To Increase Revenue, the Future of Toll Collection Is Automated

Toll roads provide a way for transit authorities and private firms to finance the costs of building, improving and maintaining roadway transportation infrastructure. From plowing snow and maintaining pavement to mowing grass and filling potholes, the tolls paid by drivers help keep roads, bridges and tunnels safe and operational.

Historically, toll collection was a manual process: A car stops at a toll booth and hands the human operator money or a card to pay the toll. Today, however, technology is improving toll collection by enabling digital or automated toll payments that require no manual intervention.

Choices for electronic tolling systems

In terms of functionality, there are two types of automated tolling systems (also known as “electronic tolling systems”):

• Semi-automatic tolling: Cars are equipped with an RFID tag, such as a transponder, that can be read by a sensor on the toll plaza’s boom barrier as the car slows down. In Illinois, for example, the RFID device is known as an I-PASS. In California, it’s a FasTrak. Once the barrier identifies the transponder, the driver can pass through. The proper toll amount is deducted from the driver’s account, which is linked to the vehicle’s transponder.
  
  
• Fully automatic or open-road tolling: Cars are equipped with transponders or GPS-based devices that can be read by sensors—or their license plates may be read by cameras equipped with automatic license plate recognition software. These electronic tolling systems are barrier-free and don’t require the driver to slow down or stop in order to pay a toll. Instead, these open-road tolling systems keep traffic flowing. In the United States, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is a good example.

To increase revenue and decrease costs, the industry is moving toward fully automatic tolling through open-road tolling systems. It makes traveling for drivers faster, safer and easier, while also being more cost-effective for transportation authorities and private firms.

Electronic tolling vs. manual tolling: weighing the advantages

As compared to automated or electronic tolling, manual systems call for more hardware, require more people to operate them and have higher operating costs.

Even with semi-automatic tolling systems, which involves less equipment than manual systems, there are still maintenance costs associated with troubleshooting and ongoing operations.

Manual and semi-automatic tolling systems can also contribute to environmental impact. Because drivers have to slow down or come to a stop to pay tolls through these systems, vehicles reduce their speeds and potentially sit with engines idling, which increases fuel consumption and emissions.

Automated tolling systems are less expensive to build and operate than traditional toll collection methods. Over time, maintenance costs are also lower because there aren’t as many components to manage and maintain.

They can also help increase toll collection revenue. For example, the Texas A&M Institute's Transportation Policy Research team reports that approximately 350 vehicles can be handled per hour through manual toll collection. Meanwhile, electronic tolling can accommodate 1,800 vehicles per hour, bringing in much more money per day. In heavily congested areas where toll lines build up, such as in India, cars are allowed to pass without paying a toll once lines reach longer than 100 m, which causes transit authorities and private firms to miss out on revenue. Open-road tolling systems in these environments keep traffic moving and don’t require cars to slow down, so long lines don’t lead to waived tolls.

What’s new and next in electronic tolling

At the top of the list of automated tolling innovations is GPS-based tolling, which can be deployed as part of smart traffic management. This GPS concept is soon to roll out in India, but other countries and states will follow in the future.

With this approach to electronic tolling, a tracking device inside the vehicle monitors the vehicle’s movement, position, location and speed. This helps transportation authorities and private firms use cellular-connected smartphones to gather vehicle-generated data, such as information about the vehicle, travel distance, travel time, coordinates and location, for charging and account management.

Drivers appreciate the shift to automated tolling, too: They can continue on their journeys without having to decrease their speed or waste time in line, and they don’t need to worry about having cash, debit cards or credit cards on hand. Instead, the devices in their vehicles link to bank accounts or cards so tolls are paid automatically.

Plan your future today

Reliable automated or electronic tolling begins with end-to-end infrastructure that supports the network’s ability to acquire, transmit, orchestrate and manage data.

Belden can help you build a robust network that ensures vehicle connectivity and can carry vehicle data from remote and disparate locations to a central location for fast processing so there’s no loss in revenue or delays in performance.

Learn more about our industrial automation solutions.

Related resources:

• Intelligent Traffic Systems: Overcoming 4 Common Deployment Challenges
• The Path to Traffic Safety and Efficiency Begins with Roadway Digitization