Indiana upholds full toll Ruling
irks Illinois I-PASS officials

April 13, 2007

By Richard Wronski, Tribune staff reporter

In what may be recorded under the heading I-PASS versus I-Zoom, Illinois and Indiana are feuding over what to charge tollway drivers who use transponders.

On June 1, the Indiana Toll Road will activate its electronic toll system, called I-Zoom. Drivers using its transponders will get a 40 percent discount over those who pay cash in Indiana. They also would get a 50 percent discount when using Illinois toll roads.

But I-PASS users driving the Indiana Toll Road won't get a discount, and on Thursday Illinois officials threatened to retaliate by withdrawing the discounts Indiana drivers already are enjoying on Illinois tollways.

If Indiana persists in its policy, the Illinois Tollway "will have to give careful consideration to making I-Zoom holders ineligible for the electronic tolling discount for travel on the Illinois Tollway," Illinois Tollway chief Brian McPartlin wrote in a letter to Indiana Toll Road operators.

Indiana drivers using I-PASS transponders already get the 50 percent discount that local I-PASS users get.

Of the 2.8 million I-PASS transponders in use, about 90,000 belong to Indiana drivers, tollway officials said. Using I-PASS provides those drivers with nearly $9 million in toll rate discounts annually, officials said.

All states with so-called E-ZPass toll systems like the one Indiana will soon launch honor transponders purchased in other states. But only I-Zoom transponders will be eligible for a discount in Indiana.

In the letter to the Indiana Toll Road's private operators released Thursday, McPartlin called for reciprocity to Illinois drivers, based on the same "goodwill already extended to Indiana drivers by Illinois."

McPartlin called the disparity "unacceptable."

"The Illinois Tollway has never drawn a line between its residents and drivers who live in Indiana and travel in Illinois for daily commutes or leisure trips," McPartlin said. "It makes no sense to force stateline drivers to purchase two different transponders in order to benefit from the convenience of electronic toll collection and a discounted toll rate for interstate travel."

McPartlin said Illinois tollway system "must take steps to protect its customers and respond to the ... unwarranted discrimination against out-of-state E-ZPass compatible transponders."

The Illinois Tollway and its board of directors also will raise this issue with the E-ZPass Interagency Group, the national organization of toll system members, McPartlin said.

Illinois never considered penalizing Indiana or any other out-of-state I-PASS users with higher rates, John Mitola, chairman of the Illinois Tollway Board of Directors, said in a statement.

"Limiting discounts to only holders of certain transponders is not in the best interests of the traveling public and is contrary to the purpose of the ... E-ZPass system," Mitola said.

ITR Concessions Co. operates the Indiana Toll Road under a privatization agreement with the state. ITR spokesman Matt Pierce said Thursday that ITR has agreed to discuss the problem with Illinois officials and the E-ZPass Interagency Group.

Pierce blamed the problem on an agreement the Indiana legislature made when it agreed to privatize the Toll Road in a $3.8 billion deal with ITR's parent company, Cintra-Macquarie, a Spanish-Australian consortium that also operates the Chicago Skyway.

In order to facilitate the deal, northern Indiana legislators insisted on a "local discount" for their constituents who use the Indiana Toll Road. The fact that I-PASS and other E-ZPass users would not share the discount was not factored in, Pierce said.

The I-Zoom discount will apply on new higher tolls that will go into effect at the end of the year. The tolls were raised under ITR's agreement with Indiana. I-Zoom transponders will go on sale in May and will cost $10 to $12.

In his letter to ITR, McPartlin said tying discounts to a particular type of transponder "encourages the kind of balkanization of the electronic tolling system" that the E-ZPass system was designed to prevent.

Juggling two transponders is inconvenient for travelers and causes problems for tolling systems, McPartlin said. Having two transponders also increases false reads, meaning single cars read as two vehicles, or a single vehicle billed twice.