IBTTA President Stocchi Puts the I in IBTTA

IBTTA’s fundamentally important role as an international peer learning community was one of the focal points of a recent ITS International profile of Emanuela Stocchi, Director of International Affairs at the Italian toll concessionaires’ association (AISCAT), and IBTTA’s 2017 President.

ITS had asked Stocchi what the European and U.S. tolling industries could learn from each other. In her reply, she emphasized that in a global organization like IBTTA, “everyone can learn from one another. It is not a question of being Europeans or Americans.”

One of the most important added values of a global association like IBTTA “is to connect people and ideas, and to exchange views and best practices within the worldwide tolling industry,” she added. As 2017 President, “I would like to reinforce the international perspectives and objectives of IBTTA, which I think will help both IBTTA and the tolling sector worldwide.”

In a wide-ranging discussion with the global industry journal, Stocchi touched on the differences in experience between European and U.S. tolling authorities, as well as their parallel efforts in area ranging from interoperability, to autonomous vehicles, to all-electronic tolling. But she pointed to one common denominator that underscores the need for continual cooperation, communication, and sharing of experience and success stories.

“The main priority for tolling companies is to serve the drivers,” she said. “There is always an alternative route drivers can take,” so it’s up to the toll operator to deliver the superior value customers expect.

“You can have all types of equipment and monitoring,” she said. “But unless you provide a service for which drivers are prepared to pay, then you will not have a successful business.”

Download and read Emanuela Stocchi’s complete interview in the January/February edition of ITS International.