Gradual Transition Will Make Toll Interoperability More Affordable

With the United States deadline for national toll interoperability coming up in 2016, the topic is already starting to generate media attention, with IBTTA making the case for a smooth, gradual transition.

The topic got some attention last month in a news report on KING 5 News in Washington State, then showed up again in the online edition of Associations Now.

Hard Work and a Looming Deadline

For the past six years, IBTTA members have been hard at work on a process for harmonizing the nation’s disparate electronic tolling systems. When Congress set an October 2016 deadline for full national interoperability, dozens of dedicated tolling professionals ramped up their efforts to meet this mandated deadline. They’ve made a lot of progress on a complex, intricate business.

"The next 10 months are going to be very busy,” said IBTTA Executive Director and CEO Pat Jones. “We’re going to be engaged in performance testing, so it's a lot of work, a lot of nitty gritty work."

Washington State’s KING 5 TV noted that regional interoperability is already taking hold—with Florida interoperable with Georgia and North Carolina, Kansas with Oklahoma, Oklahoma with Texas, and E-ZPass operating across 26 tolling agencies in 15 states.

Jones said, “A gradual transition will spread the multi-million-dollar cost of national interoperability over several years—which will also, importantly, allow agencies to integrate equipment purchases with their regular replacement cycles.”

“It won't be that come October 2016 we flip a switch and everybody is interoperable," he told KING 5. "It's going to take several years. It's a process of transition."

Practical for Agencies, Affordable for Customers

Anyone who operates infrastructure of any kind knows there’s a time and place to introduce new systems at the lowest possible cost.

You don’t buy a new management information system before you’ve amortized the old one.

You don’t rip open your walls to upgrade the insulation the year after you put in a new vapour barrier.

And it doesn’t make sense—for tolling agencies, their customers, investors, or state and local governments to change out expensive electronics that are still functional, but will be due for routine replacement in another two or three years.

In every case, the goal should be to plan major projects far in advance, so that the relatively small, incremental cost of a technological leap can be added on to necessary work that is already scheduled.

Delivering on a Promise

In 2012, IBTTA and its member agencies offered to act as the centering point for private sector initiative on interoperability. Congress took us up on the offer. Now, we’re implementing an approach that will give our customers greater convenience at lower cost.

Click here for a summary of IBTTA’s 2015 Summit on All-Electronic Tolling, Managed Lanes and Interoperability, July 12-14, 2015 in Miami.