TX183A in Austin to video toll, then go cashless

Central Texas RMA, operator of the 183A tollroad northwest of Austin TX is moving to implement video tolling, as a first step toward giving up cash collection. They expect to begin sending out video toll bills in March or April. Cash collection will continue for now.

The move to video tolling was endorsed by the board of directors of the CTRMA today.

CTRMA has two mainline toll plazas, well one conventional modern toll plaza with open road electronic tolling down the middle and cash collection lanes off to each side - the Park Street Plaza. And a second they call the Lakeline 'TxTag only' Plaza is a set of open road toll gantries that collect a 45c toll. The section of roadway at Lakeline is elevated and it wasn't feasible to provide for any cash collection.

Perhaps because the other toll points provide for cash payment the Lakeline Plaza has been the subject of criticism with motorists claiming they were "trapped" and didn't see or understand the TxTag Only signs.

Violations have been running about 20%, nine months after the pike opened. CLARIFICATION: The 20% violation rate is at this one toll point without the cash option. 183A's overall violation rate at all the toll points is around 10% and at the full service Park St Plaza is around 5%. ADDED 2008-02-01

The violation penalty on 183A is $5.00, a low amount by industry standards.

By next month CTRMA will cease treating non-transponder passes as violators.

Instead they will video toll them there at a 30% premium above the electronic toll rate of 45c at 60c. They'll collect 15 days worth of video tolls and charge a $1 processing fee.

Pustelnyk explains what follows: "You have 30 days to pay the bill. If it is not paid you are issued a violation notice with an additional $15.00 administrative fee. After 30 days a second notice tacks on another $15 fee. After 30 days the notice is sent to collections and an additional $30.00 is tacked on (A total of $60.00 plus the amount of the original bill). If you accumulate two outstanding bills (two separate 15 day periods) then your video billing privileges are suspended and all future transactions go straight to the notice stage. You are also subject to issuance of a police citation." (ADDED 2008-01-31 16:00)

Cash tolls are $1.50 for cars at Park Street and there are 50c tolls at ramps at Brushy Creek. Electronic tolls are discounted 10% on cash tolls. The video tolls will be $1.80 and 60c.

CTRMA is doing 85% of total transactions by the TxTag sticker tags.

Spokesman Steve Pustelnik told us the uptake of the sticker transponders was way above expectation.

Video tolling only burst on the American scene in 2007. The 183A toll system with its ORT+cash toll plaza was state of the art when designed three or four years ago, but it is now obsolete and unnecessary. (ATTENTION KITSCH LOVERS - dinky dormers coming cheap.)

Staff will propose going all electronic/cashless

Staff are proposing that the whole road be made all electronic, ending cash collection completely, perhaps by the end of the year. This plan still has to go to the CTRMA board for consideration.

Toll transactions are running about 60k/weekday since full tolling came into effect, well above forecast. Using a three stage phase in of tolling the toller seems to have bypassed the normal 'ramp-up'. Tolls are at already levels forecast for 2010, but since June have been very steady, neither growing, nor falling. Toll revenues should be about $16m in the first full year vs $6m forecast.

TxDOT's tollroads in the Austin area are also doing well.

TxDOT has been doing video tolling on the 130, 45A and Loop 1 TRs too.

The 183A is already the subject of amazing tails:

REPRINT
Toll Road camera spots dangerous dog driver

AUSTIN PROBE | August 23, 2007

Austin, TX — When Cedar Park police officer Ponch Petrón got the call over his radio, he thought it was a joke.

“My first thought,” said Petrón, “was an April Fool’s joke or something. But then I remembered that it was August, and jokes are strictly forbidden on the police band.”

The call that Petrón received, in the mid-morning hours along the 183-A toll road in Cedar Park, came from his dispatcher. The dispatcher warned Petrón of a car speeding his way — being driven by a dog.

An observant toll road employee had seen the car approaching the toll plaza at an unusually high speed, so he snapped some extra photos of the car both coming and going.

“All I wanted was the license plate,” said Ernie Hodge, the toll plaza supervisor. “I wanted to report this maniac to the police for rocketing through the plaza, but I had not idea it would turn out like this. We all looked at the pictures and couldn’t believe our own eyes.”

Ernie Hodge made the call to the Cedar Park police, and the details were quickly relayed to the nearest officer — Officer Ponch Petrón.
Petrón made a quick mental note of the car’s make and model, and then peered over the concrete barrier that partially obscured his police cruiser.

When the silver Honda Accord came into view, Petrón switched on his overhead lights and began to enter the toll road. Minutes later, he had the Honda pulled over on the side of the road, in the vicinity of Lakeline Mall.

“I was amazed the dog knew how to pull over,” Petrón explained. “I thought, okay, here’s a dog who at least knows how to keep the steering wheel straight. But it actually pulled the car over … hazard lights and everything.”

Officer Petrón exited his cruiser and saw a man sitting in the car’s passenger seat. But he could not tell who, or what, was in the driver’s seat because of the headrest blocking his view. So he approached the vehicle slowly, coming up along the driver’s side.

When he stopped beside the window and looked in, the unusual sight confirmed the dispatcher’s call — a pensive pooch was sitting in the driver’s seat, tongue lolling in the afternoon heat, and with what appeared to be a happy-go-lucky smile on his face.

In a moment of disbelief, Officer Petrón asked the dog for license and registration, before he caught himself and spoke to the man instead.

“I said, sir, what is your dog doing driving this vehicle,” said Petrón.

“And the man just looked at me and said, ‘I was really, really tired officer. He’s well trained, and I just needed to give my eyes a break.’ Then I asked him if he realized the car went through the toll plaza at nearly 90 miles per hour.

He gave the dog this look like, ‘Wait till we get home, mister.’”

The dog’s owner was later charged with reckless driving, and the dog was let off with a stern warning.

“At least they both had their seatbelts on,” Petrón added. “Just goes to show you, even a dog can understand our ‘click it or ticket’ motto.”

EDITOR: These must be the guys who told IBTTA (who told USA Today) that Houston's Hardy Toll Road is the second busiest tollroad in America after Jersey's Garden State Parkway.

see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3373

TOLLROADSnews 2008-01-30