The Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway tolls are broken
The Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway recently revamped their toll system. If you have an electronic toll transponder, the rates range from ¥500 to ¥900 to take the expressway. But if you pay in cash, then you’re charged the maximum ¥900 toll.
But that’s where it gets interesting. If you pay cash, what you actually get is a free pass to drive on the tollways for 90 minutes. Which means that if, for instance, you’re like me on the way home and hop onto the expressway at Tomigaya, then hop off it at Nishi-Ikebukuro because there’s inevitably a giant traffic jam at the big complicated junction around Itabashi, then hop back onto it after the traffic jam and go the rest of the way home, you pay a total of ¥900.
But if you use the electronic transponder, the run from Tomigaya to Nishi-Ikebukuro costs you ¥600, and then the run from Itabashi-Honcho up to Toda-Minami costs another ¥600. That’s a bit of a bug. The expressway company is supposed to be encouraging people to use the electronic toll transponders, but this actually does the opposite-it encourages people to roll up to the cash gate and pay the cash fare, and not be penalized for avoiding traffic jams by taking the surface roads instead.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway guys definitely need to do some work on their software.