Tolling & Congestion Zone Charging

Many road authorities rely on tolling as a vital source of revenue to help fund costly road infrastructure projects.

Conventional toll collection requires the vehicle to slow or stop at a toll booth in order to pay a toll fee. This type of (non free flow) system ensures that the toll operator catches all vehicles and therefore maximises the revenue collected. Tolling stations however affect traffic flow. With increased traffic density and during peak volume periods, tolling stations can bring traffic to a standstill leaving drivers angry and frustrated.

In order to improve traffic flow and minimise congestion caused by tolling stations, open road tolling is preferable. Open road tolling removes the toll booths and uses cameras and electronic systems instead to provide an automated means of charging for the road’s use without stopping the vehicle to collect payment. Open road, automated, toll collection use advanced systems to accurately verify and perform vehicle classification at high speed.

AUTOMATIC NUMBER PLATE RECOGNITION

Toll operators charge tolling fees based on the vehicle classification. In open road tolling, an automatic vehicle classification system is required. Reading vehicle number plates using ANPR is the most accepted method by which this is achieved.

SMARTREG™ ANPR camera systems use high-resolution digital cameras to capture images of passing vehicles. The camera can accept a trigger input from a ground loop device or other external sensor to capture images of vehicles irrespective of their speed or position. The ANPR system interprets these images using optical character recognition to identify the make and model of the vehicle. SMARTREG™ Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems provide reliable performance across multiple lanes and are able to differentiate number plates in poor weather conditions with high levels of accuracy.

CONGESTION ZONE CHARGING

In larger cities, where congestion is a real problem, road authorities have implemented congestion zone charging in order to encourage motorists to make better use of public transportation. License plate detection cameras are used to identify vehicles when entering a congestion pay zone. The vehicle plate information, including the colour image, is recorded for evidential purposes. Motorists are given a certain period of time to pay the congestion charge otherwise a fine is normally issued to recover payment..

SMARTREG™ ANPR systems represent a reliable, practical technology for cost effective, open road tolling and congestion zone charging.

Contact our sales team for more information..