● ● ●
Rudimentary method which is simple to understand No modifications/additions to vehicles are necessary Low capital cost if passes are monitored manually by appointed personnel
Disadvantages of paper-based system: ● ● 1.3.
High operating cost for manual monitoring. A visit to the designated center is a must for renewal Non-stop toll collection by electronic systems
Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is a system that automatically identifies a vehicle equipped with a valid encoded data tag or transponder as it moves through a toll lane or checkpoint. The ETC system then posts a debit or charge to a patron's account, without the patron having to stop to pay the toll. ETC increases the lane throughput because vehicles don’t have to stop to pay the toll. ETC systems incorporate four major components, namely Automated Vehicle Identification, Automated Vehicle Classification (AVC), Customer Service, and Violation Enforcement.95 The various toll collection technologies under electronic toll collection have been discussed in brief below I.
Dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology:
It uses microwaves or Infrared technology to transmit data over short distances between motorway systems and on-board units (OBU)/ mobile units that are installed in a vehicle which usually works in 5.8 GHz communication range. The sensors on the roadside infrastructure identify the road user when the OBU comes in proximity in order to initiate the payment. Depending on the complexity of the technical implementation, the on-board unit can be represented by a simple identification tag or storing more information supporting the vehicle classification and the identification of the travelled path. The DSRC technology is used either in a single lane environment (as in the case of the systems operated in Italy, France and Spain, among others) or in a free-flow environment (as for the cases of Austria, Czech Republic and Poland).96 II.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology:
It uses radio waves to automatically identify on-board devices, very much like for the DSRC technology. But operating on a different frequency bandwidth (in the range of 915 MHz) RFID-based tolling systems still make use of a “tag” installed in the vehicle, which is detected and identified by means of a reader antenna installed within a toll plaza or over the carriageways. More recent RFID technology achieves similar performance levels to DSRC, although the lower frequency and the limitations on the emitted power imply a certain reduction of service level, especially in a free-flow multilane environment.13 III.
Calm active infrared is a relatively new technology:
It is similar to the RFID system; the only difference is that it has an active infrared unit installed on vehicles which contains all the information. In comparison to RFID, it has a faster data reading rate, reliability, accuracy, efficiency and it works well in all environment
95
Washington State Comprehensive Tolling Study Final Report – Volume 2. 2006
96
State of the Art of Electronic Road Tolling. MOVE/D3/2014-259. European Commission DirectorateGeneral for Mobility and Transport Study. 2015
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