Charging, Tolling & RUC

Tolling specialists Kapsch TrafficCom and Axxès will form a joint venture called MoKA to launch solution for European electronic toll collection services (EETS). Kapsch says EETS helps to simplify toll processing for commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. It also allows truck drivers to travel internationally via a single contract with an EETS provider and on-board unit (OBU). Companies must be accredited in their home country to achieve this service. Once approved, an EETS provider must be certified by

Conduent Transportation is to modernise the tolling system on ExpressLanes in Los Angeles County to help reduce congestion and improve safety along the I-10 and I-110 corridors. The eight-year contract is an extension to a six-year partnership with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority (LA Metro). The scope of the project includes the installation of overhead scanners and automatic vehicle identification equipment which corresponds with the FasTrak transponders installed on commuter vehicles.

Draft rules have been adopted by European policy makers which would bring the idea of widescale ‘user pays’ road pricing one step closer. European Union member states which currently use time-based road user charges will need to switch to distance-based ones for trucks and buses (over 2.4 tonnes) from 2023, and vans and minibuses from 2027, if the rules are made into law. The idea is that vehicles would then be charged according to their actual road use and the pollution they generate. The ‘user

Verra Mobility says its pay-as-you-go tolling service can be used on 95% of cashless toll roads and bridges throughout the US without additional hardware, transponders or multiple accounts. Called Peasy, the digital platform is expected to remove the need for drivers to pre-fund tolling accounts or to submit payments by post. Peasy is available for drivers who have an existing transponder or toll tag account as well as motorists who do not have an account with a toll authority. Users can add multiple

Kapsch TrafficCom and oil and gas company OMV will deploy a Europe-wide cashless tolling solution for trucks. The OMV Smart Europe will be available in Austria and Hungary from November. The toll box, designed by Kapsch, is expected to extend the OMV card’s capabilities by allowing users to pay for tolls without having to deal with local toll systems or different toll boxes. Benedikt Hans, head of card at OMV, says the solution will aid the European Commission’s ambition to harmonise toll systems in

US-based connected vehicle services company Automatic has acquired toll payment platform provider PayTollo. PayTollo’s GPS toll recognition technology algorithm and user interface allows a driver to be notified, verified and charged for toll crossings. The mobile app is expected to assist toll authorities in transitioning to all-electronic tolling by reducing costs and the time needed to collect funds. It will also enable real-time verification. Abenezer Yohalashet, the former CEO of PayTollo and now

Emovis will operate the free-flow tolling on Ireland’s M50 up to March 2021 following an extension to its agreement with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The toll services company Emovis says it has been collecting funds of over €1 billion for TII to invest back into infrastructures of Ireland following a 63% increase in traffic to 143,000 passages a day. In March, Emovis confirmed its toll interoperability cloud-based hub in Ireland cleared over 50 million transactions in 2017. The solution is

Tolling specialist Q-Free has been selected by road infrastructure operator Sociedad Concesionaria Vespucio Norte Express to service and maintain roadside equipment in Chile. The seven-year year contract is approximately valued NOK30 million (£2.7 million). Håkon Volldal, president and CEO of Q-Free, says: “We are pleased to continue our services to Vespucio Norte and strengthen our presence in the growing Chilean tolling market.”

The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase congestion, many experts believe. But Wes Guckert of Traffic Group believes that tolling could provide the answer. While it is still hard to wrap your head around the idea of getting into a vehicle without a driver, the industry is now used to hearing, reading, participating in the advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Those in the industry have heard about Uber delivering a shipment of Budweiser, or the convoy of driverless trucks

If you want to get up to speed on the main issues facing the transport sector and tolling companies, ASECAP Study Days event in Ljubljana was a good place to start. Colin Sowman reports (Photographs: Louis David). Increasing populations, ever-higher technical and safety requirements, and electric and hybrid vehicles will provide both challenges and opportunities for tolling companies. The annual Study Days event organised by ASECAP (the European association for tolling companies) examined all of these aspec