Charging, Tolling & RUC

Drivers using the Windsor-Detroit tunnel linking Canada with the US will shortly be able to pay electronically on both sides of the border. Until now, electronic payment has only been available on the US side. Tunnel president Neal Belitsky said it’s part of a plan to eventually phase out tunnel tokens after 2013. “We’re going to be getting out of the token business,” Belitsky said. “It takes time to buy rolls of tokens. All that is going to disappear. If you look throughout the US or Canada, you can count

After a long wait for the green light from the central government, the much-anticipated electronic road pricing (ERP) system is expected to be implemented in Jakarta city in 2013, governor Joko Widodo has said. The ERP system is intended to discourage motorists from using private cars and opt for public transportation instead. The initial plan is for the ERP to be implemented on roads in the current “three-in-one” car-pooling zones and replace the city’s old car-pooling system. Under the three-in-one syste

Spanish technology provider, Indra, has been awarded contracts valued at US$13.1 million to supply traffic and toll management technology for Indian motorways. Indian infrastructure company GMR has awarded the company three contracts to implement its toll technology on the motorways of the Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajastan and Gujarat states.

Private sector operator, Transurban, operators of Virginia’s I-495 express lane, has unveiled the highway’s incident management centre where the flow of vehicles will be monitored on a widescreen monitor displaying a dozen camera angles. The new lanes are expected to open by the end of fall. The centre will monitor traffic volume 24/7 in order to compute toll rates. The new roadway, connecting the Dulles toll road to the I-395/I-95/Springfield interchange fourteen miles to the south, will charge drivers dyn

The US Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is to implement pilot project for a completely cashless toll system for the Henry Hudson Bridge in New York City. The system partly depends on the E-Z Pass device and the Hudson Bridge was chosen for the pilot project as E-Z Pass is already used by over 87% of drivers. Drivers using E-Z Pass will be offered a discounted toll to encourage continued use; drivers without a pass will be identified by licence plate images and will be billed for the full rate b

Earthquake sensors, automatic barriers and real time monitoring systems are all part of a scheme to make a major Seattle traffic artery safer, by taking it underground. Huw Williams reports. Seattle’s metropolitan area of 3.5 million people, like much of the western seaboard of the United States, lies in an earthquake zone. In Seattle’s case, the city and its hinterland sit atop a complex network of interrelated active geological faults capable of severe seismic activity and posing complex considerations fo

The Moscow region’s first toll road opened on 1 October 2012 on the M4 Don highway. The state-owned company Russian Highways (Avtodor) has invested US193 million to reconstruct the road before introducing the toll system, which it is planned to extend in the future. Car drivers will pay US$0.32 at night and US$0.96 during the day; truck drivers will pay from US$0.48 to US$3.8 depending on vehicle size and time of day. Drivers can pay by cash, credit cards, prepaid contactless smart cards, or via transpond

A new freeway toll scheme plan has been unveiled by the Transportation and Communication Minister Mao Chi-kuo in Taiwan. All drivers are required to pay toll under the pay-as-you-go scheme. According to the minister, an average of between US$0.51 and US$0.68 will be paid by the drivers daily. Planned to be launched in 2013, the charges will be based on travel distance. A ladder-type pricing measure will be proposed by the ministry to show the maximum and minimum toll fees based on the travelled distance. Me