Charging, Tolling & RUC

The Spanish Ministry of Development is considering nationalising the loss-making radial motorways in Madrid through state-owned company Seittsa. The plan would involve putting in place a toll-payment system to generate revenues to pay interests on debts and maintenance of the roads. The Ministry has already detected 600 locations where remote controlled payment systems could be installed in Madrid to charge those using the roads. The same plan includes a project to nationalise all motorways in Madrid at ris

SFC Energy has received a follow up order from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles for equipping another 242 toll inspection vehicles, based on the T5 vehicle model, ordered by the German Federal Office for Goods (BAG). with EFOY Pro fuel cell generators. The BAG uses the vehicles all across Germany for toll inspection purposes. Volkswagen equips the T5 transporters ‘ex works’ with the fuel cells.

The Russian ministry of transport has prepared a government draft decree that will require all commercial vehicles over 12 tons to pay a toll for each kilometre driven on federal roads. A unified fee collecting operator will be set up, which will equip all heavyweight vehicles with on-board units. The devices will determine the vehicle's route by using Glonass satellite navigation, and calculate a fee for roadway damage. The rates will be set by the government, but a charge of US$0.11 per kilometre is curre

Federal Signal Technologies (FSTech) has been awarded a three year back office system and operations contract by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT). The contract, valued at US$68 million, also provides for two extensions, each of three years. FSTech's major subcontractors are Faneuil and Municipal Services Bureau (MSB).

Portuguese road operator Ascendi has awarded Q-Free a five year service and maintenance contract, valued at over US$15 million, related to tolling infrastructure deployed in Beiras Litoral e Alta and Interior Norte concessions. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Q-Free has been awarded an order for tags and roadside equipment from Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP) in Brazil valued at US$8.68 million. This order is a call off from the framework agreement of $34.25 million announced in October, 2010.

CS Communication & Systèmes has announced the inauguration of the first Fast ETC lanes which the company developed on the A5 Expressway (Ruta Del Maipo) linking Puerto Montt in South Chile with Santiago Del Chile. This milestone is the first step in a wider project won by CS last year in which the company will implement a toll collection system with 80 electronic toll collection (ETC) lanes. These include 12 fast ETC lanes monitored by a full back office suite due to be operational on the three main plazas

Cofiroute USA, which introduced toll road automation on the 91 Express Lanes in Orange County, California, has installed a fully integrated back office system as part of a five year US$38.5 million contract awarded earlier this year. The system provides for transponder tracking, accounting, a web-based consumer interface and dynamic pricing capabilities. The company worked with its software partner TollPlus to meet the specific requirements of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). This include

German company Vitronic has been selected by Thales Group to supply key components for all fixed enforcement gantries for the nationwide truck charging system to be implemented on 15,000km of French roads. The multi-million euro contract is part of the prestigious Ecotaxe project, a distance based charge for trucks. From mid-2013 onwards, all vehicles over 3.5 tons in weight will have to pay a tax on national roads with the fee being collected by means of an onboard GPS satellite system. Vitronic has been s

Finland-headquartered RFID technology specialist Confidex has opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil, to be closer to the Latin American market where the company has already built up an extensive partner network and is engaged with key players in the industry to provide solutions for large deployments across the continent. Confidex centralises its R&D activities in Finland and already has offices across Western Europe, the US, India and China.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded a contract, valued at approximately $88 million, to Electronic Transaction Consultants Corporation (ETC Corporation) to provide a facility-wide replacement toll collection and audit system as well as related system maintenance services. Under the contract, ETC will implement its latest-generation Rite solution on the Port Authority’s toll facilities to deliver a number of advanced system features including a sophisticated toll data warehouse, an adva