Charging, Tolling & RUC

The de Blasio administration this week unveiled plans to tackle the New York's congestion crisis. Several of the new initiatives rely on enforcement, such as offences like the blocking of yellow boxes, blocking of bike and bus lanes and double parking. Other strategies revolve around managing curb space.

The Washington Transportation Commission (WSTC) has retained D’Artagnan Consulting as the prime contractor to assist with formulation, design, management and implementation of the Washington Road Usage Charge Pilot Project. This pilot project will demonstrate and evaluate an operational road usage charge system with a minimum of 2000 volunteers for a period of 12 months, expected to begin in January 2018.

The White House has released President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget, including a US$200 billion investment in infrastructure projects over the next 10 years with a focus on leveraging the power of public private partnerships. The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has responded, saying the government should repeal the burden of regulation and give states maximum flexibility to use financing tools to meet their local needs. 35 states and territories throughout the country have u

The Texas House has unanimously passed a bill that caps total toll fines at US$73 every six months for any given customer, according to the Austin–American Statesman.

Toll road operator must provide clear, comprehensive and consistent communications to user groups and the local community long before the facility opens. When new tolled highway infrastructure is about to go into service, the construction, management and finance specialists who brought it into being are about ready for a well-deserved celebration. But for the communications and outreach team responsible for building public support for the project – for bringing drivers to the road, and keeping partners and

Italian infrastructure company has launched a bid to buy Spanish toll roads operator Abertis, in a deal valued at US$17.9 million (€16.34 million), with the aim of becoming a world leader in transport infrastructure. The company is offering US$18.1 (€16.5 per share for each share tendered. Abertis owns Italy’s largest toll road manager and Rome’s two airports, as well as having a stake in Nice airport. It says the aim of the offer is to create a world leader in transport infrastructure with a diversified po

Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has reported that, after six months of operation, its new cashless all-electronic tolling system along I-90 has seen transactions of almost a quarter of a billion, with an accuracy rate of greater than 99 per cent. The system requires drivers to use an E-ZPass transponder where the toll is paid electronically from a pre-paid account. Cameras on gantries capture the licence plates of all vehicles which are then matched with an address for the owner, enabli

3M has entered into agreements to sell its tolling and automated license/number plate recognition business, which is part of 3M’s Traffic Safety and Security Division, to Neology, a provider of integrated solutions for tolling, electronic vehicle registration and public safety applications. Neology is a subsidiary of Smartrac, a portfolio company managed by One Equity Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. 3M’s tolling solutions include RFID readers and tags, automatic vehicle classification systems

Timothy Compston weighs up the critical elements that keep the wheels of dynamic pricing schemes turning in today's high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. In the drive towards smarter tolling it is perhaps not surprising that sophisticated pricing algorithms are being rolled out to better reflect supply and demand on the roadway. This is the case with high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes which a growing number of DoTs are seeing as a way of smoothing the operation of their existing, and planned, freeway infrastructure

Gentex Corporation, US-based manufacturer of automotive automatic-dimming rear-view mirrors and automotive electronics has expanded the coverage of its vehicle-integrated tolling solution to include toll roads in Canada and Mexico. The Gentex integrated toll module (ITM) utilises the TransCore universal toll module technology, which Gentex integrates into its electronic rear-view mirrors that automakers can integrate into new vehicles. It enables motorists to drive on all US toll roads, and now toll roads i