I-Pass phasing out transponders for sticker tags

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I-Pass stickers now available

I-Pass transponders are now in the rearview mirror for Illinois drivers. The Illinois Tollway is officially selling I-Pass stickers online and at Jewel-Osco locations. Drivers with transponders can use them until they expire.

Drivers can now say goodbye to their boxy tollway transponders and replace them with sticker tags.

The Illinois Tollway began selling I-Pass sticker tags in late January at its oases and customer service centers. They’ll be available Monday to order online and for purchase at Jewel-Osco locations.

Drivers with hard-case transponders can continue to use them until they expire.

Sticker tags are the latest advance in tollway fare collecting. They use a passive form of radio frequency identification technology that does not require a battery. Unlike hard-case transponders, stickers don’t expire, according to the Tollway.

California was the first state to introduce stickers in 2019. Several states now offer them.

Sticker tags don’t require a deposit. But a retail service fee is required to buy the tags at Jewel-Osco.

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Illinois Tollway moving away from traditional I-Pass transponders

This year marks the start of the Illinois Tollway’s transition to I-PASS sticker tags instead of the familiar hard-case transponder.

The $10 deposit that drivers paid for hard-case transponders will be transferred to their toll account balance once a sticker tag is registered.

Stickers should be placed on the inside windshield near the rearview mirror, just as hard-case transponders are, according to the Tollway.

The stickers can be used as soon as they’re registered to an I-Pass account, and within 24 hours on the Chicago Skyway and E-ZPass tolls.

The move to stickers is one of the most obvious changes to automatic tolling in Illinois since it was first introduced in 1993 on a stretch of I-355 in DuPage County. At the time, I-Pass transponders had screens that gave a readout of a driver’s toll balance.

Hard-case transponders, which have lithium-ion batteries, can be safely recycled at locations listed at search.earth911.com/.