs."

:eyes: