Published December 8, 2012 - by ITS International
Toll system suppliers are considering service structures and technologies needed to address issues of social exclusion in open road tolling. Jason Barnes asked Telvent's Pat McGowan to explain moves to address the needs of all toll customers
The virtues of free flowing 'open road tolling' (ORT) are obvious to toll operators and many road users. But in eagerness to use ORT to make transport infrastructure work better it can be too easy to discount those who lack access to the technology due to personal, social or economic circumstances.
Social exclusion is not a new issue in tolling. It has evolved over decades and has its roots in the introduction of electronic toll collection, says Telvent Transportation North America president Pat McGowan. As existing schemes migrate to ORT and other new projects come on stream it is a problem that is going to become more acute and more widespread. This is an issue which Telvent, among others, has been looking at very seriously with a view to providing solutions, he adds.
Improving effectiveness
Historically, tolling agencies have looked to provide customers with access to express lanes but they have always kept cash payment lanes as an option. Now though, many agencies are looking at how to improve traffic flows by reducing congestion at toll plazas and how to do so at a lower cost. ORT is seen as a solution because it removes or reduces the need for toll plazas and barriers along a given route. However, while the move to free flowing traffic increases efficiencies it removes the cash payment option and in doing so increases exclusion.
"As ORT proliferates we're reaching a point where decisions and solutions which address how to preserve or improve inclusion are needed," McGowan says.
"The goal has to be to retain access to tolled facilities for road users from across all social strata but addressing this can never be a one size fits all issue." One significant development likely in the near future will be the emergence of new third party service providers to cater for the needs of cash customers.
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