I-Pass (stylized as I-PASS) is the electronic toll collection system utilized by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) on its toll highways that launched on November 18, 1993, with the opening of Interstate 355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway). [1] It uses the same transponder as the E-ZPass system used in the Northeastern US, the Chicago Skyway, and the Indiana Toll Road, along with the Indiana State Road 912 (Cline Avenue) Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal bridge.
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
I-Pass transponders can be used at all toll plazas, including those located on entrance and exit ramps. The main advantage to the system was the eventual withdrawal of full-length tool booths from the tollway system for full-speed open road tolling, while customers paying cash continued to have to slow down onto exit-like automated tollbooths until the spring of 2020. Likewise, entering or exiting the tollway system with an I-Pass allows continuous movement through the toll gate, albeit at a decelerated speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h).
Starting with a toll rate increase which came into effect on January 1, 2005, a significant discount was granted if an I-Pass was used to pay the toll. In June 2005, I-Pass became compatible with toll collection on the Chicago Skyway.
If a vehicle registered with I-Pass passes through a toll collection without the transponder, the vehicle will be considered in violation only if the vehicle's license plate is not registered on an I-Pass account. Each I-Pass account can register multiple vehicles under the account. If a driver does not have a transponder in the car, the license plate still registers under the system as being affiliated with an account and, as long as there are funds in the account, the driver will not be in violation, although if more than three instances occur in a month, the discount will not be granted and each subsequent pass without a transponder will result in the cash fee being deducted from the account. If the driver does not have funds in the account and are not set up for auto refill on a credit card, the toll will be considered unpaid and a $20 fine will be levied, in addition to the cash rate (non-discounted) cost of the toll. Once the license plate holders accrue three violations, they will receive a notice of violation from ISTHA with a demand to pay. I-Pass account holders have a window of time to contact ISTHA and remedy the violation by having the cost of the unpaid toll deducted from their account balance and can have the $20 fee waived. It is up to the account holder to contact ISTHA. If the account holder fails to contact the tollway authority by the due date on their violation notice, additional fines will be levied, eventually leading to having their vehicles plates, drivers license, or both, suspended. Fines have reportedly often escalated into thousands of dollars due to the failure of the account holder to act by contacting ISTHA about the violation.
Users of the system can manage their accounts through the I-Pass web site. Normally, the system will keep a credit balance on account for users, tied to a credit card and replenished as the balance drops below a preset threshold. Alternatively, users can choose to manually replenish their accounts via the site. I-Pass desks at many service plazas on Illinois tollways can also assist system users.
All tollways that accept E-ZPass also accept I-Pass.
Controversy surrounded the reciprocal use of I-Pass by Illinois motorists and I-Zoom (now branded as simply E-ZPass) by Indiana motorists on the other state's toll road. Each state charges the other a transaction fee when the out-of-state transponder is used to pay a toll. About 70% of all electronic transactions on the Indiana Toll Road are done with I-Pass transponders, according to Tollway Authority figures. Until January 1, 2010, the fee was absorbed, and I-Pass users paid twice as many Indiana tolls as I-Zoom users paying Illinois tolls. To address this imbalance, ISTHA began charging I-Pass users a three-cent surcharge on each of their Indiana tolls, effective January 1, 2010. [2]
As of September 26,2005 [update] , I-Pass transponders are accepted for the payment of tolls on the E-ZPass system. I-Pass transponders cannot be used to pay for other services such as airport parking where E-ZPass transponders are currently accepted. In the case of older units, only car and motorcycle I-Pass transponders are compatible with the E-ZPass system, and other users with older units (e.g. semi truck operators) must swap their current I-Pass transponder for a transponder compatible with both I-Pass and E-ZPass. (The reverse—use of Northeastern state E-ZPass transponders in I-Pass facilities in Illinois—was actually working as early as May 2005.)
In September 2019, NPR radio station WBEZ revealed that the Illinois Tollway had been divulging I-Pass records to lawyers and law enforcement. These records included specific transponder usage instances and personal information about account holders. The Illinois chapter of the ACLU responded negatively to this use of I-Pass data, referring to it as "mission creep". [3]
After reading the WBEZ report, state representative Margo McDermed introduced a bill to prevent the release of tollway records for drivers involved in lawsuits, and to require law enforcement to obtain a warrant to access the records. [4]
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and maintenance.
Electronic toll collection (ETC) is a wireless system to automatically collect the usage fee or toll charged to vehicles using toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels. It is a faster alternative which is replacing toll booths, where vehicles must stop and the driver manually pays the toll with cash or a card. In most systems, vehicles using the system are equipped with an automated radio transponder device. When the vehicle passes a roadside toll reader device, a radio signal from the reader triggers the transponder, which transmits back an identifying number which registers the vehicle's use of the road, and an electronic payment system charges the user the toll. A major advantage is the driver does not have to stop, reducing traffic delays. Electronic tolling is cheaper than a staffed toll booth, reducing transaction costs for government or private road owners. The ease of varying the amount of the toll makes it easy to implement road congestion pricing, including for high-occupancy lanes, toll lanes that bypass congestion, and city-wide congestion charges. The payment system usually requires users to sign up in advance and load money into a declining-balance account, which is debited each time they pass a toll point.
E‑ZPass is an electronic toll collection system used on toll roads, toll bridges and toll tunnels in the Eastern United States, Midwestern United States, and Southern United States. The E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG) consists of member agencies in several states, which use the same technology and allow travelers to use the same transponder on toll roads throughout the network. Since its creation in 1987, various independent systems that use the same technology have been folded into the E-ZPass system, including the I-PASS in Illinois and the NC Quick Pass in North Carolina. Negotiations are ongoing for nationwide interoperability in the United States.
FasTrak is the electronic toll collection (ETC) system used in the state of California in the United States. The system is used statewide on all of the toll roads, toll bridges, and high-occupancy toll lanes along the California Freeway and Expressway System.
SunPass is an electronic toll collection system within the state of Florida, United States. It was created in 1999 by the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT's) Office of Toll Operations, operating now as a division of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). The system utilizes windshield-mounted RFID transponders manufactured by TransCore and lane equipment designed by companies including TransCore, SAIC, and Raytheon.
EZ TAG is an electronic toll collection system in Houston, Texas, United States, that allows motorists to pay tolls without stopping at toll booths. Motorists with the tags are allowed to use lanes reserved exclusively for them on all Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) roads. As of late 2003, the EZ TAG can also be used on all lanes of tolled roadways in Texas that accommodate electronic toll collection.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes referred to as the Illinois Tollway. The system opened in 1958 in the Chicago area, and has subsequently expanded to include the eastern and central sections of Interstate 88 (I-88) extending into the northwestern part of the state. Beginning in 2005, the system was reconstructed to include more lanes and open road tolling, the latter of which uses I-Pass transponders to collect revenue as vehicles pass antennas at toll plazas or designated entrance or exit ramps. As of 2017, ISTHA maintains and operates 294 miles (473 km) of tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois.
The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End, but with the completion of the Big Dig, it was modified to have two exits. One exit connects to I-93 northbound and downtown Boston near Haymarket Station. The other exit connects to Storrow Drive and Nashua St., connecting Cambridge via Route 28. Traffic headed for I-93 southbound and the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) westbound is normally routed to the Ted Williams Tunnel.
Fast Lane was the original branding for the electronic toll collection system used on toll roads in Massachusetts, including the Massachusetts Turnpike, Sumner Tunnel, Ted Williams Tunnel, and Tobin Bridge. It was introduced in 1998, and later folded into the E-ZPass branding in 2012. Fast Lane transponders were fully interoperable with member agencies of the E-ZPass Interagency Group, however Fast Lane transponders afford users discounted tolls in some junctions that out-of-state users are not offered.
E-ZPass Minnesota, formerly MnPass is the brand name associated with a series of high occupancy toll lanes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area of Minnesota and is also associated with the electronic toll collection (ETC) system used for those HO/T lanes. The lanes and the ETC system are owned by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and fully compatible with the multi-state E-ZPass network.
An Illinois Tollway oasis is a type of commercialized rest area sited over Interstate Highways that are part of the Illinois Tollway system in northern Illinois, United States. The four oases offer food and gasoline vendors and are found in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, DeKalb, and Belvidere. Although the oases date back to the original tollway construction in 1958, they were redeveloped in 2003–2005 by Wilton Partners, a private developer. The redevelopment of the oases has been the focal point of alleged political corruption. The four oases are administered by a court-appointed manager following default of Wilton Partners.
Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of toll booths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The major advantage to ORT is that users are able to drive through the toll plaza at highway speeds without having to slow down to pay the toll. In some installations, ORT may also reduce congestion at the plazas by allowing more vehicles per hour/per lane.
Highway 6, also known as the Trans-Israel Highway or Cross-Israel Highway, is a major electronic toll highway in Israel. Highway 6 is the first Israeli Build-Operate-Transfer road constructed, carried out mainly by the private sector in return for a concession to collect tolls on the highway for a given number of years. It is also one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken in Israel.
Good to Go, stylized as GoodToGo!, is the electronic toll collection program managed by the Washington State Department of Transportation on all current toll and future projects in the U.S. state of Washington. Regular Good to Go customers may set up an account from which tolls are deducted. Vehicles that are not linked to an account are photographed and a toll bill is sent to the registered owner by U.S. mail. The system debuted in July 2007 on the eastbound span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and has since expanded to include high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on State Route 167 and Interstate 405, as well as the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge on State Route 520, and the State Route 99 tunnel in Seattle. The Good to Go program is similar to other electronic tolling around the country such as FasTrak in California and E-ZPass in the eastern United States.
Video tolling is a form of electronic toll collection, which uses video or still images of a vehicle's license plate to identify a vehicle liable to pay a road toll. The system dispenses with collection of road tolls using road-side cash or payment card methods, and may be used in conjunction with "all electronic" open road tolling, to permit drivers without an RFID device to use the toll road.
Interstate 90 (I-90) in the U.S. state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford before heading east-southeast to the Indiana state line at Chicago. I-90 traverses 108 miles (174 km) through a variety of settings, from farmland west of the Fox River Valley through the medium-density suburbs west of O'Hare International Airport, through downtown Chicago, and through the heart of the industrial southeast side of Chicago before entering Indiana.
i-Zoom was the former name for the electronic toll collection system used on the Indiana Toll Road (ITR), which now uses the E-ZPass system. On June 27, 2007, the system was implemented from mile 1 to mile 23 of the road under the unique branding of "i-Zoom", which was fully compatible with E-ZPass and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority's I-Pass system; the remaining toll plazas came online on April 1, 2008, with increased cash toll rates. i-Zoom transponders were then made available for purchase at service plazas and CVS/pharmacy locations in northern Indiana. As of September 2012, the i-Zoom branding was retired by the ITR for the universal E-ZPass branding used by most states in the E-ZPass system; outside of the implementation of a transponder with a smaller form factor and the removal of the i-Zoom logo from post-September 2012 transponder units, along with a website upgrade in 2014, no other changes to transponders or accounts are planned.
On roadways around the United States, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponders, supporting transceivers, antennas, and video cameras are the current standard for the collection of toll fees. This technology was invented during the 1970s and was implemented throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the fastest growing payment technologies center around smart phones. These devices are beginning to permit tolling authorities new channels of toll collection and communication with drivers. There are a number of mobile applications that are available for drivers to use as a way to manage their toll accounts as well as applications that actually allow the consumer to pay tolls from their smart phone.
NationalPass is an interoperable service created by TransCore, which is designed to eventually provide single transponder access to all public toll roads and bridges in North America.