Kapsch, Mark IV team up in tag/reader bid for N Carolina, TransCore other contender

In a quite unexpected development E-ZPass technology giant Mark IV is teaming up with Kapsch, the European leader in electronic toll collection equipment in a joint proposal for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA). The other contender for as tags & readers contract for the Triangle Expressway Toll Collection System contract is the leading US supplier of electronic toll equipment and all-round systems supplier TransCore.

The joint bid is by Mark IV/Kapsch TrafficCom Joint Venture and also referred to as Intelligent Roadway Technologies (IRT).

Sirit the west coast electronic toll equipment supplier did not make a NCTA proposal.

In the toll area Sirit are concentrating on sales of their California Title 21 transponders and readers and on their partnership with 3M to supply ISO 18000 6C readers and sticker tags to motor vehicle registries, as well as access control at parking lots and condo complexes.

Kapsch and Mark IV have separately invested considerable sums in the USDOT sponsored 5.9GHz technology that has gone under program names Vehicle Infrastucture Integration, IntelliDrive, and OmniAir.

5.9 Gig is the high end technology option for electronic tolling to adopt, its long range and vehicle-to-vehicle as well as vehicle-roadside capabilities offering special benefits for in-vehicle signing and safety applications. TransCore was also part of the four company collaboration on 5.9Gig but they have expressed doubts it will be taken up.

Kapsch has scores of European CEN standard 5.8GHz toll installations outside North America so their engineers have years of experience with the higher frequency antennas, with similar characteristics to 5.9GHz.

We don't know any details of the Mark IV-Kapsch proposal, or TransCore's.

However located as it is between active IAG E-ZPass transponders in the Virginias and passive backscatter tags of Florida, Texas and Georgia  North Carolina is geographically destined to be the toll industry's IO (interoperability) agent.

It's RFP stressed the value for the Turnpike of being able to handle transponders from north and south of the state although it also places importance on video-tolling using license plate reading cameras. Tolling on all North Carolina pikes and bridges will be cashless - all-electronic.

All three contenders have multi-mode equipment which allow at least two different transponder/tag types to be read on the road below the gantry.

- TransCore has Encompass-6 which is specified as designed to read simultaneous two protocols out of a choice of six

- Kapsch has a Multiband Configurable Networking Unit (MCNU) reader R1551 designed around IntelliDrive and the new North American standards, IEEE 802.11p standard and others

- Mark IV has a Fusion reader (IAG, TDMA ASTMv6) and Janus reader supporting up to 8 RF channels and 5 ORTs and produces dual protocol transponders

Real interoperability requires not just equipment that will work together but business arrangements to handle one another's accounts - sometimes more difficult to achieve than the technical interoperability.

North Carolina Turnpike officials this morning  were obviously surprised and excited about the unexpected teaming of Mark IV and Kapsch, but don't know yet what it means. They have consultants from HNTB and PBS&J helping them evaluate the technical quality of the proposals. Prices, not yet known, are always important too.

They have separate RFPs out for lane-equipment (system integration), back office services, traffic management and operations. Companies can bid in any or all of the five aspects of the toll collection system.   

They hope to award contracts for all components of their toll system by end of November.

COMMENT: a big questionmark is what, if anything, the Kapsch-Mark IV teaming for NCTA means for the E-ZPass recompete.  So far as we know they are bidding separately there though nothing has been formally announced by the secretive IAG, and bidders have their lips zipped by procurement rules.

As for North Carolina it seems likely that the Mark IV-Kapsch team are proposing a high-end system that will handle IAG E-ZPass and allow a transition to 5.9GHz. No reading of sticker tags!

TransCore likely proposes reading of its ISO 18000 6B eGo sticker tags in use in Florida (SunPass Mini, in Texas TxTag, Georgia CruiseCard, and Kansas) plus E-ZPass with the Encompass 6 reader and eGo tags the central offering.

see

http://ncturnpike.org/operations/procurement.asp

http://www.ivhs.com/  (Mark IV)

http://www.transcore.com

http://www.kapsch.net/en/Pages/default.aspx

TOLLROADSnews 2009-07-23 13:00