New service allows car drivers to pay tolls via their mobile phone

586 EasyTrip, Ireland’s largest provider of electronic tolling payment services has launched new Charge2Mobile toll payment service, in partnership with O2. Said to be the first of its kind, the service will provide a more convenient channel for paying tolls on Ireland’s M50 for car drivers who currently pay by cash. Available immediately to O2 customers in Ireland, Easytrip hopes to roll out its Charge2Mobile tolls offering across other networks over the coming months and to add to its support team for this new service.

Easytrip’s Charge2Mobile Tolls service allows car drivers who use the M50 and all other Irish toll plazas to pay their tolls through their pre-pay or bill pay O2 mobile account. Charge2Mobile is ideal for those who use the M50 primarily, who currently pay by cash and who occasionally receive M50 fines. This new payment concept will enable Irish car drivers to avoid M50 fines and to stay in control of toll charges.

To use the service, a customer signs up online or by telephone. They are sent an Easytrip electronic tag in the post, which is linked to their O2 mobile account, and which is then placed on the windscreen of their car. Once they drive through a toll location their trip is recorded and the appropriate charge is made against their mobile phone account. The customer will receive a text message from O2 confirming that the toll has been paid.

“The inherent value of our new service is its convenience,” said Dermot MacEvilly, Chief Executive Officer at Easytrip. “We identified a customer need for the 10,000 or so users of the M50 every day and developed this niche product to meet it. M50 users can now have tolls charged directly to their mobile phone account and they no longer have to worry about fines or next day deadlines, plus it applies to all toll roads nationwide. It’s just one less thing for motorists to think about in their busy lives.”

The Charge2Mobile solution uses payments solutions provider 6876 Oxygen8's mobile payments platform.  Ray Tierney, Oxygen8 Ireland's CEO, commented: "This solution is an exciting development in the area of mobile payments, and a significant step in making more tangible goods and services available for sale via the mobile channel. Not only will the Easytrip C2M solution for O2 customers improve the quality of their lives by taking the stress out of tolls, but it will also save them money in penalties and fines in the long run".

“We are delighted that O2 has partnered with us for this exciting first in mobile toll solutions. The entire team at Easytrip is proud to be pioneering this original concept and look forward to rolling it out to all mobile operators over the next 12 months,” Dermot MacEvilly, chief executive officer at Easytrip concluded.

Commenting on the introduction of the new service Eugene Mitchell, marketing and innovation director at 6877 Telefónica Ireland, which operates the O2 brand, said: “The application of this innovative Charge2Mobile Tolls service represents a credible example of how innovations in mobile services can make customers’ lives easier. It is a perfect fit for our current charge-to-mobile strategy at O2 where we believe mobile payments has a very strong future. To date we have enabled over ninety merchants with a wide range of charge to mobile services, including: Facebook, DoneDeal.ie and Blackberry App World. Working with Easytrip and Oxygen8 to be first to market with a solution that brings benefits to our customers has been very rewarding. ”