Skip to main content

California approves 6C electronic toll collection protocol

California’s Office of Administrative Law has issued a notice of approval of regulatory changes to adopt the ISO 18000-63 (6C) electronic toll collection (ETC) protocol on all roads throughout the state, from January 2019. According to Patrick Jones, chief executive officer of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the action helps to advance plans for achieving nationwide interoperability (NIOP). In addition, It also allows states using 6C to become interoperable with each other
December 6, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

California’s Office of Administrative Law has issued a notice of approval of regulatory changes to adopt the ISO 18000-63 (6C) electronic toll collection (ETC) protocol on all roads throughout the state, from January 2019. According to Patrick Jones, chief executive officer of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the action helps to advance plans for achieving nationwide interoperability (NIOP). In addition, It also allows states using 6C to become interoperable with each other.

NIOP aims to establish a system in which road users who have established pre-paid toll accounts in their home state can pay tolls on any participating facility in the country.

Since 2010, IBTTA has convened a nationwide Interoperability Committee comprised of toll agencies throughout the country to advance the goal of achieving NIOP. The 6C protocol is currently used in Washington, Colorado, Utah, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana.

Regulatory changes will take place on the 1 January 2018 as well as a complete phase out of the existing Title 21 protocol by 1 January 2024.

Samuel Johnson, chair of the California Toll Operators Coalition and incoming 2018 Second Vice President of the IBTTA, said: “This is a significant milestone for California in our continued adoption of modern technology and solutions for tolling. Use of the 6C protocol will provide for significant cost avoidance in the acquisition and management of transponders for the 14 agencies responsible for operating California’s tolled bridges, roads and express lanes. This adoption will also accelerate national efforts towards interoperability, paving the way for west coast customers to use their account to pay for tolls when traveling in California, Colorado, Washington, Utah and Oregon.”

Related Content

  • US tolling authorities braced for Hurricane Matthew
    October 6, 2016
    As the south-eastern United States braces for Hurricane Matthew to make an expected landfall later this week, tolling authorities up and down the east coast are already shifting into high gear to prepare for the extreme weather development.
  • IBTTA summit hits right notes in Salzburg
    December 5, 2018
    In the birthplace of Mozart, Colin Sowman found that delegates at the IBTTA’s inaugural World Tolling Summit were playing a variety of interesting tunes The first World Tolling Summit took place in Salzburg, Austria this autumn. Created and organised by the International Bridge Tolling and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the event was supported by its European counterpart Asecap and hosted by Austria’s tolling authority, Asfinag. The transfer of views, experience and practice both ways across the Atl
  • Tags or communication based toll payment systems?
    January 20, 2012
    Midland Expressway Ltd's Tom Fanning discusses deployment of Near Field Communicationbased payment on the M6 Toll facility The M6 Toll's introduction from early next year of Near Field Communication (NFC) is a pragmatic response to the relative scarcity of tolled facilities and the concomitant low levels of tag take-up in the UK, according to the road's operator, Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL). Nevertheless, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC)-based tags operating at 5.8GHz are still a key part of the
  • Transport can build legacy of hope
    November 30, 2020
    Racial and social injustice has come to the fore this year. Samuel Johnson, IBTTA president and Transportation Corridor Agencies CEO, explains what the industry can do to build ‘a legacy of hope and progress’