Charging, Tolling & RUC

Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) has supplied Norwegian company Q-Free with its high performance machine vision cameras for use in electronic toll collection (ETC) systems. Q-Free has developed an ETC installation based on a single gantry which relies on the latest machine imaging systems, radio systems and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) software technologies to collect toll data. This versatile system is designed to do pure video tolling or a combination of video and radio tolling depending

An impending move to free-flow charging prompted a search for automated dangerous goods identification and over-height detection systems at the Thames Crossing to the east of London. Manned toll booths are increasingly being consigned to history by the onslaught of all-electronic charging. However, a secondary function of the traditional manned plazas has been to prevent non-compliant vehicles using the facility or to tell a driver that that they need to use a specific lane or wait for an escort. Automating

In its new report, RFID in China 2015-2025, IDTechEx Research has identified over 150 Chinese companies supplying RFID and tracked how the industry in China will grow to become a US$4.3 billion opportunity in 2025. Historically, the development of RFID in China has been heavily supported by the Chinese government. These include large projects such as national identification cards, passports and subway ticket applications. The entry barrier is usually high for those applications, as the suppliers need to

Geoff Hadwick attended ASECAP’s 2015 Study Days meeting in Lisbon and found a frustrated European tolling sector undertaking some soul searching. The international road tolling industry its failing to make it case and the sector is losing out to a range of other socio-political lobby groups according to International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) chief executive Pat Jones. Speaking at the recent 2015 ASECAP Study Days conference in Lisbon, Jones issued a stark warning: “Tolling is still o

IBTTA volunteers restore and upgrade facilities at an Oklahoma boys home during its annual Maintenance & Roadway Operations Workshop. Oklahoma receives an average of 55 tornado strikes each year. Some are small; others are huge and violent. All inspire fear. “It sounded like a freight train was headed for my house.” That’s how people often describe the sound they hear just befo

Kapsch TrafficCom has been awarded the contract to expand the BelToll toll road network in Belarus by an additional 323 kilometres, in line with the government’s long-term infrastructure development program. Kapsch is both developer and operator of the toll collection system under a twenty-year contract. Many recently upgraded and reconstructed roads throughout the whole country will be affected by the BelToll extension, as well as parts of the M5 and M6 highways. When the extension is completed, the tol

Slovakia opted for a satellite-based tolling system and following last year’s enlargement it now has the European Union’s largest truck user charging system.

Drivers in the Washington DC area are realising time savings following the opening of Express Lanes on the I-95 - and not only those paying to use the new facility. Washington is ranked as being the worst gridlocked city in the United States. Every day its drivers face an average commute time of 39.5 minutes and they waste an average of 67 hours every year just sitting in traffic. In a move to counter these problems, late last December new Express Lanes were opened along 46.6km (29 miles) of the I-95 betwee

The Sault Ste Marie International Bridge, which connects Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, is opening new toll lanes and upgrading its system with new software and new frequent user discounts. The International Bridge Authority (IBA) began opening the new lanes this week as part of a US$7 million project undertaken in coordination with the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Michigan portion of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The toll software upgrades, which are necessary be

Portuguese motorways operator Ascendi has awarded Q-Free a US$19 million contract for the renewal and extension of service and maintenance of several of the Ascendi multi-lane free flow toll (MLFF) concessions for a further six years. Ascendi is said to be the largest European private operator, providing automatic vehicle classification of four vehicle classes including HGVs and light passenger vehicles. The company has 128 collection points installed and processes around one million transactions per da