Tom Warne Report, 4 May 2013
Officials with the Illinois Tollway are planning to charge extra to Indiana drivers who use E-ZPass transponders to access the Illinois system. A spokesperson for the Illinois Tollway Authority’s said the fee would help the Illinois-based agency pay to process I-Pass transactions on the privately operated Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway.
The Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. (ITRCC), which leased the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway in 2006 and 2005, respectively, currently lets the Illinois Tollway Authority determine how to process I-Pass transactions.
“Despite the introduction of i-Zoom (now Indiana E-ZPass), the predominant transponder used on the Indiana Toll Road and Skyway is still I-Pass. In fact, in 2012, 59 percent of all electronic transactions on the Indiana Toll Road and Skyway were I-Pass transactions,” according to a statement by the Illinois Tollway Authority.
“Because I-Pass customers are the principle users of the Indiana and Skyway roadways, Illinois, in effect, provides a large portion of the customer service costs for ITRCC operations.” The statement goes on to say that while most tolling agencies in the U.S. absorb the customer service costs and cover them with toll revenues, the Illinois agency has chosen to instead pass these costs on to users.
The Tollway Authority Board of Directors’ customer service committee will vote on the transaction fee in May after they have determined the legality of adding the fee, and how to implement it, if so.
Separating different classes of users always seems easy and logical on the surface but is always fraught with complications and collateral actions. If one group feels they are unfairly treated they typically find ways to get around it such as registering a vehicle or airplane in an adjacent county or state. In the end the outcomes are rarely what they are intended to be. TW