CHICAGO: GET THE I-PASS OR PAY DOUBLE TOLL
CHARGES!
Mon Jan 3, 2005 15:49
64.140.158.105
Occasional toll drivers mixed on I-PASS use
Sunday, January 2, 2005
By Mike Colias
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/025nd1.htm
The Associated Press
Drivers who regularly take the tollways around Chicago don't see much of a choice when it comes to I-PASS: They can buy the electronic transponder or they can pay double at the toll plazas, potentially hundreds of dollars more a year.
For many downstate residents and others who don't often travel those routes, however, the decision is less clear-cut.
Some say it would take years for the upfront cost of an I-PASS transponder to pay off. Others are angry, believing they are being singled out to pay for improvements to a road system they rarely use.
The toll increase, which began Saturday, only affects cash-paying drivers on the 247-mile tollway system. To avoid the increase, drivers must pay $50 for an I-PASS transponder $10 is a deposit for the device that automatically deducts the tolls, and the remaining $40 goes into a debit account for future toll use.
For Bill Klingbeil of Bloomington, it would take at least two years of summer vacations to Michigan and visits to his in-laws in suburban Chicago to spend that $40.
"I never felt like I was spending enough to make it worth the 50 bucks," Klingbeil said. "But if they're doubling those tolls, then it absolutely makes sense."
Others aren't as enthusiastic.
Lisa Lewis, a Kankakee hair salon owner who makes the 70-mile drive to north suburban Skokie a few times a month to pick up supplies, says she won't buy an I-PASS, even though she occasionally uses toll roads to avoid traffic going through the city.
"It's not a lot of money; it's just the point," Lewis said. "To be forced to have to pay $50 or double tolls because we live outside the area, that's crazy."
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is banking on cash-paying drivers like Lewis to help fund a $5.3 billion toll system expansion. The tolls, which had been about 40 cents per plaza for all cars, will now cost about 80 cents per plaza for cash-paying drivers.
The state plans to remove all but a few of the booths at its 20 main toll plazas by early 2007, replacing them with arches that will span the road and deduct the tolls electronically by I-PASS. It hopes the vast majority of tollway drivers will be using the I-PASS system by then.
State officials acknowledge that the I-PASS sales pitch is aimed mostly at commuters and other regular tollway users. But they also encourage drivers across the state to buy them.
"We certainly want them to have the opportunity to enjoy not only the lower rate but also the time savings available to them," said tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis.
The tollway authority is selling transponders at Jewel-Osco grocery stores in more than a dozen locations downstate and in western Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. McGinnis said the state has also reached out to local media in those markets.
She added that the number of cash-paying drivers left on the roads won't make or break the state's financial calculations for funding the toll improvements; truckers are far more important, she said, because their tolls will triple in some cases.
Since announcing the toll increase for cash-paying drivers in August, the state has sold thousands of I-PASS transponders in areas well outside Chicago and its collar counties, McGinnis said.
During the third week of December alone, more than 100 were sold in both Kankakee County and the Quad Cities. Residents of downstate counties such as LaSalle, Lee, Grundy, Stephenson, McLean, Henry and Sangamon counties have bought hundreds more.
Jack Hartman, executive director of the tollway authority, said he is hopeful that infrequent tollway drivers who might already have considered buying an I-PASS for convenience will be swayed by the cost increase.
"I think a lot of people will think it's worth buying, not just because they'll save money but because they'll save 10 minutes on their trip," Hartman said.
Richard Finchum, an insurance executive from Freeport, says he has considered getting an I-PASS transponder for years and the increase pushed him to decide. He and his wife make the 100-mile trip to the Chicago area about eight times a year for Chicago Bulls games and to fly out of O'Hare International Airport.
"It's not really the extra three or four bucks a year I'll be saving that's a big deal, it's the convenience," Finchum said.
Many residents of Silvis, near the Quad Cities, seem intrigued " even excited " about getting an I-PASS, according to Daria Selhost, who works the service desk at a local Jewel-Osco that is selling transponders.
"A lot of people are buying one even if they won't be using them so much, just to save if they do go on a trip," Selhost said.
But Selhost says she'll pass on I-PASS.
"I go into Chicago maybe once a year," she said. "For me, it doesn't make sense."
On the Net: http://www.illinoistollway.com
© 2004 Associated Press � All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
====================
NEW TOLL RATES TOOK EFFECT JANUARY 1 ON ILLINOIS TOLLWAY
Toll Rate Increase for Cash-Paying Cars and All Trucks
Necessary to Fund $5.3 Billion Congestion Relief Plan
Car I-PASS Users Rates Remain the Same
http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=53,34528,53_34533&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
=============================
KWQC-TV, IA - Dec 26, 2004
CHICAGO Some long-time I-PASS users are cool to the idea of sharing ... Drivers are scrambling to buy the electronic toll-collection devices before January First ...
===============================
The Boiled Frog
... heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog ... The frog's survival instincts are
geared towards detecting ... have to be careful to watch slowly changing trends ...
===============================
What is 'boiled frog syndrome'?
Everyone is now referring to the Bank of England's interest rate policy as boiled frog syndrome.
Basically the Bank of England are raising interest rates very slowly and cautiously and this is the water in the saucepan on a very low heat. We, Joe public are the frog.
Apparently, if you throw a frog into a saucepan of boiling water it will jump straight out (well wouldn't you?), but if you put it in a saucepan of cold water on a very low heat then the frog will not realise that the water is slowly warming up and will boil to death!
Getting back to the interest rate side of things, with these small rate rises every 3 months or so, people are shrugging off the minimal extra payments and absorbing them into their monthly bills. If however the Bank of England were to do a couple of big interest rate jumps or say 0.50%, 0.75% or even a whopping 1.00% then people would really sit up and take notice........and the frog would leap out of the saucepan!
====================================
NOW DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TO DO?
Sunday, January 2, 2005
By Mike Colias
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/025nd1.htm
The Associated Press
Drivers who regularly take the tollways around Chicago don't see much of a choice when it comes to I-PASS: They can buy the electronic transponder or they can pay double at the toll plazas, potentially hundreds of dollars more a year.
For many downstate residents and others who don't often travel those routes, however, the decision is less clear-cut.
Some say it would take years for the upfront cost of an I-PASS transponder to pay off. Others are angry, believing they are being singled out to pay for improvements to a road system they rarely use.
The toll increase, which began Saturday, only affects cash-paying drivers on the 247-mile tollway system. To avoid the increase, drivers must pay $50 for an I-PASS transponder $10 is a deposit for the device that automatically deducts the tolls, and the remaining $40 goes into a debit account for future toll use.
For Bill Klingbeil of Bloomington, it would take at least two years of summer vacations to Michigan and visits to his in-laws in suburban Chicago to spend that $40.
"I never felt like I was spending enough to make it worth the 50 bucks," Klingbeil said. "But if they're doubling those tolls, then it absolutely makes sense."
Others aren't as enthusiastic.
Lisa Lewis, a Kankakee hair salon owner who makes the 70-mile drive to north suburban Skokie a few times a month to pick up supplies, says she won't buy an I-PASS, even though she occasionally uses toll roads to avoid traffic going through the city.
"It's not a lot of money; it's just the point," Lewis said. "To be forced to have to pay $50 or double tolls because we live outside the area, that's crazy."
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is banking on cash-paying drivers like Lewis to help fund a $5.3 billion toll system expansion. The tolls, which had been about 40 cents per plaza for all cars, will now cost about 80 cents per plaza for cash-paying drivers.
The state plans to remove all but a few of the booths at its 20 main toll plazas by early 2007, replacing them with arches that will span the road and deduct the tolls electronically by I-PASS. It hopes the vast majority of tollway drivers will be using the I-PASS system by then.
State officials acknowledge that the I-PASS sales pitch is aimed mostly at commuters and other regular tollway users. But they also encourage drivers across the state to buy them.
"We certainly want them to have the opportunity to enjoy not only the lower rate but also the time savings available to them," said tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis.
The tollway authority is selling transponders at Jewel-Osco grocery stores in more than a dozen locations downstate and in western Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. McGinnis said the state has also reached out to local media in those markets.
She added that the number of cash-paying drivers left on the roads won't make or break the state's financial calculations for funding the toll improvements; truckers are far more important, she said, because their tolls will triple in some cases.
Since announcing the toll increase for cash-paying drivers in August, the state has sold thousands of I-PASS transponders in areas well outside Chicago and its collar counties, McGinnis said.
During the third week of December alone, more than 100 were sold in both Kankakee County and the Quad Cities. Residents of downstate counties such as LaSalle, Lee, Grundy, Stephenson, McLean, Henry and Sangamon counties have bought hundreds more.
Jack Hartman, executive director of the tollway authority, said he is hopeful that infrequent tollway drivers who might already have considered buying an I-PASS for convenience will be swayed by the cost increase.
"I think a lot of people will think it's worth buying, not just because they'll save money but because they'll save 10 minutes on their trip," Hartman said.
Richard Finchum, an insurance executive from Freeport, says he has considered getting an I-PASS transponder for years and the increase pushed him to decide. He and his wife make the 100-mile trip to the Chicago area about eight times a year for Chicago Bulls games and to fly out of O'Hare International Airport.
"It's not really the extra three or four bucks a year I'll be saving that's a big deal, it's the convenience," Finchum said.
Many residents of Silvis, near the Quad Cities, seem intrigued " even excited " about getting an I-PASS, according to Daria Selhost, who works the service desk at a local Jewel-Osco that is selling transponders.
"A lot of people are buying one even if they won't be using them so much, just to save if they do go on a trip," Selhost said.
But Selhost says she'll pass on I-PASS.
"I go into Chicago maybe once a year," she said. "For me, it doesn't make sense."
On the Net: http://www.illinoistollway.com
© 2004 Associated Press � All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
====================
NEW TOLL RATES TOOK EFFECT JANUARY 1 ON ILLINOIS TOLLWAY
Toll Rate Increase for Cash-Paying Cars and All Trucks
Necessary to Fund $5.3 Billion Congestion Relief Plan
Car I-PASS Users Rates Remain the Same
http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=53,34528,53_34533&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
=============================
KWQC-TV, IA - Dec 26, 2004
CHICAGO Some long-time I-PASS users are cool to the idea of sharing ... Drivers are scrambling to buy the electronic toll-collection devices before January First ...
===============================
The Boiled Frog
... heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog ... The frog's survival instincts are
geared towards detecting ... have to be careful to watch slowly changing trends ...
===============================
What is 'boiled frog syndrome'?
Everyone is now referring to the Bank of England's interest rate policy as boiled frog syndrome.
Basically the Bank of England are raising interest rates very slowly and cautiously and this is the water in the saucepan on a very low heat. We, Joe public are the frog.
Apparently, if you throw a frog into a saucepan of boiling water it will jump straight out (well wouldn't you?), but if you put it in a saucepan of cold water on a very low heat then the frog will not realise that the water is slowly warming up and will boil to death!
Getting back to the interest rate side of things, with these small rate rises every 3 months or so, people are shrugging off the minimal extra payments and absorbing them into their monthly bills. If however the Bank of England were to do a couple of big interest rate jumps or say 0.50%, 0.75% or even a whopping 1.00% then people would really sit up and take notice........and the frog would leap out of the saucepan!
====================================
NOW DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TO DO?
