The pandemic became a watershed moment for toll operators, who in light of the severe economic circumstances of many of their users, quickly adapted their business models to embrace the concept of ‘inclusion.’ In short, anyone should be able to use the road when they need it. And, All Electronic Tolling was there for them. AET has been great for drivers because it allows people who choose to not have a tag or an account to use the toll facility.
The issue though is that pay-by-plate tolling, which agencies need to offer true AET, is the most expensive form of tolling to operators, costing a toll agency an average of $1.80 per user per transaction to offer. This is due to the processing and collection costs.
Next, there is leakage because of equipment failures. Here, anecdotal evidence suggests 2-4% of all tolls are not being recorded at all by legacy RFID and video systems.
By leveraging a device everyone carries with them – a device that, if you think about it, is as ubiquitous today as cash was before ETC – GeoToll E-GPS saves agencies all the costs driven by video (Pay-by-Plate) tolling. And in fact, E-GPS can earn the agency revenue by reducing leakage. On top of this, GeoToll’s Fail-Safe feature means repair crews can be immediately dispatched to address a malfunctioning gantry.
Specific Benefits
1. Customer Service Experience Improvement
Description of Benefit: GeoToll helps reduce or eliminate Customer Service Center (CSC) calls due to improper tag placement or malfunction, pay-by-plate violation fees from valid license plates not recognized due to camera issues (e.g., view angle, weather, motion blur, low contrast, etc.), rental car-based complaints, and the ability to deliver instant communications to drivers or groups affected by incidents, events, road work, etc.
Quantifiable Improvement Expected: First is a reduction in the number of CSC calls relative to the number of E-GPS customers in the system. The more E-GPS users, the fewer calls. Second is reduced pay-by-plate transactions and subsequent violation fees. Third is reducing the cost of rental car transponder fees. Fourth is the instant delivery of messages sent to drivers to help them avoid congestion due to emergencies, incidents, events or planned road work.
2. Operational Improvement
Description of Benefit: First, the agency avoids the manual license plate review process needed due to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) inefficacy. Second, Fail-Safe Tolling® reduces the need for service personnel to drive around to test lane hardware. It also improves repair cycle time. Third, E-GPS reduces leakage, including those non-posted transactions coming from partner agencies.
Quantifiable Improvement Expected: E-GPS can eliminate the toll-by-plate-related costs of $0.06 to $0.08 per unsuccessful review. E-GPS can lower toll operator maintenance and repair team costs by reducing vehicle mileage, fuel and wear-and-tear. E-GPS can reduce leakage stemming from agency and partner agency equipment and other technology malfunctions.
3. Capital Cost Reduction
Description of Benefit: E-GPS is an accurate, low-cost and easy-to-deploy payment method compared to transponders and readers. GeoToll E-GPS can greatly reduce the number of license plate transactions and that method’s high associated costs. E-GPS can significantly reduce the cost of an agency’s violation enforcement process.
Quantifiable Improvement Expected: No new customer transponders are needed with GeoToll. This means reduced tag inventory, distribution, service and replacement costs for the agency and customer. Further, the agency had less Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) costs due to the reduced need to mail bills to pay-by-plate violators and assigning unpaid accounts to collections agencies (which, in aggregate, can cost an operator GT $1.80 to close).
Over What Period of Time do Benefits Begin? Immediately after GeoToll is in service. Savings increase as E-GPS adoption grows.