If you've got I-Pass, and you use it on the bike, this is important.
In the mail today, I got a nice letter from the Illinois Tollway advising me that I was busted for running five tolls without paying, and that I needed to send them $103.40 post-haste to clear things up. Evidently, my I-Pass didn't register these five times--nothing major, and they're more than willing to clear things up with a phone call, but it did reveal a problem with the I-Pass system.
Apparently, between the time that I signed up and last August, they changed their database so that it now tracks what type of vehicle is associated with the I-Pass account. The problem is, nobody bothered to go in there and scrub the data, so all motorcycles (which get the regular, passenger-coded unit) went in as though they were cars. Worse, the way they're sorting out motorcycles from cars is by doctoring the plate number in the system, so when they go to check your plate number, it won't come up even if it's linked to the account, and they assume that you're not an I-Pass customer even if you are.
Apparently, the people at the violation center are aware of this right now, and can fix it quickly enough, but that only works if you get the ticket and call it in--and toll tickets are sent regular mail, not certified, so if it gets lost you're going to be in trouble.
Here's how to fix the problem. First, all motorcycle plates need to be in the system with the prefix MCY, so for example, if your plate number is ABC 123, you need to have it entered as MCYABC123. Second, you need to have the proper plate type entered, which is probably "Motorcycle - 150 cc and above."
You can do all this online through http://www.getipass.com or by calling the I-Pass center at 800-UC-IPASS.
In the mail today, I got a nice letter from the Illinois Tollway advising me that I was busted for running five tolls without paying, and that I needed to send them $103.40 post-haste to clear things up. Evidently, my I-Pass didn't register these five times--nothing major, and they're more than willing to clear things up with a phone call, but it did reveal a problem with the I-Pass system.
Apparently, between the time that I signed up and last August, they changed their database so that it now tracks what type of vehicle is associated with the I-Pass account. The problem is, nobody bothered to go in there and scrub the data, so all motorcycles (which get the regular, passenger-coded unit) went in as though they were cars. Worse, the way they're sorting out motorcycles from cars is by doctoring the plate number in the system, so when they go to check your plate number, it won't come up even if it's linked to the account, and they assume that you're not an I-Pass customer even if you are.
Apparently, the people at the violation center are aware of this right now, and can fix it quickly enough, but that only works if you get the ticket and call it in--and toll tickets are sent regular mail, not certified, so if it gets lost you're going to be in trouble.
Here's how to fix the problem. First, all motorcycle plates need to be in the system with the prefix MCY, so for example, if your plate number is ABC 123, you need to have it entered as MCYABC123. Second, you need to have the proper plate type entered, which is probably "Motorcycle - 150 cc and above."
You can do all this online through http://www.getipass.com or by calling the I-Pass center at 800-UC-IPASS.