Manual Toll Collection Research Articles

Modeling of Applying Road Pricing to Airport Highway Using VISUM Software in Jordan

Road congestion in Amman City has been increasing yearly, due to the increase in private car ownership and traffic volumes. This study aims to (a) evaluate the toll road’s effects on society and the economy in Amman, Jordan, through a survey questionnaire using statistical software (SPSS), (b) assess the impact of the toll road on reducing congestion and delays using micro-simulation (VISUM), (c) identify the optimal toll price for a selected road using VISUM and (d) validate the simulated models with the optimal revenue. Traffic, geometric, and cost data about the toll technique of two sections on the Airport Highway (from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Madaba Interchange; and from the Madaba Interchange to the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) Interchange) were used for simulation purposes. The toll road (across seven different scenarios at different prices) was evaluated for optimal revenue. The survey questionnaire was made based on all scenarios, including the AM peak hour. The operation cost for the toll road was determined based on the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM). The best scenario was determined based on the value of revenue (JOD). The results indicate that higher acceptance is achieved when applying road pricing during the AM peak hour and that users prefer the charging method based on travelled distance (54.02%). Additionally, the total cost of the manual toll collection (MTC) method is 126,935 JOD. Road pricing can reduce traffic delay (or speed up traffic flow) by 4.61 min in the southbound direction and by 9.52 min in the northbound direction. The optimal toll value is 0.25 JOD (34.08%), with revenues of 1089.6 JOD for 2024 and 1122.6 JOD for 2025. Eventually, applying road pricing on the airport road is shown to be effective and economically feasible only when using the manual method.

Service time thresholds at barrier-operated freeway exit toll booths

This paper discusses service times based on vehicle class at barrier-operated toll booths. Service times were measured using four vehicle classifications: car (C), medium goods vehicle (MGV), trucks & bus (TB), and articulated truck (AT) with two payment options: electronic (ETC) and manual toll collection (MTC). Each toll booth has both payment systems and resulting in mixed toll booth utilization in terms of payment and vehicles. The collected data was utilized to estimate logistic regression, and non-parametric statistical tests were performed. Findings indicate, when vehicle size increases, so does service time for even ETC. Furthermore, logistic regression used to compute threshold service times shifting from ETC to MTC for C, MGV, TB, and AT, which were 5.92, 7.51, 10.00, and 12.80 s, respectively. The transition time for a vehicle switch from ETC to MTC based on the logistic curve is denoted by threshold service time. Below the threshold, ETC is more favorable option and affected by barrier and vehicle class. Overall, the results indicate that operators can benefit from more dynamic operational conditions facilitated by threshold service times, enabling adaptive and efficient toll booth operations. Additionally, these thresholds can serve as valuable measure of service quality for managing freeway exits.

Research on the Expansion Application of Electronic Toll Collection System

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system is an important part of modern intelligent transport system, which plays an important role in intelligent car parks and congestion charging. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system includes automatic vehicle identification system and electronic billing system. The automatic vehicle identification system includes three parts: automatic vehicle identification (AVI), automatic vehicle model identification (AVC) and inspection system (ES).The application of ETC in intelligent car parks and congestion charging also includes automatic vehicle identification system (automatic vehicle identification, automatic vehicle model identification and inspection system) and electronic billing system. In intelligent car parks, ETC technology achieves fast and accurate automatic toll payment by automatically identifying the ETC tags carried by vehicles, which greatly improves the efficiency of car parks and reduces the queuing and waiting time due to manual toll collection. In terms of congestion charging, ETC technology provides an effective means to implement congestion charge collection. By setting up ETC toll lanes in core urban areas or busy road sections, the system can automatically record the information of the vehicles passing through and carry out toll settlement, thus realising dynamic toll collection according to the degree of congestion and the frequency of vehicle use. This congestion charging strategy aims to regulate urban traffic flow through economic means, alleviate traffic congestion and promote the sustainable development of urban transport. Although China's theoretical research on congestion charging, has been relatively mature, but affected by a variety of factors, no city has yet to start the implementation of congestion charging, the lack of experience in practice. Singapore will not stop the car charging system (ETC) technology successfully applied to urban congestion charging and intelligent car parks, ETC system in intelligent car parks and congestion charging application, help to promote the development of urban transport to a more intelligent, green direction. China can learn from the successful experience of foreign countries and apply it to its own intelligent car parks and congestion charging. This paper introduces the basic principle of ETC, discusses the research progress of ETC in terms of technical characteristics, and analyses the application scenarios of ETC in intelligent car parks and congestion charging. By examining the opportunities offered by Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems in smart car parks and congestion pricing, this study aims to delve into the transformative impacts of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems on intelligent mobility and contribute to the sustainable development of intelligent mobility.

A Review on Automatic Toll Collection System

One of the most crucial elements for any country's development is logistics, or transportation. Since India is one of the world's largest nations, road transportation plays a vital role in the country's economy. For any government, having fast road transit becomes essential, and toll plazas are essential to this. The most commonly used toll systems in India at the moment are the manual toll collection and FASTag systems. Toll plaza processing times rise as a result of their need for a toll collector or attendant. The Automatic Toll Collection System, or ATCS, is a tool used to automatically collect taxes. Here, radio frequency is used to help in identification. An RFID tag will be attached to a car. This tag is nothing more than an allocated unique identification number. The RTO, or traffic controlling body, will assign this. We shall keep all of his basic data and the amount he has paid in advance for the TOLL collection in line with this number. At the toll collection facility, the reader will be positioned strategically. His prepaid balance will be reduced by the tax amount each time the car passes the toll collection center. This essay discusses several automated toll collection systems that are intended to improve overall transportation efficiency, ease toll payment procedures, and lessen traffic congestion. The suggested method computes toll fees automatically by utilizing cutting-edge technology including mobile communication, GPS, and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

Towards intelligent transportation system: A comprehensive review of electronic toll collection systems

AbstractElectronic toll collection system (ETCS) devices on vehicles communicate wirelessly with road head devices at toll stations. ETCS is preferred in countries because it is more convenient and efficient than manual toll collection. However, the scattered and constant innovations in this sector require a bridge between worldwide ETCS usage and advancements and a single page to grasp this sector's developments to ensure further developments. Following a systematic review, this study examined ETCS worldwide and technology adaption considering the scopes, limitations, usages, and related technology of the ever‐developing electronic toll collection system. Existing ETCS technologies have been investigated and synchronized with ingrowing tech disparity to overcome the research synchronization gap. The study also included a bibliometric assessment to identify the important areas of research, technologies most used, degree of knowledge generated, growth/trend of the researches, most well‐known authors, keywords, countries, documents, source of publication, and so on considering time‐to‐time changes. The study provided bibliometric solutions to the gap of lack of synchronization of research worldwide and even ETCS implementation difference within a country, which complicated collaboration with the central system and linked organizations and made it difficult for users to adapt the system.

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.

Enhancing Motorway Exit Efficiency: Determining the Ideal Number of Toll Booths

This study presents a model for determining the optimal number of toll booths at barrier-operated freeway exit toll booths in Istanbul, considering mixed traffic conditions and payment methods. In the past decade, Istanbul has experienced rapid growth in its road network due to public-private partnership (PPP) projects. However, despite relatively modest demand, long queues are frequently observed at the exit toll booths of newly constructed PPP freeways, which utilize barrier-controlled toll collection systems. These toll booths offer both electronic toll collection (ETC) and manual toll collection (MTC) options, with MTC users required to come to a complete stop for transactions, while ETC users experience reduced speeds. The presence of mixed payment methods leads to significant interactions between vehicles, resulting in longer service times and limited toll booth capacity. To evaluate the system, service times were measured considering four vehicle classes, payment methods of both the leading and serving vehicles, and whether the serving vehicle needed to wait for money exchange. The findings reveal a wide range of service times, varying from 2.21 seconds to 36.04 seconds, and toll booth capacities ranging from 168 to 1017 vehicles per hour per lane for different vehicle classes, with an increase in MTC utilization.

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.

Critical evaluation of application of robotic process automation on toll plaza

India is having 2nd largest number of road network across the world. Transportation has come in front of us as a regnant part of India. Objectives: Increasing vehicles creating a lot of traffic congestion at toll plazas, therefore manual toll collection system is eliminated with fastag due to a lot of drawbacks. It is a kind of mini device that employs RFID technology, which makes collection of tolls easy and fast. Under this type of system, a RFID chip installed sticker, stick on the vehicle and amount gets automatically deducted from the bank account, in addition, with it numerous benefits to travelers as well as the highways authority of India. But still customers are facing a lot of problems while passing through toll plaza. Methodology: This study was focused on both the primary and the secondary data. To evaluate the factors one sample t-statistics was used for statistical analysis. Findings: The result showed that after implementing Robotic Process Automation numbers of factors like stress, time and satisfaction level came out, which were affecting the performance of toll plazas. Conclusion: The present study tries to detect whether Robotic Process Automation has any significant impact on the performance of toll plazas or not.

Optimizing guidance signage system to improve drivers’ lane-changing behavior at the expressway toll plaza

Although ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) has been widely implemented in vehicles in China in recent years, the channel guidance signage system on expressways has not been updated accordingly. Late lane-changing occurs when drivers are confused about the correct channel to enter, leading to increased crash risks and traffic congestion in front of the toll. The paper aims to optimize the current guidance signage systems, given the high proportion of ETC vehicles on Chinese expressways, and evaluate its effects on the drivers’ lane-changing behavior when passing through the expressway toll channels. A driving simulator experiment was conducted to test four scenarios: Original sign plan, Partial Manual Toll Collection (MTC) sign plan, Complete MTC sign plan and Complete MTC sign with Voice warning plan. Forty participants with a valid driver's license completed the four scenarios, and their behavior performances (e.g., decision-making of lane-changing, response time, average speed and deceleration) in the main lane in front of the toll booth were analyzed. The results showed that compared to the Original sign plan and Partial MTC sign plans, the Complete MTC sign plans (with and without voice warning) played a significant role in improving the MTC vehicle drivers’ lane-changing behaviors. The improvement included earlier initiated lane-changing, shortened response time, lower deceleration rate and extended lane-changing duration distance. The findings of this study have important implications for expressway designers and relevant management departments to optimize the current guidance signage and enhance traffic safety and efficiency at the toll plaza.

Optimal control method of freeway based on tollbooths lane configuration and variable speed limit control

There are tollbooths on some freeway ramps, and toll lanes can be divided into Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), Manual Toll Collection system (MTC), ETC/MTC hybrid toll lanes and closed. The traffic capacity of different lanes is different. Different lane combinations are set to adjust the traffic flow of the ramp into the main line. Therefore, this strategy can be regarded as a kind of ramp metering (RM). This paper presents an optimal control method for freeways based on tollbooths lanes configuration and variable speed limit (VSL) control. Firstly, cellular automata model and cell transmission model are used to describe the operation of toll plazas and main line traffic flow respectively. Furthermore, the freeway control methods are constructed by using tollbooths RM (TB-RM) and TB-RM combined with main line VSL control respectively to improve the freeway traffic operation efficiency. Finally, the proposed method is simulated experimentally. Results from simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed method (i) significantly improves the traffic performance in terms of total time spent savings; (ii) observably enhances driving safety.

Vehicle Detection and Counting for Toll Plaza

Many highway toll collection systems have already been developed and are widely used in India. Some of them contain manual toll collection, RF tags, barcodes and license plates recognition. All of these systems have drawbacks that lead to some errors in the corresponding system. At toll plaza, all lanes have a mixed lane system that is, both MTC and ETC. The delay and queue is mainly due to this two different charging methods vehicles pass through the same lane. In addition, with the help of collected data and visuals onsite investigation, some additional causes of traffic .Considering all these causes, this is the paper proposes solution to these problems. In this project we are using SSD_Mobilenet_V1 architecture. It uses the TenserFlow algorithm, which helps detect objects using images, videos, or CCTVs. It will contain study of areas such as Image processing, image enhancement. The proposed model can support government agencies to dynamically manage the toll plaza. It will help to tally all the cars at the end of the day to help avoid frauds which can conducted by the toll booth attendee.

Political and technical complexities of electronic toll collection: Lessons from Taiwan

Traditional manual toll collection (MTC) imposes a significant queue length near toll plazas and results in road users delay (travel time loss), administration, fuel consumption, accidents, and other societal costs. Many countries (e.g. the U.S., Japan, Taiwan) have introduced and are continually upgrading Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems, thereby achieving key efficiencies and reduction in social costs. ETC systems worldwide have different toll collections technologies, for example, by road usage or Vignette, by peak or non-peak travel, or by distance travelled. Consequently, countries are faced with many technical and political complexities both at the initial consideration of whether to introduce ETC, and in any subsequent development. Taiwan has much experience of both toll collection and also ETC and has a long history in relation to its introduction. This paper presents historical and qualitative interview data with highly experienced ETC operators and government officials in Taiwan. Results are presented and discussed along four major axes: practical applicability, technological development, political variation and publicity and marketing. It also provides a retrospective and current consideration along these axes of technical and political complexities involved with introducing ETC. The paper is intended to inform transportation agencies considering introducing or developing their own ETC systems. Areas of future research for ETC are also suggested.

A Study on User Acceptable Road Pricing Policy for Toll Roads: A Case of Eethakota, India

User’s acceptability and perceptions are the important issues for the successful implementation of road pricing schemes. In a developing country like India, the toll collection is switching from Manual Toll Collection (MTC) to the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) and Open Road Tolling. A better understanding of perceptions and acceptability on different road pricing schemes can help transport planners and decision makers to know the public support for road pricing schemes before and after implementation. A questionnaire based survey has been used to explore perceptions and acceptability of road pricing schemes such as High Occupancy toll (HOT), Dynamic Toll Pricing (DTP), Distance based pricing etc. For the present study, the sample of 550 respondents has been taken with the help of an online platform and face to face interview. The results show that about 41.18 percent of the users are willing to use the distance-based pricing scheme. The study developed multinomial logit model to analyse the acceptability of different pricing schemes. The results show that there are significant differences in user acceptability by the type of charging scheme proposed. HOT was most acceptable by users who perceive less travel time savings for using toll roads. The acceptability of DTP decreases for users who felt tolls are not an appropriate mechanism to fund roads. Number of toll booth passed is a significant parameter affecting acceptability of distance based pricing. In addition; socioeconomic variables also affect each of the pricing schemes. The signs of estimated parameters fit prior knowledge and are statically significant.The outcome of the present study will provide a reference for providing a users’ acceptable pricing scheme in India.

The Influence of Figures in Warning Signs at the Manual Toll Station on the Lane Change Timing of Drivers in the Context of Virtual Reality of High‐Proportion ETC Vehicles

The increase of ETC (electronic toll collection system) vehicles on expressways has changed the proportion of ETC/MTC (manual toll collection system) lanes at toll stations. Based on a driving simulator, three toll gate lane warning sign schemes (scheme for present situation, MTC guidance scheme, and arrow + MTC guidance scheme) were proposed in this study. Driving simulation experiments were conducted to study the influence of figures in warning signs at the manual toll station on the lane change timing of drivers. It was found that the addition of arrows to the warning signs can significantly shorten the response time and guide the driver to make lane change decisions earlier to reduce the congestion between MTC vehicles and the mainline ETC vehicles at the toll plaza, thereby improving the traffic capacity and safety.

The impact of large vehicles on the traffic performance of toll plazas, a case at Hochiminh City

In recent years, toll stations are bottlenecks creating queues during rush hours on the highway, accompanied by manual toll collection, leading to traffic congestion, increasing travel time, and economic losses. This paper focuses on studying the influence of large vehicles, such as buses, trucks, and trailers, one of the causes of long queues, leading to reducing traffic performance of toll plaza. The Hanoi highway toll plaza was selected as the case study, the station has a very large traffic volume, especially large-sized vehicles entering/exiting Hochiminh city. The research results by using traffic simulation VISSIM show that the large-sized vehicle component greatly affects the queue lengths at the station, the suggestion of applying the electronic toll collection (ETC) method is considered the best potential solution to this problem.

Distribution Analysis and Forecast of Traffic Flow of an Expressway Electronic Toll Collection Lane

AbstractWith the rapid increase of vehicle ownership in China, toll collection stations on expressways have become some of the most congested areas. Compared with a manual toll collection system (M...

Method for Rationalising the Operational Process of a Manual Motorway Toll Collection System.

The article presents the verification of a developed method of rationalising the process of the operation of a manual toll collection (MTC) system on the basis of current operation tests. The review of the state of art and research on the operation of the manual toll collection system prompted the authors to develop their own method of rationalising the operation process of the manual toll collection system. The method enabled the development of an original application facilitating the process of manual toll collection system. The application makes it possible to determine the key indicator—the readiness index for the employed operation strategy of the analysed toll collection station and the readiness index for the employed operation strategy of the analysed group of toll collection stations. Additionally, the application enables an analysis of the capacity and the service assessment by motorway users. The use of the software system together with the developed method was implemented on a real toll plaza. This action allowed for the analysis and implementation of an adequate MTC service strategy. The results of the research and analysis are presented in the summary and conclusions.

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.