Individuals who don’t pay their tolls are costly. This isn’t only because of the lack of revenue they should be providing to help maintain the funding of roads. There are also costs related to management and reputation.
As a provider of toll-based mobility solutions, this was concerning to us at Emovis. We were seeing first-hand how our tolling authority colleagues were being negatively impacted. The technology wasn’t adequate in terms allowing ease of payment. It was too easy for violators to evade the system.
We decided a few years ago that we needed to step up efforts to address this problem for the benefit of the industry. Thus, we collaborated with Abertis’ Innovation Lab, a program that promotes projects aimed at finding solutions for smart roads and integrated mobility, for connected, autonomous and electric vehicles. Together, we launched a smart enforcement program in December 2020.
Technology focused on ease
We needed to redesign the recovery process and provide customers with new communication channels. Our business intelligence team alongside the engineering department built algorithms that optimised actions for maximising payment probabilities and cutting debt collection costs without affecting any revenues. This technology predicts motorists’ payment behaviour, continuously provides data and adapts to our different customers’ actions. We leveraged machine learning to achieve a more intelligent collection process.
It was also important to instill empathy for unintentional violation. We wanted to create a solution that avoided unnecessary escalation during recovery processes. This reduces complaints and improves the overall customer experience. The Smart Enforcement program’s technology integrates with external third parties to track motorists’ new addresses. This increases accuracy and toll compliance and reduces the work and expense of undeliverable mail.
“We leveraged machine learning to achieve a more intelligent collection process”
The technology provides many payment options for customers with a focus on simplicity. It should be as difficult as possible to cheat the system. The ones who pay up front understand that they are not going to ‘get in trouble’. Violators need to know that they will be chased.
Impact
Emovis’ Smart Enforcement program has a track record in generating results since implementation in 2020 in the UK and in 2021 in Chile. There has been an increase in toll compliance to over 97%, mainly because previously untraceable customers are now located. There was 19% reduction in recovery costs; a 33% reduction in customer disputes; and a 30% reduction in unregistered users not paying their tolls without any enforcement activity
Other results included a 25% improvement of the enforcement “cost to revenue ratio” meaning authorities obtained more monetary value for each dollar they spent in enforcement; 30% reduction in materials complaints; significant financial savings; and up to 68% savings in commissions to debt collection agencies
It should be noted that as a service provider working for public authorities and concessionaires, Emovis doesn’t directly keep the money that is generated from this program. We care so much about Smart Enforcement because of our commitment to continuous improvement. We need to be doing everything possible to support our partners and provide them better and more effective experiences and outcomes.
Nobody else in the industry has such a Smart Enforcement program. This is in part why the solution received the 2023 International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) Private Sector Innovation award.
Questions to consider
We are clearly seeing how this innovation is impacting the financial side while dramatically improving perception and reputation. It has quickly sustained reduction in enforcement costs.
Think about these questions:
• Are you using the most accurate source of information to find and contact the customer?
• Is it possible to predict the payment behavior of your customers?
• Can you pre-empt and adapt actions to reduce management costs?
•Can you identify a preferred course of action to increase the likelihood of payment?
If you are struggling to answer these questions, it is time to step up your tolling authorities’ enforcement efforts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Miguel Ainsa is operation director at Emovis. Part of Abertis Mobility Services, Emovis is a world leader in toll-based mobility solutions. Learn more at www.emovis.com
If you wish to discuss deploying the Smart Enforcement program, contact [email protected]
Content produced in association with Emovis
