On New Year’s Day, I-Pass users will have to pay an extra 3 cents each time they pass through a booth on the Indiana Toll Road, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported on Friday.
The new charge came about because the Illinois Tollway Authority in July began charging Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. a transaction fee for I-Pass users, according to ITR spokesman Matt Pierce.
“They have made a business decision,” Pierce said of the Illinois agency’s action.
I-Zoom users on Illinois toll roads will not be hit with a similar fee because ITR Concession Co. is paying transaction costs out of an existing $1 per month transponder fee it charges customers.
The Times Keith Benman reports that the Illinois Tollway Authority has been covering transaction costs — such as processing and customer service — for I-Pass user ever since electronic tolling was installed on the Indiana Toll Road two years ago.
“The Illinois Tollway Authority does not think it is appropriate for our public toll road to be subsidizing a for-profit private toll road company,” Tollway Authority spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said.
Benman’s article also has this little nugget: the predominant transponder used on the Indiana Toll Road is still the I-Pass transponder to the tune of about 70 percent. Indiana officials counter that the number if only 60 percent.
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