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.com574-235-6244
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