Charging, Tolling & Road Pricing

Following its 650-page Road Charging Global Study, published earlier this year, Ptolemus Consulting Group has released its ranking of electronic toll collection (ETC) suppliers, said to be the first independent evaluation of e-tolling suppliers worldwide. Companies were assessed across three distinct groups: systems integrators, technology suppliers and service providers. Kapsch TrafficCom was found to be the number one global systems integrator, with Autostrade per l’Italia and Sanef ITS completing the

Q-Free’s management is taking the next steps decided to move the company from a road user charging supplier to a fully-integrated ITS company. Over the last few years, Q-Free has acquired eight companies in order to broaden its technology and customer base. To maximise the potential of these assets the company plans further streamlining and reduction of fixed costs and investment, including organisational changes, reduction in the management team and organisation, and optimisation of investments in sales

According to Chinese website Xinhua, Beijing is likely to trial a congestion charge in a bid to address its congestion and air quality. Close to 5.6 million vehicles vie for space on Beijing's roads and vehicle emissions account for 31 per cent of the city's smog sources, according to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.

The City of Laredo has selected TransCore to provide a comprehensive upgrade to the toll collection system on its four international bridges between the US and Mexico. Each year, more than 6.7 million vehicles and three million pedestrians cross the Gateway to the Americas, the Juarez-Lincoln International, the Colombia Solidarity, and the World Trade bridges. The three-year project, which will be completed in 2018, upgrades both the electronic and cash payment toll collection systems.

Australia-based Transurban and the Virginia Department of Transportation have announced extensions to the I-95 and I-395 in Northern Virginia. The 395 Express Lanes project will convert the existing two I-395 high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes into three Express Lanes and extend the current dynamic tolling and traffic management system. It also involves an extension to the 95 Express Lanes for 11 kilometres north to the Washington DC border. Transurban has also announced an in-principle agreement VDOT

S public policy think tank the Reason Foundation has unveiled a detailed long-range transportation plan to reduce the traffic congestion that has plagued southern California for decades. The Reason Foundation plan would decrease southern California’s infamous gridlock by creating a connected network of variably priced toll lanes on all of the region’s major highways and expressways

Q-Free has been awarded a three-year, US$3.7 million order for tags from Sociedad Concesionaria Vespucio Norte Express in Chile. “We are pleased to win this highly competitive bid for tags. The last contract awards in Chile are confirming Q-Free’s attractiveness in the market for tags and systems,” says acting CEO Roar Østbø.

According to a report by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) claims the rising costs of congestion in Australia’s major cities underscores the case for real road pricing reform, says Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA). Updating a similar report from 2007, the traffic and congestion cost trends for Australian capital cities report puts congestion costs for society as a whole in 2015 at US$11.7 billion. IPA believes this will rise to US$36 billion in 2030 if noth

D’Artagnan Consulting has been retained by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as the prime contractor to assist the Caltrans with formulation, design, management and implementation of the California Road Charge Pilot Program. A key element of the program is the California Road Charge Pilot Project, which will demonstrate and evaluate an operational road charge system with 5000 volunteer vehicles from summer 2016 to spring 2017.

User-based insurance is blazing a trail others would like to follow and is also discovering the challenges. The ITS sector needs to keep a very careful eye on the automotive industry: “There’s a war going on in the connected car space creating richer datasets than we ever imagined possible” says Paul Stacy, research and development director of Wunelli, part of the LexisNexis group. The car makers have gone way beyond infotainment, unlocking huge amounts of data in the process … facts and figures which the i