1. Tolling Technologies and Practices
AFERA - ARMFA
16th ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY
T&I GP Forum
May 28, 21015

2. The Decision to Toll
An additional source of revenue based on the ‘User Pays’ principle, targeting road users:
To recover cost of building and operating a road asset – but what proportion?
An opportunity to bring in private finance,
A supplement to fuel levies or other Road Fund income,
BUT is it an efficient way to collect additional funds?
What are the provisions in the road act &/or tolling legislation?
Are alternative routes required? > a social necessity, but a way to avoid toll payment,
How are toll levels set?
Who will receive the toll revenue – treasury, road sector or concessionaire?
Unless traffic levels meet certain thresholds, tolling is unlikely to meet the full costs of construction, operation & financing.

3. Will toll revenue be higher than the cost of collection?
The Decision to Toll
Political Risk
Examples of schemes that have been stalled / abandoned;
Associate toll introduction with new infrastructure or improved service level;
Assess the willingness of road users to pay.
Other Options
Fuel levy;
Vehicle registration;
Mass-distance charges, and
Congestion charges.
The BIG question:
Will toll revenue be higher than the cost of collection?

4. Options for Road Financing
Financing, construction, toll collection, operation & transfer by concessionaire :
No government contribution.
Tolling with guarantees on revenue from traffic levels - MRGs:
Government contributes if traffic does not meet growth expectations
Shadow tolling:
Concessionaire paid by government based on traffic levels – no toll collection costs
Availability payments:
Concessionaire paid by government based provision of infrastructure – no toll collection
Tolling does not have to involve the private sector
Tolls set to meet only operating & maintenance costs – investment funded by government;
Cross-subsidisation: income from a highly-trafficked road funds other roads on the network

5. Setting Toll Fees – Keeping the Balance
Economic Benefit
Financial Need
Maximize Income to Meet Costs
Encourage Use
Affordability
Income
Expenses
Operation
Maintenance
Loan & Equity Servicing
Fees for Use of Reserve
Capital Contribution
Toll Fees
Administration

6. Setting Toll Fees - Some basic principles
Tolls need to be perceived to be fair – communication strategy
Balance affordability against revenue maximisation
Higher tolls > more diversion
Toll based on size & damage
Trucks pay at least 4 times cars

7. Tolling Layouts Open System Closed System
Toll plazas at regular intervals along the road
Payment made at each plaza
Free access to the road
Toll plazas at all entry & exit points
Toll paid on exit
Access to toll road can be controlled
Toll Plaza
Toll Road

8. Tolling Layouts Open Closed
Lower infrastructure, toll collection & operation costs
Good for mix of through & local traffic
Allows large numbers of access roads
Each vehicle pays in accordance with distance travelled
Allows control of prohibited vehicles
Not all trips will be tolled
Easier to avoid payment
Hard to exclude prohibited vehicles
More infrastructure needed
Limited number of access points > restricts use for local trips
Higher operating costs

9. Evolution of Toll Collection
Cash - Manual
Delay
‘Leakage’
<15% lane capacity
35-45USc to collect
Coin Machine
Some delay
Coin or token only
25% lane capacity
28-35USc
Electronic Toll Collection - ETC
Reduces delay & emissions
Device in car & reader at plaza
Can be easy to avoid
>50% lane capacity
7-19USc
GPS Based GNSS
Applied to specific locations / distances/ times
Needs GPS & GSM
Road pricing
Little fixed infrastructure

10. . . or more complicated
Some Examples
Simple

11. Some More Examples
RFiD
ANPR
ETC -ERP

12. Some More Examples
17 lane toll plaza

13. Tolling Technology Pre-purchased tickets & vignettes Pre-paid cards
Tags & Transponders using RFiD – Radio Frequency identification
Drive-through automatic payments at gantry or toll plaza
Linked to on-line accounts, debit cards & cellphone SMS
Growing use in America, Europe, Asia - Singapore - & Africa - RSA & Mozambique
Stockholm Congestion Charge
ANPR (automatic number plate recognition)
London Congestion Charge, enforcement of other systems, video toll collection, BUT needs readable number plates
GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite System: many examples:
Used to collect tolls on 1.4 million trucks on 12,000 km of motorway in Germany; 22.7 bn veh/km per year

14. Tolling Technology - GNSS

15. Tolling Technology
Tolling is just part of the system – technology also used for:
Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI)
Automatic Vehicle Classification (AVC): options include Inductive loops, Laser scanner, Weigh-in-motion, Video or Tags
Transaction Processing – Tolling – fee collection
Violation Enforcement
A combination of systems will normally be required for identification, collection & enforcement
Consider interoperability & compatibility between systems – national & regional

16. e-tolling Opportunities
Technology can be used to introduce flexible toll rates
Incentivize changes in commuting timetables;
Optimize highway usage;
Maximize revenue, and
Opportunity to toll urban & congested roads, where most traffic is:
Dynamic or Value Pricing – toll linked to real-time traffic volume
Variable Toll – discount or surcharges linked to fixed times of day: rush hour or off- peak travel

17. Benchmarking Tolling
Study considers toll collection practices in North, Central & South America, Asia & Europe
Data from 43 public & private agencies, covering 30,000 km of road & 500 toll plazas
Only 9% of agencies use cash-only tolling
91% of agencies use some form of ETC
/pdf/2015/06/kpmg-toll-benchmarking- study-2015-v2.pdf

18. References
Technology Scan for Electronic Toll Collection,
Toll Collection Technology and Best Practices,
Electronic Toll Collection: Approaches, technologies, experiences,
An evolution of tolling, KPMG, 2015
Toolkit for Public - Private Partnerships in Roads & Highways, PPIAF, 2009
Executive Brief: Tolling Principles, PPIAF, 2014