ILLINOIS: I-Pass

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) will change its electronic toll collection called I-Pass to the regional standard Mark IV mid-January. Work is currently proceeding on fitting out 9 major barrier plazas and the first 12 ramp plazas with Mark IV readers. The system is technically compatible with nearly 2 million tags in use in NY, NJ, MD, VA, DE and border crossings and planned for introduction in PA, SC and Ontario. It is also likely to be adopted in adjacent IN and OH.

Neal MacDonald ISTHA’s director of toll services told us that the pike will specify a weekend midnight in January when the existing AT/Comm e-toll system will be switched off and the Mark IV readers switched on. Patrons will be sent their new Mark IV e-tags later this year with instructions not to use them until switchover day, after which they will be encouraged to return the old tags either by mail or by handing them in at toll booths. There are about 36,000 AT/Comm I-Pass tags in use on the system which is only partially fitted out for electronic tolling.

The system being scrapped is only 2 to 3 years old. The Authority sought bids for completing the system and got a proposal from system integrator TransCore which gave it the choice of extending the AT/Comm installation or scrapping the partial AT/Comm system and going with Mark IV. Officials said the latter was chosen because it cost less and offered readier interoperability with tags of neighboring states. The tag being supplied to ISTHA is however a special one, with an LCD display to show the account balance and a memory for trip data, so business users can substantiate expenses claims. It also has a low battery warning light and a 2-tone buzzer to indicate a toll or a violation. The last feature distinguishes the ISTHA tags from IAG (NY, NJ, PA etc) Mark IV tags, which work with an in-lane message or signal at the plaza.

Aim to be 50% e-toll: MacDonald told us his goal is to have about 50% of transactions electronic by the end of 1999, by which time all 90-odd plazas and about 500 toll lanes will be equipped. He expects 300,000 e-tags will be in use by end-98 and 600,000 by end-99, but says that following the example of New York the move to e-toll could be even faster. ISTHA does the largest number of toll transactions daily of any toll system in the US — 1.8 million. It operates a point tolling system with about 350 toll lanes at 70 plazas, most of them 4-toll lane ramp plazas and equipped with coin machines. So, many trips involve multiple small toll payments. With revenue of about $300m it is the largest grossing toll system in the US outside the NY/NJ/PA area (which has much higher toll rates). ISTHA operates 4 major toll roads totalling 438km serving the western part of the 8m pop Chicago metro area including the busy O’Hare airport and also rural northern Illinois. It is struggling against opposition to make major extensions (TR#6 Aug 96 p7)

MacDonald said that there was disagreement about whether it would be technically feasible to have the new Mark IV and the old AT/Comm systems running side by side, but he thought simultaneous operations and a transition would create confusion among patrons and that a deadline for a complete switchover would be cleaner. The AT/Comm equipment will go into storage, he said, for possible sale. AT/Comm toll systems are in use on the Maine Turnpike and on two Australian toll facilities. Like Mark IV they use an active transponder, one leg at the US standard 920MHz but the other at a lower frequency. The AT/Comm tag stores account information whereas in the Mark IV system this is kept in system computers. ISTHA had no complaint about the performance of the AT/Comm system which might be a bargain for someone to buy. (Contact Neal MacDonald ISTHA 630 241 6800 x2100)