Emovis has successfully completed the end-to-end upgrade of Concession A25’s all electronic tolling (AET) systems, which operates on a strategic highway corridor in the Montreal metropolitan area of Canada.
The tolling system on Canada’s Autoroute 25 (A25) operates on the Olivier Charbonneau Bridge, which carries three lanes in each direction over the Riviere des Prairies, north of Montreal. The bridge is owned by Concession A25 (CA25) and uses a RFID (radio frequency identification) transponder system, with video-based tolling for vehicles without a toll tag.
CA25 is the private partner of the Quebec Ministry of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification (MTMDET) and coordinates the maintenance and rehabilitation activities of the motorway, as well as the operation of the electronic toll collection system.
The tolling system was originally deployed by Emovis (formerly Sanef ITS) in 2011. Emovis is 100% owned by Abertis, one of the world’s leading highway concessions companies, with 5,300 miles (8,300km) of roads under its direct management. The key challenge to Emovis was carrying out the system’s upgrade under live traffic conditions. To achieve this, the company drew on its past projects and multidisciplinary teams to seamlessly migrate all customer accounts and financial records over a holiday weekend, without affecting the revenue stream of the concessionaire.
The company says the innovative system that it engineered for the project sets the future direction of tolling for highway operators. The new system guarantees every penny of revenue, enhances customer experience, improves operational efficiency, and provides flexibility in moving to new interoperability standards.
The new system uses multiprotocol readers accepting new 6C RFID tags in addition to the existing 6B tags, and is also programmed to accept E-ZPass transponders. This will allow CA25 as operator to have a smooth transition for its customers, while rolling-out the new 6C tags.
The new multi-lingual tolling back-office application with its integrated modular architecture, offers simplified interfaces giving the operator greater flexibility. In order to further improve customer satisfaction, Emovis will soon roll out a mobile application that will be directly interfaced with the new back office. The company will make use of the technology from its successful QuikPay smartphone app, which it developed for Ireland’s M50 barrier-free toll system. Emovis will provide 24-hour support services to CA25 through its local subsidiary in Montreal.
