Charging, Tolling & RUC

New Zealand is to implement multi-lane free flow tolling on key routes in Tauranga later this year, with the installation of two high-tech electronic tolling gantries, each with 16 cameras, on Tauranga Eastern Link (TEL) and Route K. The cameras will capture an image of the vehicle’s front and rear registration plates using the latest optical character recognition technology. The cameras will read the registration plates and determine the size of the vehicle and whether it is a motorcycle, car, truck or

The Ho Chi Minh City-trung Luong highway connecting the city and the Mekong Delta province of Long An has become the first in Vietnam to be controlled by an intelligent transport system (ITS), says the Vietnam News Agency. The was implemented between April 2013 and December 2014 and was officially launched on 20 March, with a total investment of US$38.5 million, funded by preferential loans of the Republic of Korean Government and the Vietnamese Government budget. The system includes a smart control

Kenya plans to start tendering in May for toll-road contracts estimated by the government to be worth $2 billion to improve the efficiency of the East African nation’s biggest commercial routes, according to Bloomberg. The contracts will be in addition to the 45 deals worth about US$3.2 billion that the government will start awarding as early as next week, to double the nation’s paved-road network through an annuity program. The government is planning to introduce five toll projects covering about 800 kilom

Automatic Systems has been awarded a contract by Spanish toll roads manager Abertis Autopistas to supply 601 barriers for toll applications in Spain. Automatic Systems' BL 229 and BL 229 Toll barriers will be installed on the toll highway network in the Catalonia region and the highways around Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona. Delivery of the barriers is expected to be completed by July this year. "Automatic Systems has been working directly with Abertis Autopistas since 2013 in various highway toll projects

Andrew Bardin Williams considers the effect of the ‘Name and Shame’ strategy adopted in Texas to encourage serial toll violators to pay up. It’s a tough time to be a scofflaw in the Lone Star State. Habitual toll violators - some with tens of thousands of unpaid tolls and fees - are being publically shamed into squaring their accounts with US toll agencies. In November 2013 the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) starting publishing a list of the state’s most egregious toll violators on its website.

Q-Free has increased its stake in US traffic controller supplier, Intelight, with a five year option program which will give shareholders the option to sell shares at closing in 2015 and in five subsequent years valid from 2016. The deal will give Q-Free the opportunity to add some 15 per cent of Intelight shares to its current 10.2 per cent shareholding each year. At end of the five year period, Q-Free has the option to acquire the rest of the shares. The first transaction will be closed during the second

The Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) and Ohio River Bridges Joint Board have again selected Kapsch TraffiCom to manage and maintain an all-electronic toll-collection system for the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project. Kapsch TrafficCom was selected from among three bidders who participated in the proposal process. A joint evaluation committee, made up of officials from both Indiana and Kentucky, scored the proposals based on the best value. Kapsch TrafficCom's proposal estimate was US$41.5

Australian fund manager IFM Investors, on behalf of IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, has paid US$5.7 billion for the bankrupt Indiana Toll Road Concession, a 253-kilometre highway that runs from the border of Indiana and Ohio towards Chicago, giving it exclusive rights to operate and maintain the road for the next 66 years. The road, previously jointly owned by Macquarie and Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September due to poor traffic volumes and was put up for sal

Sanef ITS and connected car company Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (IMS) have been awarded a road usage charge contract by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Debuting on Oregon's roadways in July 2015, this voluntary distance-based road usage charging program is said to be North America's first implementation of a mileage-based charging solution. Diminishing fuel tax returns led Oregon decision-makers to look for a fair, reliable source of revenue to fund transportation projects for the state.

Sanef ITS and connected car company Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (IMS) have been awarded a road usage charge contract by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Debuting on Oregon's roadways in July 2015, this voluntary distance-based road usage charging program is said to be North America's first implementation of a mileage-based charging solution. Diminishing fuel tax returns led Oregon decision-makers to look for a fair, reliable source of revenue to fund transportation projects for the state.