Puerto Rico passes half a million sticker tags sold

Puerto Rico is just passing the half million mark in transponders sold, and has around 400k in use. About 35% of toll transactions overall are now being conducted the with the eGo sticker-tag transponders marketed under the brandname AutoExpreso, and in peak hours the proportion is about 65%.

The PR governor Acevedo Vila has picked up on the success of AutoExpreso and in his annual State of the Commonwealth address a couple of weeks ago he announced the first discounts for transponder tolls over cash tolls. Details have no yet been hashed out.

Initial uptake of transponders was well above the planned rate. Electronic toll collection began on the island's expressways March 2004, and it is the largest deployment outside Texas of the sticker tags.

The rapid uptake of transponders by regular users caused the Highway Authority (ACT in the spanish abbreviation) to expand the program from the first stage 19 transponder-only lanes at six toll plazas to 49 lanes at 16 toll plazas.
Felipe Luyanda, deputy executive director of ACT says AutoExpreso is "one of the best programs on the Island."

"We managed to provide a system that is user friendly and accessible to everyone. It has solved recurring congestion problems at our major toll plazas. In addition to the travel time savings realized by everyone, the safety and environmental benefits of eliminating this recurring congestion are significant."

He says ACT has been able to avoid about $15m in plaza expansions that would have been necessary if the greater throughput of the transponder lanes had not been  introduced.

The Teodoro Moscoso Toll Bridge near San Juan  Airport operated by a private concessionaire has also recently converted its box transponders to the AutoExpreso sticker tags providing another four AutoExpreso lanes in the San Juan area and standardizing electronic toll collection Island-wide.

Puerto Rico Highway Authority (ACT) are now doing highspeed transponder toll lanes at some of their larger mainline plazas. In a single lane channelized configuration they consist of a full 3.65m (12ft) travel lane with 0.6m (2ft) buffer zone either side for a 4.9m (16ft) overall width between concrete curbs or barrier. Signed for 55mph (89km/hr) they have red plastic delineator posts on the approach and exit.

The highspeed toll lanes are an effort to improve the safety and regularize speeds through the exclusive transponder lanes. When electronic tolling started in the island territory a couple of years ago transponder-only lanes were shoehorned into the existing 2.6m (8.5ft) between concrete curbs of the established stop-to-pay toll plaza and posted for 35mph (56km/hr).

Although most motorists drove through these lanes at the posted speed some scream through at dangerously higher speeds.

An official told us they haven't had an abnormal amount of crashes but the wider format will improve safety and produce more uniform speeds. Motorists have told the authority they love the 55mph AutoExpreso lanes, so more are being implemented.

Six highspeed toll lanes at five toll plazas are now in operation with immediate plans for about another six.

The authority doesn't want to go to the expense of multiple lanes or open road lanes at this point. The electronic toll system operates only in dedicated lanes - no mixed mode lanes.

Officials in Puerto Rico say the eGo sticker tags have performed well. They say they do need to be handled gently in packing and enveloping. Some have been damaged by customers. But once placed on the vehicles’ windshield their performance appears to be similar to that of  conventional and more expensive box transponders. They produce satisfactory and similar read rates both in the roll-through and high speed lanes. 

Since the eGo tags rely on the inductance of the windshield to realize the RF gain necessary to function properly the tags do need to be physically adhered to the vehicle’s  windscreen limiting patron’s ability to swap them from one vehicle to another.  However, this is not considered a significant problem at current tag fees to patrons - $10.

In the three years of use some 100k out of 500k sold have gone out of service. That happens if the car is sold, a windshield is broken or the vehicle scrapped, or if the motorist discontinues the AutoExpreso account. It is almost impossible to take a sticker tag off the windshield and to successfully reuse it. It is designed for one-time application to a windshield.

Once properly stuck on patron’s windscreens the tags seem to be robust, ACT officials say. They have detected no apparent deterioration of the tags or their adhesive form the tropical sun.  

The AutoExpreso system including the tags was designed, equipped and installed by TransCore.  TransCore also provides maintenance and customer services and other electronic toll operations on the Island. eTrans acted as the PRHTA’s advisor, assisting in the planning, procurement and deployment of the AutoExpreso program.
see https://www.autoexpreso.com
www.dtop.gov.pr/act/default.htm (spanish only)

BACKGROUND:

There are five tolled expressways (expresos y autopistas) in Puerto Rico with a total of 26 toll plazas. Most of the toll plazas are mainline. With lots of untolled entry and exit ramps many free trips are available between the mainline toll plazas making it an "open" system, like the West Virginia Turnpike or the Miami Dade Expressways.

Puerto Rico has seen intense political combat between the administration of Gov Acevedo and the legislature where his opponents are in the majority. The territory has seen a budgetary crisis and much litigation.

Population of the island territory of the US is 3.94m similar to the Republic of Ireland, and only 1.3% of total US population but more than 24 states including Oklahoma, Oregon, Connecticutt and a bunch of others. Land area is 3,459 sq miles (8.9k sq km) the island being roughly 90 miles (150km) east-west by 30 miles (50km) north-south , only Delaware, Rhode Island and District of Columbia being smaller. Puerto Rico's state domestic product is $79b, or $19.1k per capita compared to the US average of $43k.

Nevertheless the territory has a quite high level of car ownership with around 2m motor vehicles, 60% the US average.

Puerto Ricans are US citizens and serve in the US armed forces, use US currency, and are subject to most federal laws - except blissfully they don't pay US income tax and they don't have suffer members of the US Congress.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-04