Indiana Toll Road

[bob_rx2000]

There are two questions here.

1. Is the iZoom transponder worth a $12 per year fee to you? For many of us, me included, the answer is a resounding "yes". It is worth the $12 just in reduced frustration at toll lines in and around Chicago the 2 or 3 times a year I go there, not to mention using the toll road locally and for trips back to PA.

2. Did the toll road authority slip in the change in fee deceptively? Yeah, they did that too, since they know most of us barely look at our statements and their idiotic newsletter. In that regard they are operating in the same way as, oh, the airlines, banks, credit card companies and so forth.

[Happy Mom]

Toll Road's i-Zoom fee isn't new, operator says
$1 monthly charge covers transponder, says official.

By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer

Some drivers who use i-Zoom transponders to pay their way along the Indiana Toll Road might have noticed during the past nine months that they are being charged what appears to be a new $1 monthly fee to use the system.

But the fee is not new, according to a spokeswoman for ITR Concession Co., the private company that leases and operates the 157-mile road.

ITR began offering electronic toll collection in April 2008, and i-Zoom customers who linked their accounts to a credit card have been charged the monthly "management fee" all along, said Amber Kettring, the company's public relations coordinator.

The difference, Kettring said, is that i-Zoom users who linked to a bank account were offered a "promotional period" of an indefinite length of time during which they wouldn't be charged the fee. That promotional period ended in April last year, she said.

South Bend resident Pat Kobalski wrote in a letter to Voice of the People in Monday's Tribune that ITR began charging the fee without notifying customers.

ITR's customer reference guide, a 28-page brochure available at www.getizoom.com, lists on pages 24 and 27 that i-Zoom users are subject to the $1 nonrefundable monthly fee. It doesn't mention any distinction between customers who pay their tolls with a credit card or directly from a bank account.

"The $1 a month actually goes to recoup the cost of transponders. Each individual transponder costs us $25," Kettring said. "Every toll road has, typically, a monthly fee or a deposit when you open the account."

For example, instead of monthly fees, drivers who have an I-Pass transponder from the Illinois Tollway Authority pay a refundable deposit of $10 if they replenish their account by credit card and $20 if they replenish it with cash, spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said. Customers can recover the deposit when they return a transponder.

Both ITR and the Illinois Tollway discount tolls for drivers who use transponders. The price to travel the full length of the Indiana Toll Road is $4.65 for those using transponders and $8.80 for those paying with cash. Drivers on the Illinois Tollway pay half the cash price if they're using transponders.

Kettring said about 120,000 people have i-Zoom transponders.

Staff writer Kevin Allen:
kallen@sbtinfo.com
574-235-6244
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article ... 0325/0/XML

[Haywood]

The tribune writer of this article needs to learn a little about investigative reporting rather than taking what the ITR says as gospel and regurgitating their misinformation and lies.

The article states that the “management fee” is not new and that there was a “promotional period” of indefinite length that ended in April 2010 when the fees started, which is a total lie. There was no “promotional period” period, and this fee is new. There was a fee for funding your i-Zoom account with a credit card to offset the costs associated with using a credit card and no fee for using a bank account because there are no fees associated with charging to a bank account. I've been using the i-Zoom since 2008 and the “management fee” started appearing on my account statements in November 2010, not April 2010. Also, back in 2008 the “Customer Reference Guide” did not exist in its current form including information about the "management fees" on pages 24 and 27, because there were no such fees.

ITR is claiming the $1 monthly “management fee” goes to recoup the $25 cost of the transponders is another blatant lie. As an engineer that has worked in both design and manufacturing, I can assure you that these transponders don’t cost $25 each. The technology, materials and packaging of the transponder likely cost less than $2, which is included in the price you pay for the transponder when you purchase one in the first place.

The fee is all about increasing revenue without increasing tolls. ITR’s lease agreement specifies that the toll rates will remain the same until 2016. Considering 120,000 people use the i-Zoom this “management fee” generates $1.44 million by scamming toll road users and the State of Indiana with whom ITR made the lease agreement and allows them to still claim they did not raise tolls.

ITR is just another underhanded company taking advantage of things to make themselves more money. They probably call it a “management fee” because it goes right into the pockets of their upper management.

Notice that the Illinois Tollway charges a refundable deposit for their transponders, but ITR charges a non-refundable $1 per month “management fee” per transponder.

Guess what? I’m giving the ITR back my transponders and getting transponders from the Illinois Tollway that doesn’t charge a monthly fee, just a one-time refundable deposit.

To hell with you ITR!

[Happy Mom]

Wow Haywood, Outstanding first post !!!!!!! Welcome to the SBF. I just bought another transponder for my daughter yesterday. I wish I had waited and gone to Ill. also. Thanks for the information!

[Happy Mom]

Black ice causes semi to flip into ditch off Toll Road
Updated: Sun 3:35 PM, Jan 19, 2014
By: Barbara Harrington - Email



Elkhart, Ind. Indiana State Police say a semi driver was transported to the hospital after his tanker flipped upside down and into a ditch off the Toll Road.

It happened just after 9 a.m. Sunday, just west of mile marker 92 in Elkhart County.

Police say the driver was traveling east when black ice on the road caused him to lose control.

The tanker went off the road and flipped upside down, coming to rest in a ditch.

The driver was trapped inside until firefighters arrived. They used the 'jaws of life' to free the man.

Police say the driver was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

The tanker was carrying about 8,300 gallons of diesel fuel. Police say, luckily, none of it spilled.

They're urging drivers to slow down on slick roadways.
http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Blac ... 76071.html


I was heading East on the Toll Road about 15 minutes after he flipped and the Toll Road was completely dry. There was no "black ice." He was probably texting or going way too fast like so many 18 wheelers I see on the Toll Road...

[Happy Mom]

Toll Road bans some trucks



Posted: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 6:22 am

0 comments

GRANGER -- Indiana Toll Road officials have temporarily banned some types of trucks between Valparaiso and South Bend because of expected heavy snow.

Toll Road officials said Monday that all triple, long double and high-profile oversize permit loads, as well as low-profile steel haulers, won't be allowed on the highway between exit 30 and exit 72 until 11 p.m. Central time today.

The National Weather Service said a band of heavy lake-effect snow was expected to drop up to a foot of snow until midday today.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/co ... f6878.html

[OldFud]

The $1 a month actually goes to recoup the cost of transponders.

Hummm . . . now where have we heard that one before ?

Oh, now I remember.
When the toll road was built, it was sold to the public as after-the-tolls-pay-off-the-bonds-that-financed-the-project,-then-tolls-will-be-discontinued.

Indiana proved incompetent to run the system profitably. They had all of the worker wages sky high, so the public would be burdened an extra lengthy time. Wages were in the mid-$20 per hour range. Then, when the road finally got paid off, the state renigged on their commitment, and leased it for a 100-year term, to a foreign country.

The new owners slashed wages by roughly 50%.

Don't ever trust government !

[BobbyBeetleMishawaka]

Indiana proved incompetent to run the system profitably. They had all of the worker wages sky high, so the public would be burdened an extra lengthy time. Wages were in the mid-$20 per hour range.

Who was running the Toll Road at the time? Just imagine how many people would want to work for an organization with a management like that. Sign me up!!

[OldFud]

Mrs. Fud and I were 2nd to stop (many flew by without stopping) at the 18-wheeler tanker accident shown above. We were on our way to church. The tanker was carrying diesel fuel. The driver was pinned, with the side of his face against the ground. I felt badly because he was not able to move. Apparently, parts of the cab's interior had collapsed upon him during the slide-off. But the truck driver who also stopped said that the victim was otherwise unhurt. After the State Police arrived, followed shortly by medical personnel, we were in the way of emergency vehicles and wisely got out of their way. Continued the remainder of our 26-mile route to church.

We travel Eastward to attend church in Elkhart County. While it is a long drive, it is worth the trip to hear an undiluted gospel. Like other households of faith, our church was cancelled two Sundays in 2014 due to bad weather. We watched church on TV. Something was missing in those experiences. Although we watched and learned from Dr. David Jeremiah, and our church's live Internet "streaming media", something was indeed missing. We got to honor the greatest commandment, but we fell short of observing the second commandment . . . the part about loving your neighbor.

In our fallen and falling it's-all-about-me world, the second commandment comes hard to all of us. We somehow fail to realize that other folks need encouragement. They need compassion. They need a love simply expressed. A smile that conveys the hope that the best is yet to be imparts a healing. Lives that miss those opportunities of giving are void of a satisfaction that only givers know.

Something was missing on those two stay-at-home Sundays.

Sure, we received. But we missed what can only be received from giving the intagibles to others. "Bless" means "to make happy". And so it was that we discovered on those cold, snowy Sunday mornings that truly, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

[Happy Mom]

Toll Road restricted for serious injury crash
Updated: Fri 7:13 AM, Mar 07, 2014
By: Christine Karsten - Email

SOUTH BEND A semi driver was seriously injured in a crash on the Toll Road early Friday morning.

The driver hit the Portage Road bridge near mile marker 76 in South Bend. Police say the road was not icy, so they do not know what caused the crash. Witnesses say the truck suddenly jerked left ahead of the impact.

The driver's wife was sleeping in the back compartment of the semi. Police say she slept with her head on the right side of the truck. They say if she had lain down the opposite direction, she likely would have been injured as well. Fortunately, she was not hurt.

It happened in the westbound lanes. The outside lane is expected to remain closed for most of the day. Police say they can not tow the semi away, so they will have to bring in other equipment to remove the wreckage.

The semi carried boxes of magazines. No other vehicles were involved.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates
http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Toll ... 75961.html