What is everyone's opinion on this IPass thing that Blagoyevich is putting in effect starting today? Either get IPass or you pay double at tolls.

 

I'm torn. One one side I think it is wrong to make people go throw down $50 for the pass. The pre-paid of $40 is kind of irrelevant since that is the toll money an dyou would pay it sometime.

 

I always had LOTS of loose change in my car and would just throw some in and go. What the hell will I do with all these pennies?

 

Blago says it will help congestion.

 

I'm on the fence.

I look at it the other way around. The toll is $.80, if you help us to eliminate some of the cost of collecting the tolls, (IPass) we will pass along some of the savings in lower tolls. It catches the casual user and the out of staters. Basically let people who will not vote against you pay for the tolls. Same thing with things like hotel taxes and rental car taxes. Take money from the tourists.

It's just a scam to get more money from people from IN and WI, in my opinion.

The tollway thing has been a huge scam since its inception. I'm old enough to remember when the taxpayers were told that the tolls were a temporary thing, only there to help finance the building and improvement of Illinois' roads.

As it turns out, Illinois has absolutely s***ty roads, AWFUL repair and construction schedules, and huge waste in the entire scheme of things. I spend a lot of time in Wisconsin, and their roads are FAR superior to those here, and the turnaround time for road repair/construction there puts Illinois to shame. And somehow THEY manage to do that without tolls.

 

I know at some point I'll succumb to Gov. HairHelmet's scam, but I'm going to hold off as long as I can.

But Wisconsin has about a tenth of the traffic that Illinois does (at leas northern Illinois). Hence why the roads are worse in Illinois.

IIRC doesn't Illinois have a problem with snow and ice, salt, and freeze and thaw cycles? This makes it very difficult to maintain roads.

 

One of the things I noticed in South Texas is the absence of pot holes on ashalt roads. They just do not happen.

Tolls are cheap in Chicago, even at 80cents.

 

To Leave Jersey and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 6 dollars.

To Leave Brooklyn and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 8 dollars.

QUOTE (winodj @ Jan 1, 2005 -> 10:43 AM)

Tolls are cheap in Chicago, even at 80cents.   To Leave Jersey and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 6 dollars. To Leave Brooklyn and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 8 dollars. US to mexico $2 + or - each way depending on bridge.

QUOTE (winodj @ Jan 1, 2005 -> 09:43 AM)

Tolls are cheap in Chicago, even at 80cents.   To Leave Jersey and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 6 dollars. To Leave Brooklyn and get to Staten Island on the Outerbridge Crossing, 8 dollars. But getting INTO New Jersey is free!   and I-90 has a LOT of traffic in Wisconsin, especially truck traffic, but the road quality improves drastically once you cross the border from IL to WI.

I'm with you critic. The original deal said the tolls would go away when the road was paid for. When it was, the lawyers found some wording and exploited the loophole into the HUGE scam the tollway association is now. And as you said, the roads do SUCK.

 

And the I-Pass isn't going to help congestion one bit. The problem is where the roads go out to 10 lanes and shrink back to 3 and also have another road merging in at the same time. The only thing that will happen are the I-Pass lanes are going to be longer.

QUOTE (SAVVY18 @ Jan 1, 2005 -> 02:11 PM)

I'm with you critic. The original deal said the tolls would go away when the road was paid for. When it was, the lawyers found some wording and exploited the loophole into the HUGE scam the tollway association is now. And as you said, the roads do SUCK.   And the I-Pass isn't going to help congestion one bit. The problem is where the roads go out to 10 lanes and shrink back to 3 and also have another road merging in at the same time. The only thing that will happen are the I-Pass lanes are going to be longer. How would taking money away from the tollway make it better? The tolls only go towards the tollway, not other roads. Seems like tolls are a fair method of having the users pay for what they use.

I actually think in time the idea isn't a terrible one. I haven't had an IPass before and was putting it off till now but it is alot easier to use the tollway with it. Plus more lanes will be for the IPass , eliminating a ton of the booths and no need to stop. Thus it'll stop the idiots from getting to the booths with like a $10 bill and get out of their car like morons, then you sitting there cause some dope don't know what to do once he gets on a TOLLway.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jan 1, 2005 -> 01:41 PM)

How would taking money away from the tollway make it better? The tolls only go towards the tollway, not other roads. Seems like tolls are a fair method of having the users pay for what they use. The main problem with the road construction system as it stands is waste and corruption. Crews with 3 guys sitting in a truck watching one guy work. I've seen it more times than I can count. Contracts with artificial built-in completion dates that call for bonuses if work is completed before said date. Result? Work takes EXACTLY long enough to collect the bonuses, not one day earlier. I'd also bet that road-related taxes are not one dime lower than they were before the toll money was added on. As is the case with almost all government issues, waste needs to be addressed first, before any more money is taken from people.

well, this totally screws me over, i'm not on the tollway every day, however, on my trips to my dads house and to dekalb, which to dekalb will now cost 2.20 to go there and back. I can't afford to put down a 40 dollar down payment even if it does just go back to the tolls. It screws me personally.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 02:10 AM)

well, this totally screws me over, i'm not on the tollway every day, however, on my trips to my dads house and to dekalb, which to dekalb will now cost 2.20 to go there and back. I can't afford to put down a 40 dollar down payment even if it does just go back to the tolls. It screws me personally. Yes it does, the drivers who use the tollroad everyday and will invest in an IPass will receive a volume discout for using the tollway everyday. Casual users will pay more.   The same way you are screwed at the Cell when you pay full price for a ticket and season ticket holders pay less.

I've had IPass for about 2 years now - considering how often I am on it, it became usefall. Brian has had his for about 8 months now.

 

We were talking with his uncle (who has IPass) last night and none of us like this hike (Brian is vehemently against it). What really concerns us is that the IPass lanes are already over-crowded before this hike, how is it going to be now? We think that there are going to be more accidents because of this.

Yes it does, the drivers who use the tollroad everyday and will invest in an IPass will receive a volume discout for using the tollway everyday. Casual users will pay more.

 

The same way you are screwed at the Cell when you pay full price for a ticket and season ticket holders pay less.

 

Only in today's America could the forced purchase of an item in order to avoid a random doubling of a price for the same service be considered a "volume discount". iPass buyers recieve no discount whatsoever, except when compared to the penalty a non-iPass buyer suffers.

Can Blago be accused of extortion or something? =)

Can Blago be accused of extortion or something? =)

Probably not, since buying an iPass is "optional", but he MUST be charged with endangering the environment for the hairspray it has to take to hold that hair helmet in place!

Only in today's America could the forced purchase of an item in order to avoid a random doubling of a price for the same service be considered a "volume discount". iPass buyers recieve no discount whatsoever, except when compared to the penalty a non-iPass buyer suffers.

 

I don't think it was random. Perhaps they should have doubled the rate for everyone, then offered a discount for IPass.

 

Despite the path they took, there should be a discount for IPass. The convienence is nice, but sharing the cost savings of IPass is best for consumers.

Weird Tex, I'm seeing everything in the thread after your 11:59 post inside that post like an open quote. Anyways, I noticed on the way up from Champaign that they added an I-Pass lane to all of the plazas I went through on 294. I think the eventual plan is to have mostly I-Pass lanes and just a couple manual booths at all plazas.

Whoa, what the f*** happend to this thread.

Weird Tex, I'm seeing everything in the thread after your 11:59 post inside that post like an open quote.  Anyways, I noticed on the way up from Champaign that they added an I-Pass lane to all of the plazas I went through on 294.  I think the eventual plan is to have mostly I-Pass lanes and just a couple manual booths at all plazas.

 

 

Whoa, what the f*** happend to this thread.

 

I think what is happening is there are three options in how you view the posts. At least in the default skin.

tex....you broke it.

you've been talking with that jason too much.

tex....you broke it.

you've been talking with that jason too much.

 

That title belowngs to Kap, he's the tech genious lately

I just deleted Tex's post that seemed to be causing the trouble. Oh well, one more post to catch 2k5...