A new nationally interoperable toll service for the USA has been developed by TransCore. The initiative is in response to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which requires all Federal-aid highway toll facilities to implement technologies or business practices that provide for the interoperability of electronic toll collection by October 1, 2016.
TransCore’s new Nationalpass technology enables motorists to seamlessly travel on all US toll roads using one transponder and one account. The system’s new transponder allows the traveler to avoid costly rental car toll fees, with users considered to be local customers of all roadways that accept Nationalpass, providing the lowest available toll rate. The multi-protocol toll tag allows its users to travel at highway speeds and avoid delays at cash-payment lanes. The single portable transponder connects with back-office systems to provide timely statements for all toll transactions.
The system uses the participating agencies’ existing infrastructure and business rules, with no additional costs involved. TransCore is currently making the Nationalpass available to the individuals most closely involved with the national interoperability initiative, which includes personnel associated with tolling agencies throughout the USA, and also members of the United States Congress and their staff. The Nationalpass service will be offered to the general public starting in July 2016.
“Having provided services in the tolling industry for over 80 years, we always try to focus on providing practical, innovative solutions that are beneficial to our toll agency customers and the traveling public. We realized soon after the MAP-21 legislation was signed into law that the only practical solution to the interoperability requirement was to develop a transponder that worked with all the tolling systems already in place today,” explained TransCore’s president, Tracy Marks. “Obviously, tolling agencies have a financial responsibility to the public they serve, and there are hundreds of millions of dollars already invested in the infrastructure that supports their electronic tolling operations. Replacing or modifying this existing technology across all toll agencies simply wasn’t a realistic option. Nationalpass uses the existing infrastructure in place at toll facilities across the nation, resulting in no additional costs for the agencies, and seamless travel for the motorists. All agencies can now offer a nationally interoperable solution to any interested customer, and fully comply with MAP-21 requirements by the October 1, 2016 deadline in a practical, cost-effective way.”
Nationalpass can currently be used in the following USA public tolling states: California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Oklahoma will be added by July 1. Nationalpass is also accepted by private toll facilities that are interoperable with one of the regional hubs.
