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From: Brent P on 8 Jan 2008 09:15
In article <MPG.21ed331755f2226d98a976(a)newsgroups.bellsouth.net>, necromancer wrote:
> Chicago Paddling-Fishing:
>> That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
>> it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
>> would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
>> because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
>> of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
>> the fines...
>
> If I read the article correctly, its a private company that is running
> things on behalf of the state. As such, all they care about is making as
> large a profit as possible for their (most likely foreign) investors.

They picked up the attitude of government in IL real quick though.
Basically if the government screws up, it's the citizen's fault.


From: clifto on 8 Jan 2008 09:55
Chicago Paddling-Fishing wrote:
> In chi.general Brent P <tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> : or it could cost you thousands....
>
> : http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=106951&src=3
>
> : <...>
>
> : Pay up in two weeks, the papers say, or owe the tollway $15,739 and
> : eventually lose your driver's license.
>
> : Boudreau says she didn't know her I-PASS ran out of money last year
> : because she thought her credit card automatically refilled it.
>
> : That doesn't matter to tollway officials. She is just one of hundreds of
> : thousands of drivers who did not get violation notices for more than a
> : year because of a computer glitch.
>
> Well, we got a bill but it worked out ok. When trading in the vw, we got new
> plates on the new car, we updated the tollway website with the temp plate but
> forgot to update it with the real plate when it arrived. I don't check our
> account all that often and I don't know where the kids go with the ipass, I
> just expect it back on top of the fridge at the end of the night...
>
> $15 in vtolls was about $460 with fines added... after calling them when we
> received the notice they eliminated the fines and just billed my ipass account
> for the tolls in November... it appears the ipass doesn't work on the dash in
> that car (works fine in the Ford) so we asked them to mail us velcro.
>
> I don't know if they verified with the SOS that the temp plate number we had
> in our account matched the passenger plate that racked up the violations or
> if they just took our word for it. It was pretty painless I thought.
>
> That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
> it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
> would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
> because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
> of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
> the fines...

Especially in the cases where people had a reasonable expectation that
the Authority would renew their passes using an auto-pay method that
was prenegotiated by both parties, the Authority and only the Authority
is to blame. I'd personally swear out arrest warrants for everyone
involved up to the head of the Authority, for fraud and conspiracy to
fraud and for anything else I could find that applied, and I'd be in
civil court for breach of contract.

--
"I am for socialism, disarmament and ultimately for abolishing the state
itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of
property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who
produce wealth. Communism is the goal." -- Roger Baldwin, founder, ACLU
From: clifto on 8 Jan 2008 10:21
Scott in SoCal wrote:
> <jwn(a)ripco.com> wrote:
>>That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
>>it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
>>would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
>>because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
>>of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
>>the fines...
>
> Not only that, but the long-term result is that they will bankrupt
> themselves. The more these sorts of "glitches" occur, the more people
> will bail on the toll roads.

And bail they will in Illinois, because they won't pay the double toll
charged to non-Ipass users. And as more find (as I did) that they make
nearly as good time off the tollway, sometimes better time, they'll tell
others and the abandonment will increase.

The last time I used the tollway was a year ago tomorrow, for politically
correct reasons; wife's father was dying, and rather than reason with her
that it was faster to take surface streets I did the drive-fast-for-a-
longer-time feelgood thing. (We wouldn't have made it there in time either
way, unfortunately.) Before that I took it one really bad snowy night when
I *thought* the tollway would be plowed and salted, or at least a modicum
more passable than surface streets, but I was very, very wrong.

--
"I am for socialism, disarmament and ultimately for abolishing the state
itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of
property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who
produce wealth. Communism is the goal." -- Roger Baldwin, founder, ACLU
From: Brent P on 8 Jan 2008 11:05
In article <e1hc55-009.ln1(a)remote.clifto.com>, clifto wrote:

> way, unfortunately.) Before that I took it one really bad snowy night when
> I *thought* the tollway would be plowed and salted, or at least a modicum
> more passable than surface streets, but I was very, very wrong.

The days of the toll roads being better plowed and salted than the other
roads was over at least 10 years ago.

Only the city of chicago and the expressways going through it seem to
have good response snow clearing wise these days.




From: barbie gee on 8 Jan 2008 12:10


On Tue, 8 Jan 2008, Scott in SoCal wrote:

> On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:38:00 +0000 (UTC), Chicago Paddling-Fishing
> <jwn(a)ripco.com> wrote:
>
>> That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
>> it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
>> would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
>> because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
>> of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
>> the fines...
>
> Not only that, but the long-term result is that they will bankrupt
> themselves. The more these sorts of "glitches" occur, the more people
> will bail on the toll roads.

Somehow I don't see that happening, when folks need to get from "here" to
"there" every day and there's no other way to do it .
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