Electronic Toll Collection Lanes Research Articles

Characterizing CO2 and NOx emission of vehicles crossing toll stations in highway

Electronic toll collection (ETC) has been designed and implemented to improve traffic efficiency and reduce traffic-related air pollution. However, the real-world impact of ETC on these factors is currently under-qualified. With this consideration, we attempted to reveal the effect of ETC on traffic efficiency and traffic pollution using portable emission measurement systems. Firstly, in contrast to the manual toll collection (MTC), ETC offer lower emissions and time savings, and there exist a quadratic relationship between emission rates and vehicle specific power. Secondly, vehicles in acceleration state emit more pollutants than other situations such as deceleration, steady cruising and idling in both ETC and MTC lanes. Thirdly, ETC lanes show 34.25% and 13.63% lower CO2 and NOx emissions, respectively, along with a 46.55% timesaving compared to MTC lanes. Finally, the study identifies engine load percent as the primary factor impacting emissions, accounting for 60–88% of the variance.

Proactive integrated traffic control to mitigate congestion at toll plazas

AbstractToll plazas on expressways often experience congestion owing to the imbalance between traffic demand and supply. To address this issue, this paper designs a proactive traffic control method to relieve congestion at toll plazas based on the model predictive control (MPC) that integrates the dynamic lane configuration, that is, the numbers of electronic toll collection (ETC) and manual toll collection (MTC) lanes, and the variable speed limit (VSL). The proposed method first forecasts short‐term traffic demand in toll plazas based on the long short‐term memory neural network. Then the cell transmission model (CTM) is applied to predict the traffic evolutions in the toll plaza area. At last, the MPC‐based control framework is used to optimize the numbers of ETC and MTC lanes and the variable speed limit to minimize the total vehicle travel time in a rolling horizon. Micro‐simulation tests are carried out in VISSIM to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control method. The simulation results show that the proposed control method can significantly improve the traffic performances at the toll plazas. The findings in this study can lead to field implementation of proactive control at toll plazas.

Effects of Object-Oriented Advance Guidance Signage on Lane-Changing Behaviors at the Mainline Toll Stations of Expressways

China has actively promoted electronic toll collection (ETC), increasing the proportion of ETC vehicles, and the number of ETC lanes at mainline toll stations has exceeded that of manual toll collection (MTC) lanes. To investigate the effects of ETC and MTC vehicles as guidance objects on the lane-changing behaviors of drivers, we designed three guidance signal plans, including the original sign plan (OR), a complete MTC sign plan (CMS), and a complete MTC sign plan with voice warnings (VW&CMS), for expressway mainline toll lanes. A driving simulator experiment with 40 participants was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the plans. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the characteristics of lane-changing behaviors in different guidance plans, and an entropy weight model using the technique of ranking the order of preference by its similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) was constructed to evaluate the guidance effects of different plans. The results showed that the CMS and VW&CMS plans significantly improved lane-changing behaviors. This improvement is demonstrated by a higher lane-changing ratio, shorter response time, earlier initiation of lane-changing location, higher speed, lower deceleration rate, and longer lane-changing duration distance. These findings can help expressway designers to optimize the guidance-sign system for mainline toll stations.

Characterizing spatiotemporal distributions of black carbon and PM2.5 at a toll station: Observations on manual and electronic toll collection lanes

Toll stations are traffic-related pollution hotspots, but the contribution of various factors to pollutant distributions has not been clearly recognized. This study conducted a field investigation of the spatiotemporal variations of pollutants on different lanes at a toll station in Shanghai, China. Quantitative analysis showed that the concentrations of black carbon (BC) and fine particles (PM2.5) on the manual toll collection (MTC) lane were higher than those on the electronic toll collection (ETC) lane, and higher concentrations were identified on weekdays. Furthermore, the study introduced interaction terms between lane type and traffic conditions while constructing generalized additive models (GAMs) to reveal the internal relationship between concentrations and explanatory variables. The results of GAM analysis showed that the coupling effect of traffic volume and lane type was the most important force driving variations in BC, while background concentration was the dominant factor of PM2.5 variations. The Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models were developed to separately evaluate the influence of lane type and traffic volume on BC and PM2.5, indicating that lane type contributed 29.4% and 36.5% of BC and PM2.5 variations respectively. Additionally, simulation demonstrated that in contrast to MTC, ETC can reduce BC pollution by 25.2% under the same traffic conditions. Finally, the respiratory deposition dose was used to compare the negative consequences of exposure between the ETC and MTC lane. This study revealed the general variation trends of pollutants and corresponding influencing factors at a toll station, and could provide implications for mitigating traffic-related pollution.

Effects of the manual and electronic toll collection systems on the particulate pollutant levels on highways in Taiwan

Few studies have quantified the effects of particulate air pollution reductions on electronic toll collection (ETC) and manual toll collection (MTC). Our study evaluated the levels of particulate pollutants, including particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (p-PAHs), PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, from MTC and ETC systems in booths at a manual/electric hybrid toll station on a highway in Taiwan. A two-week sampling campaign was conducted at the toll station on the first highway in the Taipei metropolitan area. Indoor tollbooth monitoring samples were collected for the ETC and MTC lanes to assess the hourly p-PAH, PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations. The hourly average particle concentration was calculated for different types of toll collection based on 100 vehicles per hour. The average traffic density in the truck and bus lanes or car and van lanes with ETC was significantly higher than that with MTC. The mean p-PAH, PM1.0, and PM2.5 concentrations in the car and van lanes with MTC were higher than those for ETC. The increases in PM1.0 and PM2.5 concentrations per 100 vehicles in the bus and truck lanes with MTC were approximately 2 times greater than those for ETC. ETC technologies serve as a solution to traffic delay problems at toll stations in Taiwan and may more homogeneously reduce the levels of p-PAHs, PM1.0, and PM2.5 particulate pollutants from traffic emissions than the MTC along highways.

Assessing the Environmental and Economic Footprint of Electronic Toll Collection Lanes: A Simulation Study

Electronic toll collection (ETC) plays, as part of transport demand management (TDM) measures, an important role in preventing traffic congestion and improving the environmental conditions in urban and rural areas. An attempt is made in the framework of this paper to evaluate the overall performance of a toll station when a lane is dedicated to ETC. The case study refers to a toll station in the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area, Greece. Scenarios considered specific traffic characteristics, variable toll booth setups, and different penetration rates of the ETC tag users for car and heavy vehicles. The tool used in the evaluation process was the PTV Vissim traffic simulation software. The operation of the toll station during a specific peak-hour period was simulated with the aid of the specific software. In total, 39 alternative scenarios were developed and compared to determine the level of penetration rate for which the ETC lane would be effective for different toll booth setups. Results showed that when the right lane of the toll station is converted to ETC lane, the penetration rate of this lane must be greater the 15% for the private vehicles and 20% for the heavy goods vehicles (HGV) to reduce traffic congestion and to improve environmental conditions. It was also found that when an additional ETC lane was introduced to the existing toll station set up, traffic congestion and the associated environmental conditions were much improved even for low penetration rates. It must be noticed that the results from the use of discounted cash flow methods like internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV) and benefit–cost ratio (BCR) showed that all economic indicators converge as penetration rate increases in all toll booth setups. Therefore, there is a specific penetration rate threshold above which the economic viability of the investment is secured. These findings can assist the design of an effective policy in terms of the optimized operation of a toll station and sustainable mobility planning.

Spatio-temporal variability in black carbon concentrations at highway toll plaza: Comparison between manual and electronic toll lanes

The quantification of the differences in the magnitudes of black carbon (BC) concentrations between electronic and manual toll lanes is necessary to understand the impacts of toll plazas to air pollution. This study investigated the space-time distribution of BC concentrations and compared the BC pollution profiles between traffics and toll collection lanes of an urban highway toll plaza in Shanghai. Experiments were carried out between August 15 and August 22, 2019. The mean BC concentrations at east-westbound manual toll collection (MTC) lanes were 17.8 and 14.8 μg m−3, respectively, while the counterpart values for the electronic toll collection (ETC) lanes were 7.7 and 9.2 μg m−3, respectively. Moreover, parallel measurements at urban background site yielded mean BC level ranges between 3.4 and 2.8 μg m−3. The traffic volumes through the east-westbound ETC and MTC lanes were estimated as 489 and 347 vehicles h−1, respectively. Although ETC-lane traffic was ~1.4 times higher than that of the MTC lanes, owing to the toll collection method, the BC concentrations at the MTC lanes were 1.6–2.3 times higher than those at the ETC lanes and 4.8–5.9 times higher than that of the urban background site. As per multivariate regression analysis, it was found that the variations in BC concentrations were caused by traffic emissions and influenced by the local background BC levels, influences of wind speed and humidity were also determined. This study found that at highway toll plazas, when compared with MTC lanes, ETC lanes can contribute to reducing BC emissions by ~50%.

A Preliminary Study on the Quality Evaluation of Expressway Network Free Parking Toll Software System

This paper introduces the developing stage of toll road and the influencing factors of toll collection from the aspect of expressway and toll collection system. The main research object is the application and development of electronic non-stop toll collection system on highway in intelligent traffic. The development stage of ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) related technology is divided in detail. According to the classification basis and test type, the software testing is classified in detail. Taking the three models of software quality evaluation as the analysis object, the general software evaluation process in China is studied, and the development status of software testing in the transportation industry is expounded. Taking the software system of ETC lane terminal as an example, the quality of the system is evaluated, and the research provides data support for construction supervision and operation maintenance.

Fuel Consumption and Vehicle Emission Models for Evaluating Environmental Impacts of the ETC System

The environmental outcome of the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system is an important aspect in evaluating the impacts of the ETC system, which is influenced by various factors including the vehicle type, travel speed, traffic volume, and average queue length of Manual Toll Collection (MTC) lanes. The primary objective of this paper is to develop a field data-based practical model for evaluating the effects of ETC system on the fuel efficiency and vehicle emission. First, laboratory experiments of seven types of vehicles under various scenarios for toll collection were conducted based on the Vehicle Emissions Testing System (VETS). The indicator calculation models were then established to estimate the comprehensive benefit of ETC system by comparing the test results of MTC lane and ETC lane. Finally, taking Beijing as a case study, the paper calibrated the model parameters, and estimated the monetization value of environmental benefit of the ETC system in terms of vehicle emissions reduction and fuel consumption decrease. The results shows that the applications of ETC system are expected to save fuel consumption of 4.1 million liters and reduce pollution emissions by 730.89 tons in 2013 in Beijing.

Investigating the impact of highway electronic toll collection to the external cost: A case study in Taiwan

The implementation of electronic toll collection (ETC) on highways aims to reduce toll transaction time and thereby increase service capacity. In this paper, considering the separation of manual toll collection (MTC) and ETC lanes, a method is developed to estimate the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, transaction time, and the associated external cost incurred by vehicular traffic at four toll plazas on a northern-central highway in Taiwan. Three vehicle types are considered: passenger cars, buses and trucks. Results show that the CO2 emissions were reduced by 12.4% as the number of ETC lanes for all 4 toll plazas increased. The reduction of external costs fell by 60.1% in terms of value of transaction time, which will arguably lead highway authorities to actively promote ETC

Influences of traffic volumes and wind speeds on ambient ultrafine particle levels—Observations at a highway electronic toll collection (ETC) lane

The levels of ultrafine particles (UFPs) and their size distributions on a highway electronic toll collection (ETC) lane were measured from October 30 to November 1 and November 5 to November 6, 2008. The hourly UFP levels measured at the highway ETC lane were 1.3 × 104–1.9 × 105 particles cm−3 (mean = 9.4 × 104 particles cm−3). Compared with urban UFP levels, average UFP levels at the highway ETC lane were about 5–10 times higher than those previously measured in urban areas, indicating that a considerable amount of UFPs were exhausted from vehicles. At the highway ETC lane, the average UFP number size distribution had a dominant mode at about 10 nm and a minor mode at about 33 nm. Measurement results indicate that nucleation mode particles remained at relatively high levels compared to Aitken mode and accumulation mode particles at the highway ETC lane. This study identifies the impacts of traffic volumes and wind speeds on ambient UFP levels. Measurement results show that the elevated UFP levels resulting from traffic volume decreased exponentially as wind speed increased on the highway when wind speed was <2.0 m s−1. However, the elevated UFP levels resulting from traffic volume increased slightly when wind speed was >2.0 m s−1 due to local turbulent mixing causes UFPs at high wind speeds. According to measurement results, high levels of UFP were observed at low wind speeds and under high traffic volumes.

Numerical evaluation of pollutant dispersion at a toll plaza based on system dynamics and Computational Fluid Dynamics models

The health of tollbooth workers is seriously threatened by long-term exposure to polluted air from vehicle exhausts. Using traffic data collected at a toll plaza, vehicle movements were simulated by a system dynamics model with different traffic volumes and toll collection procedures. This allowed the average travel time of vehicles to be calculated. A three-dimension Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was used with a k– ε turbulence model to simulate pollutant dispersion at the toll plaza for different traffic volumes and toll collection procedures. It was shown that pollutant concentration around tollbooths increases as traffic volume increases. Whether traffic volume is low or high (1500 vehicles/h or 2500 vehicles/h), pollutant concentration decreases if electronic toll collection (ETC) is adopted. In addition, pollutant concentration around tollbooths decreases as the proportion of ETC-equipped vehicles increases. However, if the proportion of ETC-equipped vehicles is very low and the traffic volume is not heavy, then pollutant concentration increases as the number of ETC lanes increases.

Evaluation of Impacts of Open Road Tolling on Main-Line Toll Plaza

Implementation of open road tolling (ORT) can provide better performance for a toll collection facility than the use of a conventional toll plaza design. Improvements have been sought to decrease toll transaction times so that drivers experience reduced delays or none at all. Although intelligent transportation systems technology such as automatic vehicle identification in the form of electronic toll collection (ETC) is a concept that has revolutionized toll collection, with the ever-increasing traffic volumes on toll facilities, more innovative methods such as ORT are being deployed. Agencies around the world have implemented ORT, and some have integrated express (high-speed) ETC lanes in their normal plaza design. A main-line toll plaza in Orlando, Florida, was renovated following an ORT design concept. The plaza was expanded to include express ETC lanes separated from the cash payment lanes by a barrier. Data were collected before construction, during construction, and after construction was completed. Analysis showed that average reduced delays for manual cash customers equaled 49.8% and for automatic coin machine customers, 55.3%; and the speed in the express ETC lanes increased by 57%. To evaluate the benefits further, forecast scenario results from a toll plaza microsimulation model, TPSIM, were analyzed with positive conclusions. An analysis of crash data showed a 22% drop in total crashes at the plaza and a 26% drop in the plaza's area of influence. This case study provided conclusive results that implementing ORT compared with using a conventional toll facility is beneficial for improving toll collection.

A model for optimizing electronic toll collection systems

This paper examines the deployment of electronic toll collection (ETC) and develops a model to maximize social welfare associated with a toll plaza. A payment choice model estimates the share of traffic using ETC as a function of delay, price, and a fixed cost of acquiring the in-vehicle transponder. Delay in turn depends on the relative number of ETC and manual collection lanes. Price depends on the discount given to users of the ETC lanes. The fixed cost of acquiring the transponder (not simply a monetary cost, but also the effort involved in signing up for the program) is a key factor in the model. Once a traveler acquires the transponder, the cost of choosing ETC in the future declines significantly. Welfare depends on the market share of ETC, and includes delay and gasoline consumption, toll collection costs, and social costs such as air pollution. This work examines the best combination of ETC lanes and toll discount to maximize welfare. Too many ETC lanes cause excessive delay to non-equipped users. Too high a discount costs the highway agency revenue needed to operate the facility. The model is applied to California’s Carquinez Bridge, and recommendations are made concerning the number of dedicated ETC lanes and the appropriate ETC discount.

Toll Network Capacity Calculator: Operations Management and Assessment Tool for Toll Network Operators

A performance assessment tool was developed to assist managers and operators of highway networks containing toll collection facilities. The toll network capacity calculator (TNCC) quantifies a toll facility’s ability to process traffic. The calculator can also help engineers who are designing toll facilities to serve highway systems adequately. TNCC determines the maximum amount of traffic that a collection facility can handle. In addition, TNCC may be used for disruption management during lane closings, incidents, or maintenance checks. Furthermore, TNCC may be employed as a planning tool and a performance assessment tool by predicting the impact of surging traffic volumes during special events. The performance of a toll facility was determined from plaza characteristics such as lane number, lane type, and processing rates. The results of the calculations met constraints set by the characteristics of the arriving traffic. For example, variables such as the percentage of arrivals that were electronic toll collection (ETC) patrons and the percentage of arrivals that were semitrailer trucks requiring non-ETC services influenced the plazas’ performance outcome. Overflow of ETC users from the dedicated ETC lanes into the mixed lanes was also a factor. Performance was independent of hourly arrival volumes. Videotapes and transaction data at plazas provided necessary input to TNCC in the evaluation of 32 plazas on the toll network of highways in Orange County, Florida.

Analyzing Performance of ETC Plazas Using New Computer Software

This paper investigates the sensitivity of the peak hour plaza delay to market penetration of the electronic toll collection (ETC) system using the toll plaza simulation model developed by the Transportation Systems Institute at the University of Central Florida. This microscopic and stochastic computer software was applied to the busiest toll plaza in Orlando, Florida. The findings indicate that, for all plaza configurations simulated with the manual lanes operating over capacity, if only as little as 10% of the manual users switch to ETC lanes, then the total plaza delay (vehicle-hours) is cut in half, the average queuing delay per vehicle is reduced by more than 90 s, and the peak hour plaza throughput (vph) is increased by more than 20%. When the manual lanes operate under capacity, the increase in ETC usage has no impact on plaza delay or throughput. This study demonstrated that ETC vehicles' accessibility to the dedicated ETC lane(s) from the approach lanes could have a major impact on deciding the location of the dedicated ETC lane(s) within the toll plaza.

New Model for Evaluation of Traffic Operations at Electronic Toll Collection Plazas

Traffic simulation models are used to enhance planning, design, operation, and management of transportation facilities. A discrete-event stochastic object-oriented microscopic simulation model is presented that was specifically developed to evaluate the operational performance of toll plazas. Traffic behavior is represented using a set of mathematical and logic algorithms that control the conflicts among vehicles within the toll plaza area. Modified versions of car-following and lane-changing algorithms and a new toll-lane selection algorithm are integrated into this new model to simulate traffic operation at toll plazas. The model output includes measures of effectiveness (MOEs) that can be used to evaluate the performance of existing and future individual toll lanes and the entire toll plaza system. Real-world data collected at the busiest toll plaza in the Orlando–Orange County Expressway Authority system were used to validate the developed model. Statistical tests indicate that there is no significant difference at the 95 percent confidence level between MOEs obtained from the model and those collected in the real world. Sensitivity analysis of market penetration of the electronic toll collection (ETC) system indicates that an increase in ETC subscription rate improves the efficiency of toll plaza operation. The benefits of ETC depend on the specific plaza configuration. One of the most interesting results of this study is that for all plaza configurations simulated with manual payment lanes operating over capacity, total plaza delay can be reduced by half if only 10 percent of the users switch from manual payment lanes to ETC lanes.