tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post2970764133018100257..comments2024-03-28T21:23:54.204-04:00Comments on DON'T READ THIS; IT'S BORING!: Highway Robbery in Illinois' Toll Hellslugmamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12728856166374248591noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-33225349611862366622018-08-09T21:52:25.057-04:002018-08-09T21:52:25.057-04:00I just drove through the Twilight Zone. I'm st...I just drove through the Twilight Zone. I'm stopped at a toll (machine), trying to pay with cash, credit card, debit card, iPhone, apple watch... all to no avail. Traffic's backed up behind me, horns are honking. The machine spits out a piece of paper that's suppose to contain instructions to pay online. I go online to pay, thinking I'll just type in the number on the paper and pay the amount associated with this particular toll, and go back to my pizza and beer. Wrong! I have to somehow conjure up precise details of my exact whereabouts while I was lost back there in that toll maze - where I entered and where I exited - in order to "calculate" how much I owe. I owe a buck-fifty! It said it right there on the sign at that toll machine nightmare soul-sucker thing. Now this stupid website won't even allow me to pay what I owe because I don't know where I am. I'm following the damn blue line on the GPS, how the hell can I possibly know where I am? This is the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced. Where I'm from in Florida, if the toll machine doesn't work, it gives you a piece of paper with a code on it. You go online, type in the code and it tells you how much you need to pay. What is with this insane Illinois odyssey down Alice In Wonderland's rabbit hole just to pay a toll? Weird.CareyLeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15563143777520039454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-520528083434890812017-07-15T19:35:25.723-04:002017-07-15T19:35:25.723-04:00The website is terrible (no wonder). You have to a...The website is terrible (no wonder). You have to add your information (easy) then look for each highway and toll station you came across. In one day you can easily go to 8 or more on return trips. If you are driving how are you suppose to write this information down? This is a corrupt system and an abuse. The only reason others say it's okay is because they already have a transponder, but if you recently came to a town with no I-Pass and then you forget to carry change or your wallet or you didn't see the exit to the toll plaza or sometimes some exits are only I-Pass what are you suppose to do? Sure you can't use your cellphone to talk but they expect you to keep track of all the places and somehow write them down or memorize them when you go to the website. You also only have access to the website for 7 days and then you have to call or wait until they send you the fines. This is the most corrupt system. But sure once you pay $150 on a trip to Chicago and then then get your transponder you can be a happy little worker bee and tell everyone how incompetent everyone who happens to have the misfortune of driving to Chicago. I would understand if you get fined $20 at a time, but if you have multiple violations you are looking at $20 per incident and then you are labelled a crook. Who is the real crook?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18066216513435302357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-72244955933105970922016-07-12T15:22:40.776-04:002016-07-12T15:22:40.776-04:00I was not able to figure out their online system.....I was not able to figure out their online system.. went through numerous tolls thinking I could figure it it... and not being able to get out of thevery left lane... they bill you $25 per toll.... so a if I had paid as I went it would have been under $20... now it's $132... it's entrapment at its finest. Not even owned by the state anymore. They sold to a company in Japan!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17787593977901795006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-70918120953758290952016-06-03T14:29:14.073-04:002016-06-03T14:29:14.073-04:00Absolutely the same experience at "Virtual To...Absolutely the same experience at "Virtual Toll Plaza 42"! I just received a notice of 4 violations that I did not know I committed: 1.50 plus a $20 fine for each! I was conditioned to look for REAL toll plazas and bear to the right to pay cash....no plaza to me meant no toll due. Little did I know that I, a stranger to the area, was supposed to read a sign while traveling on an interstate highway and merging with traffic. This is a pure and simple entrapment scam, with the "fig leaf" that the sign was there, and so I should know to go online and pay it (what if I'm not computer literate!).<br /><br />If this is indicative of how the folks in Illinois run their state, no wonder they are in such a mess. Shame to all...the people who allowed such a nefarious practice, and the voters who put them in office. Literally "highway robbery"....I just wish that 60 minutes or same national show would shine a light on these cockroaches and watch them scatter!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-571017397780151112016-05-24T23:46:07.364-04:002016-05-24T23:46:07.364-04:00I read this paragraph with a northern accent just ...I read this paragraph with a northern accent just because it began with Vancouver BC. Not intentionally but... Just because I imagined that's how ya talked it out in yer head when you were thinkin bout it eh?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04485608328765003843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-48735402929037326592016-03-29T17:46:08.417-04:002016-03-29T17:46:08.417-04:00That would be a pretty weak excuse nowadays, since...That would be a pretty weak excuse nowadays, since paying the tolls online only requires the basest of computer/internet skills- we're talking, at most, Windows 2000-era sophistication, here. Considering that this is America, chances are that people who don't know how to use the computer/internet to that extent probably don't have one. They'd have to go to a library or some other public-access spot, where people who would be available to help them. The only explanation I can think of for them not being able to access a library is if they were subsistence farmers in the middle of nowhere...Amish, basically, in which case they probably wouldn't be on the toll roads in the first place, haha. Anyways, the point I'm trying to maker here is that, as much as I despise the Illinois tollway, this scenario is super unlikely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-7422279107182766702015-11-29T11:56:50.070-05:002015-11-29T11:56:50.070-05:00Why do you think I complain ALL THE TIME!!!!!! I t...Why do you think I complain ALL THE TIME!!!!!! I think we Illinoisans would be much nicer if the state wasn't sticking it to us at every turn. Sonya Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01985227040902078422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-37131768915085675122015-11-08T12:50:02.613-05:002015-11-08T12:50:02.613-05:00What I hate most is using toll roads when we have ...What I hate most is using toll roads when we have no idea where we are going, taking the wrong exit, then having to pay more. I agree it is highway robbery and extortion. Anne in the kitchenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01533249631969001657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-16667630088343974192015-11-08T10:58:25.840-05:002015-11-08T10:58:25.840-05:00Illinois tollroads can be a nightmare. The traffic...Illinois tollroads can be a nightmare. The traffic is terrible as well. We have an IPass and was glad to have it as we traveled through other states with their tollroads. Living in the far west suburbs of Illinois we can circumvent some of the tollroads. Traveling east though is hard. We have lots of wetlands and rivers Sometimes it takes too long to try and go around places There are not easy roads to use. I suppose other states have mountains. <br />Our tollroads provide employment and help keep our state taxes lower. With our heavy traffic load we constantly have to do road maintanance. Our state is a crossroads for people and trucks going all four directions across the United States. It is further complicated with the 6 or 7 million people who live here. <br />As to the price of our gasoline, I can find no reason why it is so high. I use GasBuddy on my phone and that helps my budget. <br />I am sorry this area is a nightmare to travel though.<br />Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10594850482251162870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-33715988346491916132015-11-07T23:56:07.767-05:002015-11-07T23:56:07.767-05:00I remember moving to Chicago in 1988 and the tolls...I remember moving to Chicago in 1988 and the tolls were an outrage; when I left 2000 people were still in an outrage but the tolls remained. They are like the rocks of Stonehenge; nothing knocks them down. Ur-spohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04237644452200889946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-6769532724767034332015-11-07T20:00:56.813-05:002015-11-07T20:00:56.813-05:00I live in Illinois but in Central Il. We went to t...I live in Illinois but in Central Il. We went to the suburbs last year and got in the wrong lane for the toll and couldnt get over. I figured i would go online and pay it later. Since i had to go online anyway we went through the ipass lane for the next one. Well being me i forgot and ended up paying $75 for $3 in tolls. Ouch ! I got a nice little letter in the mail from the state. :) Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10851614355980768929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-80321153354803964352015-11-07T19:25:06.594-05:002015-11-07T19:25:06.594-05:00Wow, what a nightmare, Sluggy. I grew up in Northe...Wow, what a nightmare, Sluggy. I grew up in Northern Illinois, but it wasn't bad there then like it is now. My brother and sister still live there and my brother once received a bill from Illinois for $300 because his I-Pass had expired and he didn't realize it. Makes me want to never move back there again. <br /><br />My Dad say Kentucky tolls are much better. Kentucky will put a toll booth on a road until it is paid for and then they remove it. Can't beat that. <br /><br />Glad your headache is over for now and you can sleep at night knowing the toll booth trolls will not come for you. :) Sleep tight! Belindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17486895127003368291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-9741442038126229432015-11-07T17:53:17.347-05:002015-11-07T17:53:17.347-05:00I've driven to and through Chicago a hundred t...I've driven to and through Chicago a hundred times (living only three hours away) and I know the hell you're speaking of but we manage to steer as clear as toll roads as we can. I have a feeling we blew through that same toll at one point. Look at you going online to try and pay a missed 75 cent, ah hem, $1.50 toll. Gold star for Sluggy! <br /><br />We could not figure out where the heck you were supposed to pay. "where is the toll booth?" oops, but so far no one has stolen me from my bed at night. I also didn't realize you could admit your sin and pay online. It was late. It was dark. We were tired... I love Chicago and at the same time your end remarks are spot on.rivulethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11352395562904461909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-58208664090685870462015-11-07T13:34:33.259-05:002015-11-07T13:34:33.259-05:00Yeah Joe and I got nailed for 38 bucks when we too...Yeah Joe and I got nailed for 38 bucks when we took a wrong g turn for two blocks. Sucks. I wrote a letter to the governor, he has not written back.Out My windowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13456481267171643227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-17355504049134888282015-11-07T12:22:21.074-05:002015-11-07T12:22:21.074-05:00Vancouver, British Columbia has a toll bridge with...Vancouver, British Columbia has a toll bridge with the same system. Hubby accidentally went across and then had to go back across 3 minutes later as was going the wrong direction. No booth. Locals pay in advance. We got a bill in the mail which is double the normal rate, which sucks as it was a business trip that we normally charge all expenses back to the client - but they sent the bill 2 months later so we had to eat it. I hate that.Cheapchickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15158208632054014311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1611711622146875201.post-66168789036950717682015-11-07T11:06:57.415-05:002015-11-07T11:06:57.415-05:00I wonder what would happen if a person without acc...I wonder what would happen if a person without access to a computer or computer skills happened onto the hell and was not able to pay.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14991571309786149363noreply@blogger.com