TransCore, HTA, Avis-Budget team to promote 'eZGo Anywhere' tag, major obstacles remain

Highway Toll Administration LLC (HTA) an electronic toll services company and Avis Budget car rental group announced an agreement with toll system supplier TransCore today to promote its 'eZGo Anywhere' transponder. A headline on the press release suggests the multiprotocol transponder is being rolled out now (see full text below). However a roll-out requires a transponder to be tested and accepted by toll authorities, and this has not occurred.

Kelly Gravelle chief technical officer of TransCore says that a number of toll authorities are "very interested" in his company's multiprotocol transponder and that the agreement with HTA and Avis-Budget is an effort to move toward interoperability.

"Someone has to make the first step," he told us. "These are important stakeoholders" he said of HTA and Avis-Budget.

"We have had discussions with the toll agencies, and many of them see that the eZGo Anywhere transponder (eZGo) offers a lot of value. A lot of agencies are on board."

Gravelle declined to name the toll agencies, saying it is for them to speak for themselves.

He said the agreement with HTA and Avis-Budget would supply HTA with eZGo transponders at a contractually specified price. He agreed that toll authorities will have to accept the transponder but said that it virtually solves the problem of national interoperability "from a technical standpoint."

eZGo has a longlife lithium battery to support the active mode used in the IAG E-ZPass system and in the longer-range passive systems in the south. It can also handle the batteryless passive backscatter of simple read-only ATA protocols, and the modern read-write eGo and SeGo protocols on the product-ID derived sticker tags now spreading rapidly in Texas, Florida, Washington state and elsewhere outside the IAG. It doesn't yet work with straight Title 21 readers in California or Colorado, but would work with 95% of the US if accepted by toll agencies.

TransCore's Gravelle told us their concept of operations with HTA and Avis-Budget is that HTA would buy the eZGo transponders direct from TransCore. HTA has its own accounting systems which would allow it to do the back office clearances once it works out arrangements to have its transponders registered with various toll authorities, Gravelle said.

That is the huge challenge for HTA, it seems to us.

So far no toll authority has allowed a toll services company such as HTA or ATS (American Traffic Solutions, a competitor with HTA) to buy their own transponders directly from a manufacturer. Both HTA and ATS (which operates the brand PlatePass) buy their E-ZPass transponders from Port Authority NYNJ or New York State Thruway.

The largest integrated toll system in the US by far is the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) which presently has a sole source contract for purchase of IAG protocol transponders from Mark IV. The IAG-Mark IV contract runs to August 2010 with the option for an extension to August 2011.

The IAG has elaborate procedures for joint testing of new technology before adoption. Such tests would need to be conducted on TransCore's eZGo transponders.

The eZGo transponder is a central component TransCore's recently submitted bid in the E-ZPass IAG recompete. Today's announcement of the HTA/Avis-Budget agreement is seen as having the benefit of publicizing the new multiprotocol transponder in this competition.

The specifications of eZGo are here:

http://www.transcore.com/pdf/412096.pdf

Different views on how to get there

There are huge differences of opinion among both toll authorities and vendors on the best way to achieve national interoperability.

Mark IV, the existing supplier to the IAG advocates the USDOT-sponsored 5.9GHz VII standard as the most beneficial route to national interoperability. Mark IV's proposal to the IAG in the recompete is thought to propose a planned introduction of dual frequency 5.9GHz/915MHz readers so that new 5.9GHz VII transponders can be read alongside the existing 17 million or so 915MHz transponders.  This would allow a steady transition to the higher frequency, more modern and more capable technology, while allowing the existing transponders to continue to be used.

The leading European manufacturer Kapsch is thought to have submitted a similar proposal conceptually to Mark IV. 

Sirit the third North American manufacturer is the dominant supplier in California (Title 21 protocols) and supports open standards incuding a product ID derived sticker tag, and the 5.9GHz VII.

Highway Toll Administration LLC's main competitor in providing toll services to rental cars is American Traffic Solutions with the PlatePass brand. (DISCLOSURE: They both advertise in the column on the left!)

ATS's Jim Tuton said today there's wide agreement about the desirability of national interoperability. But he says he can't see how TransCore's eZGo will be widely adopted. He thinks the more likely way of getting to national interoperability is some combination of camera-based reads of license plates (video tolling)  - he calls license plates an existing interoperable tag - and 5.9GHz VII transponders.

Part of the competition for E-ZPass-NextGen

The TransCore agreement with HTA/Avis-Budget has to be seen in the context of the big competition just getting under way for the transponder/reader system to succeed the present E-ZPass IAG contract with Mark IV - NextGen E-ZPass.

eZGo only seems likely to be implementable if TransCore wins the recompete over Mark IV, Kapsch and any others bidding. To implement it more widely through the South would require proof of product there and major back office clearing arrangements between Florida, Texas, other tollers and the IAG E-ZPass group (ME, MA, NH, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WV, PA, IN, IL, soon OH).

At present there are separate clearing systems within Texas and within Florida but similar technology systems from Florida and Texas don't work together because of separate business arrangement and the lack of back office clearance arrangements.

5.9GHz rival route to interoperability

TransCore has participated with Raytheon, Mark IV, Sirit and Kapsch in development of 5.9GHz VII but TransCore officials say they don't think 5.9GHz VII will happen. TransCore and other 5.9Ghz skeptics cite the high cost of 5.9GHz, the need to build it into new vehicles, the obstacles to its adoption by the vehicle manufactuers, and the long time it would take for a large proportion of the vehicle fleet to get equipped.

Mocked as eZCome/eZGo

Advocates of 5.9GHz at Mark IV, Kapsch, Raytheon and Sirit say that it offers the cleanest route to national interoperability and are skeptical about the TransCore eZGo approach which they deride as sloppy.

They call it "eZCome/eZGo" to mock it.

This is high stakes business competition and there are high stakes in the technical alternatives and in business arrangements. Interoperability involves difficult and complex business arrangements as well as technical issues.

TransCore says it has extensively tested eZGo and says that the present product works with readers of IAG E-ZPass, with ATA read-only readers in Dallas and elsewhere, the eGo and Super eGo (SeGo) readers of popular sticker tags (TX, FL, GA, WA etc) and the customized Title 21 systems in Florida and Oklahoma.

The only system that won't read the present eZGo transponder is the straight California Title 21 system, also deployed in Denver Colorado.

eZGo II to add California Title 21 capability

TransCore hasn't officially said this, but they are known to be working on an upgrade to eZGo to incorporate Title 21 capabilities. That would make it a true eZGo Anywhere (in the US, once accepted, and integrated).

It is one thing for TransCore to be confident their eZGo transponder has these amazing multiprotocol capabilities and can operate anywhere in these different modes. Before anyone can roll it out for motorists they also have to persuade the potential buyers - the toll authorities in the different regions - that it works as advertised, and not just works, but works at the required rates of accuracy and reliability and compatibility with legacy systems.

Sticker tags embraced but after years of tests

Tollers are keen on the concept of national interoperability, as TransCore says, but they are likely to want to test the capabilities thoroughly themselves before committing. Florida has adopted TransCore's amazing <$10 SeGo sticker tag, but they spent over three years testing it before they decided it worked adequately for their several different systems alongside their hardcase Title 21 modified SunPass.

TransCore only announced the eZGo this summer so there has been little time for independent testing.

OPINION: The IAG is TransCore's big opportunity and its big challenge. Without winning the IAG E-ZPass recompete, it is our opinion, the eZGo product isn't likely to go far. In that case the "roll out" will be limited to the PR.

If however TransCore wins against Mark IV and others at the E-ZPass IAG, then TransCore's eZGo will go gangbusters. ENDS TOLLROADSnews OPINION

IAG website: http://www.e-zpassiag.com/

5.9GHz promoter: http://www.omniair.org

Text of TransCore announcement

Here is the full text of the TransCore press release:

December 16, 2008 04:27 PM Eastern Time 

Avis Budget Group to Roll Out TransCore’s eZGo Anywhere Wireless Toll Transponders for U.S. Car Fleet

PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avis Budget Group today announced that it has teamed up with TransCore and Highway Toll Administration (HTA) to supply eZGo Anywhere™ wireless toll collection transponders for its car and truck rental fleet of vehicles to serve customers of Avis Rent A Car, Budget Rent A Car and Budget Truck Rental.

“A tag that can be used to pay tolls wirelessly virtually anywhere in the country adds a new level of convenience for our renters,” said Michael Caron, vice president of product and program development for Avis Budget Group. “We were the first company in our industry to offer electronic toll collection, and our customers will now be the first to enjoy this enhanced new service.”
The new tags for Avis and Budget vehicles will be tested and deployed by HTA, which provides electronic toll payment services to Avis Budget Group.

“When I learned that the eZGo Anywhere transponder was being introduced in September of this year, I knew that a rental company’s customers could really benefit from this new service,” said David Centner, president and chief executive officer of HTA. “In addition, Avis Budget Group will benefit from having greater flexibility in managing its dynamic fleet movements because the transponders work virtually anywhere.”

The eZGo Anywhere transponders are interoperable with more than 95 percent of all toll systems in the United States, and have quickly garnered interest of motorists, business travelers, trucking companies, and rental businesses that want to enjoy the simplicity of wireless toll payment.

Kelly Gravelle, TransCore’s chief technical officer, explained, “The fleet management aspects of the rental car model along with the needs of their customers were among the factors that we considered in creating a new and better way for travelers to bypass cash toll lanes. With more and more municipalities and states adding electronic toll systems to highways, bridges and tunnels, some of which do not even offer a cash toll option, having a transponder that can go ‘anywhere’ the vehicle goes is a significant benefit for both drivers and transportation companies alike.”

Studies show that using electronic toll collection services helps reduce vehicle emissions, and saves travelers time, making their business travel more productive and their leisure travel more enjoyable.

About eZGo Anywhere Onboard Unit

The eZGo Anywhere onboard unit (OBU) operates in the 902-928 MHz frequency range, and is a high-speed, high-performance RFID tag suitable for electronic toll collection and traffic management applications where a standard on-board unit is specified. The eZGo Anywhere OBU employs advanced security techniques that ensure a tag's authenticity while preventing data corruption and/or alteration. In addition, tag cloning, spoofing, copying, or duplicating is prevented. eZGo Anywhere OBUs support factory programming of fixed data fields that are locked at the factory and cannot be reprogrammed.

eZGo Anywhere is a trademark of TransCore, LLP.

About TransCore

TransCore's 70-year heritage supporting the transportation industry spans a range of offerings for the toll, traffic management, airport, parking, access control, rail, intermodal, trucking, and homeland security markets. With products and installations in 46 countries, more than 100 patents worldwide, and pioneering applications of RFID and satellite communications technologies, TransCore's expertise is unparalleled in the markets it serves. TransCore has more than 2,000 employees in 80 locations throughout the world.

TransCore operates as a unit of Roper Industries. Roper Industries is a market-driven, diversified growth company with trailing twelve month revenues of $2.3 billion, and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s S&P Mid-Cap 400, Fortune 1000, and Russell 1000 Indexes. Roper provides engineered products and solutions for global niche markets, including water, energy, radio frequency and research/medical applications.

About Highway Toll Administration (HTA)

HTA was the first electronic-toll-payment service provider to the car-rental industry and today has an estimated 75% market share by transaction volume. Through its patent-pending technology and proprietary services, HTA offers the most comprehensive solutions in its field, from transponder rentals to video tolling and violations processing. The company’s customers include Avis, Budget, National, Alamo and dozens of independents and franchises, such as of Dollar, Thrifty and Payless. HTA operates under the respective brands of its customers; for example, Avis eToll, and National and Alamo Toll Pass. HTA is based in Great Neck, N.Y. For more information, visit www.htallc.com.
Highway Toll Administration is a trademark of Highway Toll Administration, LLC.

About Avis Budget Group, Inc.

Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) is a leading provider of vehicle rental services, with operations in more than 70 countries. Through its Avis and Budget brands, the Company is the largest general-use vehicle rental company in each of North America, Australia, New Zealand and certain other regions based on published airport statistics. Avis Budget Group is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. and has approximately 28,000 employees. For more information about Avis Budget Group, visit www.avisbudgetgroup.com.

Contacts
Avis Budget Group
Alice Pereira, 973-496-6113
alice.pereira@avisbudget.com
or
For HTA
Rick Sacks, 973-467-8728
rick@smartpr.net
or
TransCore
Barbara Catlin, 972-740-7150
barbara.catlin@transcore.com

Permalink: http://pressroom.transcore.com/news/transcore/20081216006271/en

END FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

TOLLROADSnews 2008-12-16