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Texas Department of Transportation

TxTag: A New Model for Introducing Electronic Tolling

Award Category: 
Customer Service
Award Year: 
2007

Texas Department of Transportation

Award Category: 
Customer Service
Award Year: 
2007

In 2006, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) opened the fi rst toll roads in the Austin area and introduced a new state-of-the-art electronic toll tag, named TxTag. User-paid roadways were completely new to the area, and potential customers were generally not aware of modern toll methods and their convenience. Three program decisions led to unprecedented results in the tolling industry: 1) investing in a comprehensive marketing and outreach campaign to educate the public about the new toll roads and TxTag, 2) using pricing and other incentives to encourage people to test drive the new roads and sign on early with the TxTag program, and 3) giving TxTags away free of charge for more than a year. Within a month after tolls were first charged, tag penetration averaged 75 percent daily – 81 percent during peak periods – and there were more than 200,000 funded TxTags installed on vehicles. TxDOT rapidly achieved its goal of converting drivers accustomed to complaining about traffic into customers willing to pay to drive on modern new toll roads.