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
. They’ll be available Monday to
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.
An example of what I-Pass sticker tags looks like.
Illinois Department of Transportation
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
is required to buy the tags at Jewel-Osco.
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
.
![An I-PASS transponder in 2008.](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/796ab63/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1275x855+0+0/resize/840x563!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F71%2F6b%2Fc22c75829c58dce3895c644d524f%2Fmerlin-9906064.jpg)
An I-PASS transponder in 2008.
![Looking Eastbound on I-90 at the River Road Plaza 19 Open Road Tolling I-Pass Thursday, July 28, 2011.](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ba5a4b7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2400x1640+0+0/resize/840x574!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F9f%2Fb5%2Ff1ef976c0ccf0e5cad843c777180%2Fmerlin-22072273.jpg)
Eastbound vehicles on I-90 at the River Road tolling plaza in 2011.
Scott Stewart, Sun-Times Media
![An I-Pass transponder in 2006.](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b62d798/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2464x1632+0+0/resize/840x556!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fc3%2F3c%2F840bd6c791642583a8fcd4c359ac%2Fmerlin-3773874.jpg)
An I-Pass transponder in 2006.
Jim Frost/Sun-Times files
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