NIU survey: Support for I-PASS structure is weak

by Joe King

I-PASS transponders were a popular stocking stuffer this past holiday season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that people like the new toll collection program, say NIU researchers.

The devices, marketed by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, allow users to pay tolls without stopping at tollbooths. As of the first of the year, drivers with the devices save 50 percent on the cost of a toll, which now stands at 80 cents (at most tollbooths) for passenger cars that don’t have the devices.

That two-tiered system didn’t sit well with a majority of the 1,300 Illinois residents surveyed in November and December 2004 for NIU’s annual Illinois Public Policy Survey.

Amongst all respondents, only 28 percent said that they supported the plan to charge higher tolls for those who do not use I-PASS (65 percent opposed the plan and six percent were unsure). In fact, no matter how the data was cross-tabulated and narrowed, there was no group that supported the program at more than a 50 percent level, says NIU Professor of Public Administration Michael Peddle.

“Considering that 34 percent of respondents said that they owned I-PASS we sort of expected support for the program to be at least that high, but that was not the case. Even among that sub-group of I-PASS users, only 44 percent favored the new system, so even the winners in this scenario are not overwhelmingly in favor of this change,” Peddle says.

Support for higher tolls for non-I-PASS users did increase somewhat based upon the frequency with which the respondent used the tollways, but only reached a level of 39 percent among the most frequent tollway users, those who said they drive the roads several times a week.

Geography also influenced enthusiasm for the new program. Support was highest in Chicago proper, where 32 percent of respondents supported the program, and just a bit lower in the collar counties and northern portions of the state where support ran about 29 percent. That slipped to 18 percent in central Illinois and 21 percent in the southern portion of the state.

The tripling of tolls for trucks, which also took effect on Jan. 1, was much more warmly received, but still failed to gain favor with the majority of respondents. Forty-four percent supported that change, while 50 percent opposed and 5 percent were undecided.

While the survey didn’t ask respondents why they didn’t like the new two-tiered toll system for cars, Peddle has some ideas.

“I think maybe some people just perceived it as unfair to those who may not be able to afford the initial outlay for the devices,” says Peddle. Much of the current backlash as the new rules take effect, he believes, may have been due to poor communication about the program.

Peddle himself initially resisted buying an I-PASS, but since signing up for the program in 2003 has become a fan. He expects others to undergo a similar conversion.

“I think a lot of the resistance right now is just people feeling inconvenienced by the process of purchasing the device and upset at the initial cost. I suspect, however, that if we were to ask the same question in six months or a year we would see support go up as people discover the convenience of I-PASS and see the benefits of open road tolling,” Peddle says.

1-18-05