I was a little disappointed to learn that this won't really complete with or replace Dropbox, at least not yet. For me, OS-integration is critical-- I've got plenty of places to store info via a manual interface (web, FTP, etc). Hopefully this is just a start, and we'll see more features soon. Frankly, Dropbox works perfectly for me, so this just adds competition to the space that will hopefully drive up free storage capacities.
There may no viable alternate car routes, but I think the GP meant there are ferries, buses, and formal and casual carpools which are all valid alternatives to a solo driver crossing the bridge. These are the alternatives the toll is meant to encourage.
What alternative do you propose?
This likely only happened because you were in the boondocks. We just moved back to the States from two years in London. It took forever to get a current account (checking) set up when we first moved to England, so we lived on our US Capital One card (no ForEx charges) for nearly a month. We were never once hassled for using a non CnP card-- everyone knew to swipe it. I don't recall ever having to give my post code the whole time I was there either.
On topic, I think CnP has to be more secure than swipe and keyboard pin as used for debit card transactions in the US. Seems like it would be trivial to skim the stripe data and the pin pads are not private at all.
He who lives without folly is less wise than he believes.