Charging, Tolling & RUC

Q-Free is to supply the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, with further equipment for the Gothenburg congestion charging project. Q-Free says the value of the contract has now been increased by US$5.32 million for delivery of additional charging stations, related equipment and services for two years. Across the world, in Brazil, Q-Free has received a second frame agreement to supply tolling tags to Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP), Brazil’s Centro tag distributor, valued at US$12, with a gua

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS is to supply the Texas Department of Transportation with the company’s IDS 2.0 integrated incident detection system for the Washburn Tunnel in Houston, Texas. The non-invasive detection system will be linked to 14 fixed roadway cameras for detection of incidents in the two-way vehicular tunnel and up to six infrared intrusion detection cameras in the ventilation tunnel, enabling tunnel operators to provide cost-effective continuous 24/7 surveillance and monitoring. In South America, K

Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen the Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (IMS) platform to enable their next generation Road Usage Charge Pilot Program (RUCPP). This key component of Oregon's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will be rolled out to other states in the near future. This trial is the second for IMS, with work already underway for a road charging program for a federal government in the Far East.

A leading Chinese transportation expert has called for China to develop smart traffic technologies that are more customer-oriented, while boosting greener, safer and more efficient modern transportation in the country. "China's ITS applications should shift their focus to provide more solutions for public transportation in the next decade, and the industry should get a new stimulus by responding to the needs of the market," said Wang Xiaojing, chief engineer at the Research Institute of Highway under the Mi

According to research carried out by Keypoint Consultancy on behalf of Winterswijk town council in the Netherlands, the search for a parking space in the town has reduced significantly as parking spaces are better utilised since a new parking guidance system was introduced earlier this year. Research carried out in 2008 by Keypoint indicated that the town was affected by the increasing parking pressure and reduced accessibility at peak times, causing considerable inconvenience to residential areas and redu

Cost-benefit analysis invariably finds highly in favour of speed and red light enforcement, particularly so in Edmonton in the Alberta province of Canada, where authorities need no convincing of the merits of road safety engineering. Justification of enforcement efforts on economic grounds has been reinforced this year, by a study of the costs and benefits of red light enforcement. New York-based economic research firm John Dunham & Associates carried out this latest analysis for American Traffic Solutions

A report by the Local Government Association (LGA), the organisation representing councils in England and Wales, predicts road tolling or pay as you drive road pricing could be introduced by 2018. With traffic predicted to nearly double over the next 25 years, the LGA believes the Government will have to consider tolls or even pay as you drive road pricing to raise the money it needs.

The Bulgarian government is considering inviting investors to help it develop an electronic system for truck tolls. The project, which is worth up to US$648.26 million, will be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. "We are looking for heavyweights, partners capable of making a serious investment of 200, 300, maybe 500 million euro, depending on the estimated cost of building such a system," Lilyana Pavlova told reporters at the Southeast Europe Business Forum.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is undertaking a pilot project to test the next generation of a road usage charge system designed to address funding gaps caused by a rise in fuel efficiency and a decline in gas tax revenue. Around forty volunteers have begun testing the new system, where, instead of paying the gas tax, automatically added at the pump, pilot participants will pay a per mile charge based on the number of miles they drive. The charge is roughly equal to the amount of gas tax the

Easytrip, Ireland’s largest provider of electronic tolling payment services has launched new Charge2Mobile toll payment service, in partnership with O2. Said to be the first of its kind, the service will provide a more convenient channel for paying tolls on Ireland’s M50 for car drivers who currently pay by cash. Available immediately to O2 customers in Ireland, Easytrip hopes to roll out its Charge2Mobile tolls offering across other networks over the coming months and to add to its support team for this ne