Illinois notes

[SEWIGuy]

I've been using their website and app for over a decade and never had a problem. Just used it yesterday to make sure my tolls were recorded...and yep. They were there like always.

Look, I am not saying there aren't occasional problems. But it seems to me, having used the iPass system regularly for years, that huge non-payment problems or technical gliches are hardly chronic. In fact, they seem very rare. Just looking at some figures, it looks like only 3% of tolls get to the invoice stage.

[kphoger]

Just looking at some figures, it looks like only 3% of tolls get to the invoice stage.

Back when I could put coins in a basket, 0% of my tolls got to the invoice stage.

[SEWIGuy]

Just looking at some figures, it looks like only 3% of tolls get to the invoice stage.

Back when I could put coins in a basket, 0% of my tolls got to the invoice stage.

Wonder what the loss rate was from getting the tolls from the basket to the bank? Or the costs involved to have people transport and count the coins?

And the majority of the invoiced amount will eventually be received.

[kphoger]

Wonder what the loss rate was from getting the tolls from the basket to the bank? Or the costs involved to have people transport and count the coins?

Yeah but, again, that's how it works out for the agency, not how it works out for the driver.

[SEWIGuy]

Wonder what the loss rate was from getting the tolls from the basket to the bank? Or the costs involved to have people transport and count the coins?

Yeah but, again, that's how it works out for the agency, not how it works out for the driver.

It is 1 million times easier for the driver to not have to stop and throw coins in a basket.

[kphoger]

It is 1 million times easier for the driver to not have to stop and throw coins in a basket.

It is 1.6 million times easier for the driver to not have to navigate a website to pay a toll.

[SEWIGuy]

It is 1 million times easier for the driver to not have to stop and throw coins in a basket.

It is 1.6 million times easier for the driver to not have to navigate a website to pay a toll.

Nope. It's very easy.

[kphoger]

Nope. It's very easy.

And it's difficult to throw coins in a basket?  Somehow I managed all those years...

[hotdogPi]

Until dollar coins become commonplace, throwing coins in a basket would require a lot of quarters. (I imagine dollar bills would blow away and not reach the basket if it's windy.)

That said, I agree with the prior sentiment that the "online only" signs need to be before the last turnaround point.

[Rothman]

Nope. It's very easy.

And it's difficult to throw coins in a basket?  Somehow I managed all those years...

It's annoying.  Much prefer at-speed tolling, nostalgia notwithstanding.

[SEWIGuy]

Nope. It's very easy.

And it's difficult to throw coins in a basket?  Somehow I managed all those years...

In comparison, yes. I go to websites to pay bills all the time. I doubt I have more than $2 in coins in my house and car at any given time.  Not to mention the having to stop...waiting for others...ooops someone missed a basket...waiting for the gate to open.  Way easier to sail through at 75 mph.

[kphoger]

I doubt I have more than $2 in coins in my house and car at any given time.

It was never a problem for me to come up with the coins necessary for tolls.  Same with taking the bus.  Just because you choose to go mainly cashless, that doesn't mean everybody does.

Not to mention the having to stop...waiting for others...ooops someone missed a basket...waiting for the gate to open.

None of that is difficult.

Until dollar coins become commonplace, throwing coins in a basket would require a lot of quarters.

Counting coins was the hardest part, because it wasn't only quarters.  I remember 40 cents being pretty standard, which was one each of quarter, dime, and nickel.

But, if you have a passenger, then that's the passenger's job:  get cash ready for the toll.  I still do it this way when driving in Mexico, having my wife or whoever is in the passenger seat at the time get the cash ready.  No website required.

[SEWIGuy]

I doubt I have more than $2 in coins in my house and car at any given time.

It was never a problem for me to come up with the coins necessary for tolls.  Same with taking the bus.  Just because you choose to go mainly cashless, that doesn't mean everybody does.

Many people have. It's the direction society has headed. If you are inconvenienced by an unwillingness to do so, that's on you.

Not to mention the having to stop...waiting for others...ooops someone missed a basket...waiting for the gate to open.

None of that is difficult.

You cut out the "in comparison" part.

[kphoger]

Not to mention the having to stop...waiting for others...ooops someone missed a basket...waiting for the gate to open.

None of that is difficult.

You cut out the "in comparison" part.

No, I mean none of that is difficult at all—in comparison to something else or not.  Stopping and waiting is not difficult.  You just move your right foot over from the gas pedal to the brake.  If you're driving stickshift, you'll need to use your left foot too.

I have never come up to a toll booth and thought to myself, OK, now, how do I do this?  I just either drop coins in basket or hand my money to a human in a booth.  It's easy.

Maybe you meant that it's annoying, not that it's difficult.  OK.  I think it's more annoying to have to remember to do anything at all after the fact to make sure my toll registered properly.

[SEWIGuy]

You're the one who introduced the word "difficult" into the conversation.

But yes...it is easier to drive through a cashless toll than to stop at a coin basket. And that's what matters - comparing one to the other.

[kphoger]

You're the one who introduced the word "difficult" into the conversation.

Only in response to your having introduced the word "easier" into the conversation.

But yes...it is easier to stop at a coin basket than to go online and ensure all your recent tolls have transacted correctly.

[Rothman]

You're the one who introduced the word "difficult" into the conversation.

Only in response to your having introduced the word "easier" into the conversation.

But yes...it is easier to stop at a coin basket than to go online and ensure all your recent tolls have transacted correctly.

Nah.  I've had one issue with my tag not being read in years of using it and that only caused an issue because I was in a rental car.

That single inconvenience in years pales in comparison to sitting in backups at toll plazas all throughout the Northeast (Williamsville, Newton, Sturbridge, anything on the GSP or NJ Tpk, GWB...).  Miserable memories abound.

[SEWIGuy]

You're the one who introduced the word "difficult" into the conversation.

Only in response to your having introduced the word "easier" into the conversation.

But yes...it is easier to stop at a coin basket than to go online and ensure all your recent tolls have transacted correctly.

Nah.  I've had one issue with my tag not being read in years of using it and that only caused an issue because I was in a rental car.

That single inconvenience in years pales in comparison to sitting in backups at toll plazas all throughout the Northeast (Williamsville, Newton, Sturbridge, anything on the GSP or NJ Tpk, GWB...).  Miserable memories abound.

Yep.

[edwaleni]

Then there is the guy who drops his change on the way to the basket on the Tri-State.  He begins to crawl under his car looking for his loose quarter that didn't make it. It is there he discovers not one but hundreds of quarters, dimes and nickels impressed into the asphalt. How to find his quarter in the nighttime? Meanwhile his spouse has pulled out another quarter so as to not hold up the line.  No he says, "a quarter is a quarter" as he continues to crawl under the car looking for said quarter. Just as the backup starts the ritual of honking to get things to move along, he finds his quarter as it had rolled some distance to the back of the car. He craws back out with quarter in hand throws it in the basket, gate goes up and he moves along. Some 20-30 cars meanwhile wait in mystery as there is some guy walking around his car up at the basket.

I can relate. After driving out of Manhattan, I cross the Tri-Borough Bridge.  "Toll" it says, I think "oh, its like ISHTA, you need change". Nope. Private bridge toll tokens, no cash taken. I am at the basket with the gate down, and as I try to figure out how to get out of this, a line of about 15 cars start honking in all of their New York glory.  Finally, I get out of the car and stand with my hands in the air, which I mean to be the universal symbol for "I don't have any tokens". Finally a dude in a Mazda about 6 or 7 cars back yells at me to catch, and he throws me a pre-taped wad of tokens. He says "pay me back later" and I yell thanks back, Pay my toll and drive off. Don't know the guy, never will.  But after that, if I saw an out of state plate struggling at the former ISTHA cash baskets, I would have extra change at hand "to pay him back".

[Revive 755]

From recent travels, it seems that it would be very easy for someone heading west on I-80/I-94 to end up on the Tri-State by mistake.  The signing overall seems to favor mentioning the exits for I-94/IL 394 and Torrence Avenue versus the transition from a free road to a tollway.    The lack of signing is helped by the number of trucks and near-congested conditions that make it harder to see and decipher the signs.

Wonder if the WB exit to Torrence Avenue should have been from the roadway leading to I-94/IL 394 versus the one that turns into the Tri-State?  It might have made signing the start of the Tri-State better.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5779416,-87.547274,3a,37.5y,268.52h,100.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.203796%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

There's this sign before the start of the tollway...

[sprjus4]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5779416,-87.547274,3a,37.5y,268.52h,100.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.203796%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

There's this sign before the start of the tollway...

4 lanes of heavily congested traffic with trucks, and a little (non-compliant at that) sign off to the right 1/4 mile before the last exit. But sure... signage. Sure hope you're not in any other lane but the right.

No compliant "Last Exit Before Toll" signage with yellow background, no 1 or 2 mile notice in advanced, no large yellow "Toll Road" signage on the mainline guide signs (just the word "Tollway" with normal background & small font hard to read if you're not paying attention to the small details.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5779416,-87.547274,3a,37.5y,268.52h,100.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.203796%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

There's this sign before the start of the tollway...

4 lanes of heavily congested traffic with trucks, and a little (non-compliant at that) sign off to the right 1/4 mile before the last exit. But sure... signage. Sure hope you're not in any other lane but the right.

No compliant "Last Exit Before Toll" signage with yellow background, no 1 or 2 mile notice in advanced, no large yellow "Toll Road" signage on the mainline guide signs (just the word "Tollway" with normal background & small font hard to read if you're not paying attention to the small details.

Those signs were put up in 2007 (before the 2009 edition in MUTCD on tollway signage)... They will get around to updating the signage at some point.

[SEWIGuy]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5779416,-87.547274,3a,37.5y,268.52h,100.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D2SYf3QjYNheijjbKBcYvAg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.203796%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

There's this sign before the start of the tollway...

4 lanes of heavily congested traffic with trucks, and a little (non-compliant at that) sign off to the right 1/4 mile before the last exit. But sure... signage. Sure hope you're not in any other lane but the right.

No compliant "Last Exit Before Toll" signage with yellow background, no 1 or 2 mile notice in advanced, no large yellow "Toll Road" signage on the mainline guide signs (just the word "Tollway" with normal background & small font hard to read if you're not paying attention to the small details.

LOL.

"There should be a sign"

"There is a sign"

"That sign isn't good enough."

FFS, maybe require drivers to be responsible for figuring this stuff out. And anyway, people who "accidently" enter the Tri State on I-80 and exit toward Iowa tolls of $1.10. Really not that big of a deal.

[sprjus4]

LOL.

"There should be a sign"

"There is a sign"

"That sign isn't good enough."

See, I don't usually buy into the sign argument (trust me, I've heard it before), but there is virtually none in this area, let alone anything that is compliant with any standards in the last 15 years of the MUTCD. I've seen numerous toll roads that make it very clear you're going onto a toll road.

Having big highway signs conveying tons of information with small text "Toll Road" (smaller text than the rest) mixed in with everything else, plus one non-compliant "Last Exit Before Toll" sign 1/4 mile before the exit on an 8 lane highway doesn't cut it.

The point of having the yellow striped "Toll" banner is to attract attention to that detail.

FFS, maybe require drivers to be responsible for figuring this stuff out.

Perhaps by installing compliant signage that meets the last 2 editions of the MUTCD in the past 15 years?