I-Pass

[Dartful Dodger]

In the communist State of Illinois Daley's puppet has decided that we have to buy an I-Pass before January 1st, because the price for using the toll way is going to double for people not using the I-Pass.  My question is this; if they claim that the state is losing money on maintenance and paying toll booth people, why don't they just get rid of the toll way all together?

Now I have to buy an I-Pass, so not only does the minim wage earning toll people have my Credit Card Number floating around their office, but the government will be able to track where and when I go though the toll booth. 

And I'm paying for this privilege.

[Sephroth57]

thats messed up man, i hate those electronic toll things. In NJ its called EZ-Pass, but its funny cause the EZpass lane always has like 4 cars waiting to get through where i just throw my change out the window and zoom by them

[shmokes]

I think toll booths are great and should appeal to conservatives.  I guess those passes may be lame, but toll booths tax people who use the roads rather than taxing everybody the same, even if you're an enviro-nut who only rides bikes and eats lettuce.

[ChadTower]

I wouldn't mind the tolls here in MA, except that they were supposed to have only been there long enough to have paid for the roads they're on.  They've now been there long enough to have paid for it 20x.

[GGKoul]

Where I live, the government built an electronic toll highway to help take some traffic off the over congused highways in the Southern Ontario area.  In a cost cutting measure, the government then sold this toll road to a private company via a 99 year lease.  And as part of the deal, they put a year cap on the amount that the private company can increase the rate.

Over the past 3-4 years, the private company has increased the rates to 200% times the old government rate.  And now the new government that took over isn't doing anything to get the private company to roll back the rates....

So my tax dollars help pay to get this Toll road built, and then I'm paying 200% more to travel on it.  And because it is a fully electronic toll road (No toll booths) if I don't have a Transponder, I pay $4 just to get on the thing, then double the rate on top of that because I don't have a transponder.

[lucindrea]

thats messed up man, i hate those electronic toll things. In NJ its called EZ-Pass, but its funny cause the EZpass lane always has like 4 cars waiting to get through where i just throw my change out the window and zoom by them

well a few weeks back the PA toll guys went on strike ( dont know how much it affected nj ) and they were charging a flat fee to everyone on all lanes ... here is the kicker , the ezpass lanes were ALSO paying the flat fee ... now i can understand making the manual ones pay the same as is speeds up the time the "replacement" tool takers need to do the change , but why do it to the ez-pass ones also?

[markb]

Our first major toll road has just opened in the UK, the M6 relief road around Birmingham.
Now you guys moan about taxes, we SPECIFICALLY pay a car tax on almost every car, every year of approx $200 just for the privelege of driving and now we have to pay to use the roads as well which is what the tax is designed to do. Coupled to the fact that our petrol is 4 times what yours is.

Now where's that envy smiley?

[Shape D.]

Our first major toll road has just opened in the UK, the M6 relief road around Birmingham.
Now you guys moan about taxes, we SPECIFICALLY pay a car tax on almost every car, every year of approx $200 just for the privelege of driving and now we have to pay to use the roads as well which is what the tax is designed to do. Coupled to the fact that our petrol is 4 times what yours is.

Now where's that envy smiley?

[DrewKaree]

For those of you unfamiliar with Illinois' road system, it would be nice if indeed the toll system seemed to be used to maintain said roads.

Anyone driving along the tollways of Illinois would have a hard time proving that the money is being used to do that.

DD, I already skirt the toll system to get to Gurnee Mills or Great America (one of the benefits to living in both states - I know how to get around 'em), and I heard the doubling was going to happen, unless you bought an Ipass, in which case it would stay the same.  The state has just given me a reason to try to circumvent driving into your state for any reason.

I feel bad for you, as I think your toll fees are RIDICULOUSLY high - heading to NE cost me 5+ bucks, thank GOD I wasn't towing a double wheeled trailer!

You're right, the state can't figure out how to run efficiently enough to not depend on tollways, and they're giving me an "incentive"  to allow them access to my bank account?     They're screwing me inside my car, at what point will they set up the ability to enter my home for sexual relations with anyone inside?

[lucindrea]

i allways get a kick out of seeing visitors from the south who almost never see snow or ice on the roads comment on just how bad all the roads are up here    ( it's no fun driving near them when their is ice or snow , downright dangorous! )

each state has some fked up laws and rules ... just an example , in PA all hard alchoal is sold in "state stores" , i.e. stores run by the state , this of course means they dont need to pay the state for the liquar licence , and as part of the state , the state gets all profits , ok so not too dumb , right up untill the part where you pay state sales taxes on the boose ( and of course it's not just sales tax it's also a "sin" tax for the alchoal )

[DrewKaree]

I live even FURTHER north than Dartful, and lemme tell ya, Illinois toll roads suck --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules--

When I lived in NC, and I was getting into my car to drive around in the snow to look around, people looked at me like I was CRAZY....when I told some friends, they honest to Rudy asked me "weren't you afraid you were gonna slide into a ditch or something?".

Yeah I was, because I was driving on the rims of my car   

I "shoveled" the lot of the business I worked at by doing donuts in the parking lot and letting the sun melting the areas I cleared off work on the parts I couldn't donut clean.  I was done an hour and a half quicker than the 4 guys doing the other side of the lot......mostly because they stood there watching me amazed I wasn't totalling my car 

[lucindrea]

being able to drive in a constant controled slide is a requirement in any snow locked state hehe  ( and any teenager will proudly disply a dent in their car made from the concreat barrier in a sears parking lot that was unseeable because of the snow )

it never seems to amaze me the # of drivers that stop at the red light ( going up hill )  thats 1/2 way up a 30' steep hill neer my house and they just look confused when everyone just drives around them , right through the light.

[Santoro]

As bad as everyone thinks Ipass is, what's worse IMHO is the fact that there are many exits with no attendants to make change!

Being from the NYC area I have never seen this.  When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago on a job interview I had to blow through about seven of these because I had no change. 

I forgot to call the special number also.  The car rental company is gonna be pissed!   I will probable see a gharge to my card in a few months.