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Oklahoma to Choose

E-ZPass, Scrap Amtech?

The Oklahoma turnpike is going into the second generation of electronic toll equipment, probably with Mark IV. The existing Amtech system which operates under the name PIKEPASS dating to 1991 will be scrapped. Staff at the Oklahoma Transportation Authority (OTA) as the Turnpike Authority was renamed as of Nov 99, say that they are attracted to the idea of joining E-ZPass and employing what they see as the nation’s dominant electronic toll system, if not eventually a national standard for tolling.

E-ZPass uses active synchronous transponders from Mark IV, a New York company whose electronics division is based in the Toronto area. The Oklahoma turnpike presently uses read-only passive backscatter tags that use a battery as an amplifier.

At a board meeting Jan 20 the OTA formally accepted a staff recommendation that it work with Transcore as its system designer and integrator to install a second generation electronic toll system. Transcore’s bid was accepted over bids from Lockheed Martin and Amtech. Amtech understandably only recommended its own tags, though with major upgrades to read-write, but Lockheed like Transcore also proposed E-ZPass Mark IV equipment. Both offered Amtech tags upgraded as another option.

Oklahoma officials say the Transcore proposal makes a switch to active Mark IV toll technology very attractive. Mark IV prices are close to Amtech prices yet offer the opportunity for a higher rate of accuracy at speed than passive backscatter, an official at OTA told us. It also provides the opportunity to join the E-ZPass ‘club’ in the heart of US toll territory and to share their buying power and established arrangements for clearing one another’s transactions.

Transcore’s CEO John Worthington told us he is “delighted to be back in Oklahoma.” The predecessor company, Syntonic, had a major role on the Oklahoma Turnpike in the 1980s before electronic tolling allowed Amtech to successfully gain maintenance contracts in the early 90s. Worthington said Transcore will be working with the turnpike staff on a joint evaluation of the best system to install. The results of that evaluation and system design will be written into a formal contract to be negotiated in a few months time.

Oklahoma was the first full statewide toll system to go electronic, though the first single one to implement ET was the Dallas North Tollway, also with equipment from the pioneer, Amtech.

There have been changeovers before. In Jan 1998 the Illinois Tollway swapped out AT/Comm electronic toll equipment, and in 1994 the New York State Thruway swapped out Amtech e-tags. In both cases the deployment was incomplete and quite small numbers of transponders were involved – 36k tags in the case of Illinois and about the same on the NY State Thruway. In both cases Mark IV equipment was substituted at an early stage when they were only low single digit percentages of transactions.

Oklahoma is different in that 45% of transactions are being conducted by the Amtech system and it is now 9 years old. There are 440k Amtech e-tags on patrons’ windshields. Transponder batteries are now giving up the ghost and the tags are being turned in. OTA feels it has got a full useful life out of the system.

Orlando to Amtech

Another major system changeover will occur in Orlando FL – in the other direction. The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Auth (OOCEA) will later this year scrap some 220k Mark IV transponders and install Amtech equipment. However the Mark IV equipment in Orlando is unique in that it consists of bumper-mounted transponders and in-pavement loops as transceiver antennas. Subsequent Mark IV systems have involved antennas on overhead gantries, or in the canopy of toll plazas, working with windshield mounted transponders, except in a very small minority of cases in which metalized windshield coatings interfere with radio communications and require an exterior transponder mount. As part of the FL statewide SunPass implementation with Amtech equipment OOCEA is falling into line with state interoperability arrangements. OOCEA is only replacing the transponders and antennas, while lane controllers and the whole toll management system will remain intact.

In the case of Oklahoma there will be a far wider replacement of the electronic toll system, with new lane controllers, violations cameras and a new toll management system. The Oklahoma turnpike system currently consists of ten toll roads totalling 902km (564mi), which have 59 interchanges and 51 toll plazas of which 20 are mainline barrier plazas and 31 ramp plazas. They collected $128m in tolls in 1998, the last full year accounted for. An addition four extensions totalling 80km (50mi) and costing $602m are under construction. These will constitute a substantial portion of beltways around Tulsa and Oklahoma City. They will be progressively opened over the next two years. Traffic has been growing about 6 to 7% annually on the turnpike system.

The Oklahoma turnpikes constitute a major trucking system and commercial vehicles represent 14% of 220k toll transactions daily and 44% of toll revenue. Tolls average 2.4c/km (3.9c/mi) for passenger cars and 6.6c/km (10.6c/mi) and average trips on the system are 41km (26mi) for cars and 77km (48mi) for trucks. (Contact David Machamer OTA 405 425 3622)