page_title: Electronic toll collection
section_title: Use in urban areas and for congestion pricing
hierarchical_section_title: Electronic toll collection / Use in urban areas and for congestion pricing
caption_attribution_description: Costanera Norte Freeway crossing downtown Santiago
context_page_description: Electronic toll collection is a wireless system to automatically collect the usage fee or toll charged to vehicles using toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels. It is a faster alternative which is replacing toll booths, where vehicles must stop and the driver manually pays the toll with cash or a card. In most systems, vehicles using the system are equipped with an automated radio transponder device. When the vehicle passes a roadside toll reader device, a radio signal from the reader triggers the transponder, which transmits back an identifying number which registers the vehicle's use of the road, and an electronic payment system charges the user the toll. A major advantage is the driver does not have to stop, reducing traffic delays. Electronic tolling is cheaper than a staffed toll booth, reducing transaction costs for government or private road owners. The ease of varying the amount of the toll makes it easy to implement road congestion pricing, including for high-occupancy lanes, toll lanes that bypass congestion, and city-wide congestion charges.
context_section_description: The most revolutionary application of ETC is in the urban context of congested cities, allowing to charge tolls without vehicles having to slow down. This application made feasible to concession to the private sector the construction and operation of urban freeways, as well as the introduction or improvement of congestion pricing, as a policy to restrict auto travel in downtown areas.
  Between 2004 and 2005, Santiago, Chile implemented the world's first 100% full speed electronic tolling with transponders crossing through the city's core (CBD) in a system of several concessioned urban freeways (Autopista Central and Autopista Costanera Norte). The United Arab Emirates implemented in 2007 a similar road toll collection in Dubai, called Salik. Similar schemes were previously implemented but only on bypass or outer ring urban freeways in several cities around the world: Toronto in 1997 (Highway 407), several roads in Norway (AutoPASS), Melbourne in 2000 (CityLink), and Tel Aviv also in 2000 (Highway 6).
  Congestion pricing or urban toll schemes were implemented to enter the downtown area using ETC technology and/or cameras and video recognition technology to get the plate numbers in several cities around the world: urban tolling in Norway's three major cities: Bergen (1986), Oslo (1990), and Trondheim (1991) (see Trondheim Toll Scheme); Singapore in 1998 (see Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing), as an upgrade to the world's first successful congestion pricing scheme implemented with manual control in 1975 (see also Singapore's Area Licensing Scheme); Rome in 2001 as an upgrade to the manual zone control system implemented in 1998; London in 2003 and extended in 2007 (see London congestion charge); Stockholm, tested in 2006 and made the charge permanent in 2007 (see Stockholm congestion tax); and in Valletta, the capital city of Malta, since May 2007.
  In January 2008, Milan began a one-year trial program called Ecopass, a pollution pricing program in which low-emission-standard vehicles pay a user fee; alternative fuel vehicles and vehicles using conventional fuels but compliant with the Euro IV emission standard are exempted. The program was extended through December 2011 and in January 2012 was replaced by a congestion pricing scheme called Area C.
  New York City considered the implementation of a congestion pricing scheme.  New York City Council approved such a plan in 2008, but it was not implemented because the New York State Assembly did not approve it. (see New York congestion pricing)
  In 2006, San Francisco transport authorities began a comprehensive study to evaluate the feasibility of introducing congestion pricing. The charge would be combined with other traffic reduction implementations, allowing money to be raised for public transit improvements and bike and pedestrian enhancements. The various pricing scenarios considered were presented in public meetings in December 2008, with final study results expected in 2009. (see San Francisco congestion pricing)
caption: ETC at "Costanera Norte" Freeway, crossing downtown 100% free flow, Santiago, Chile
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