Tollway stupidity

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
March 27, 2013

[NOTE: On April 1 (no fooling) a Tollway customer service manager called to inform me of the correct policy at the Illinois Tollway. Accounts are not deactivated after 90 days, if a transponder is not used.]

After writing the article about the outrageous cash tolls on the Illinois Tollway, I decided to check my dormant balance in my own I-Pass account. I've had an I-Pass for more than ten years and even got a second one, so I could avoid the cash toll-rate when on my motorcycle.

When I attempted to access my online I-Pass account today, the system did not recognize my UserName. I saw the steps to re-set it, but I wanted to know why it wouldn't, so I called Customer Service.

The first rep couldn't help me; all she could do was repeat her script that I had to re-set my username name and password. Not good enough! I wanted to know why!

A supervisor was a little more helpful. She knew that, if a user didn't use his I-Pass for 90 days, then he would have to re-set the username and password, but she couldn't explain the reason for the short leash.

So I called the office of Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi LaFleur (630.241.6800) and left a message for her that this requirement makes no sense whatsoever. And then I wrote to Jon Hilkevitch at the Chicago Tribune, who writes an excellent traffic column every Monday.

Maybe if a couple of thousand I-Pass customers call Ms. LaFleur next week, they'll wake up and eliminate that stupid restriction.