Charging, Tolling & RUC

According to a report by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) claims the rising costs of congestion in Australia’s major cities underscores the case for real road pricing reform, says Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA). Updating a similar report from 2007, the traffic and congestion cost trends for Australian capital cities report puts congestion costs for society as a whole in 2015 at US$11.7 billion. IPA believes this will rise to US$36 billion in 2030 if noth

D’Artagnan Consulting has been retained by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as the prime contractor to assist the Caltrans with formulation, design, management and implementation of the California Road Charge Pilot Program. A key element of the program is the California Road Charge Pilot Project, which will demonstrate and evaluate an operational road charge system with 5000 volunteer vehicles from summer 2016 to spring 2017.

User-based insurance is blazing a trail others would like to follow and is also discovering the challenges. The ITS sector needs to keep a very careful eye on the automotive industry: “There’s a war going on in the connected car space creating richer datasets than we ever imagined possible” says Paul Stacy, research and development director of Wunelli, part of the LexisNexis group. The car makers have gone way beyond infotainment, unlocking huge amounts of data in the process … facts and figures which the i

Cars will be banned from central Oslo by 2019 to help reduce pollution, local politicians said this week, in what they said would be the first comprehensive and permanent ban for a European capital. According to Reuters, the newly elected city council, made up of the Labour Party, the Greens and the Socialist Left, said the plans would benefit all citizens despite shop-owners' fears they will hurt business. "We want to have a car-free centre," Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, lead negotiator for the Green Party

Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) has awarded Indra the design, supply, installation, and commissioning of the new toll control solution for its Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) concession. The project includes the integration of the SCTEX toll control solution with that of the system that Indra recently implemented for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), the main motorway connecting the capital region of Metro Manila to the northern regions of the country. The contract, awarded in a consortium w

Following a board meeting on 3 November, Q-Free has announced that Thomas Falck will step down from his position as CEO with immediate effect and CFO Roar Østbø is appointed as interim CEO. Chairman of the board Terje Christoffersen has also informed the board of his immediate resignation; vice chairman Charlotte Brogren will fill the role until a new chairman of the board is elected by the general meeting.

Cubic Transportation Systems is to deliver a new back office for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) E-ZPass system. The US$52 million, 5.5 year contract system marks Cubic’s re-entry to the tolling market and will deliver E-ZPass billing, collection, enforcement and customer service operations including a redesigned website and a new mobile app for NHDOT customers. Cubic has commenced the design, testing, installation and maintenance services with the new system expected to go li

Q-Free has been awarded a contract, valued at US$3 million by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) for autopass equipment for the Bypakke Grenland toll project, including installation and service and maintenance for 90 months, with further options for the service and maintenance period. The installation is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.

Kapsch TrafficCom North America has been notified by the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association (IBTTA) that the Open Standard Time Division Multiplexing protocol (TDM) sponsored by Kapsch has been approved to begin the testing phase of the National Toll Protocol selection process. This selection underlines Kapsch’s consistent and strong commitment to open standards and interoperability within the Electronic Tolling Solutions industry. Open standard communication protocols are critical to me

The American Trucking Association (ATA) and NATSO, the national association representing truck-stops and travel plazas have commended the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for passing the long-term Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (STRRA), with some concerns. ATA president and CEO Bill Graves urged House leaders to take the next step quickly, saying, “While we're anxious to see the funding portion of the bill, the roadmap laid out by this legislation is a good