TransCore win GA/I-85 HOT lanes tag-reader contract with $1.59/tag 6C GEN2 (REVISED)

TransCore have walked away with the Georgia I-85 HOT lanes toll system contract offering an open standard ISO 18000 6C GEN2 sticker tag based system for the first time, and at a rockbottom price. TransCore bid a mere $1,162,365 v $2,019,163 from Sirit, the established supplier of 6C gear. Neology was second with a bid just 10% above TransCore.

The contract is based on supply of 410k tags (350k regular interior windshield tags, 60k external), readers at 37 gantry locations, 7 portable reader/programmers and 160 hours of support.

Low, low price

TransCore bid the following:

- 350k interior 6C sticker tag transponders at $1.59ea  =  $556.6k

- 60k exterior transponders at $7.48ea = $448.8ea

- that sums to 410k transponders $1,005.3k, av price $2.45

- a hardbodied interior transponder was also bid at $8.97ea but no quantity was quoted for so no $ cost

- 37 RFID readers at $2,654ea = $98.2k

- 37 matching antennas at $324ea = $12k

- total roadside equipment each of the 37 sets covering both directions of traffic $110.2k

- 7 portable transponder reader/programming units at $3,497ea = $24.5k

- TransCore supplies all the needed components, software and services to deliver a system

- extra support services 160 hours at $140/hr = $22.4k

- overall price $1162.4k

see detailed pricing sheet at bottom

The Georgia State Road Toll Authority (GSRTA, Georgia Toll) procurement, although small in size, has generated great interest in the US toll industry because of their insistence on an open standard which precludes the use of TransCore's mainline sticker tag products eGo and Super eGo that in the case of the Super eGo at least they have claimed as patented and proprietory variants of ISO 18000 6B GEN 1.

GSRTA already use the 6B GEN1 TransCore tags under the brand CriuseCard on their Georgia 400 tollroad north of Atlanta.

Required 6C stickers or 5.9Gig

Georgia Toll's request for proposals said bidders should go with either 900MHz ISO 18000 6C GEN2 (6C stickertags) or 5.9GHz IEEE 802.11p/1609 (5.9GHz) both of which are open standards.

5.9 gig, nine times TC price

Kapsch the world's leading toll systems supplier outside north America bid 5.9GHz on GA/I-85, but their price highlights the handicap this USDOT-sponsored system labors under - high, high cost. Kapsch bid $10.3m, nearly nine times the price of the TransCore 6C bid, and five times the 6C bid of Sirit, the established supplier.

The performance of newcomers to electronic tolling, Neology and International Road Dynamics (IRD) was interesting. IRD with a new partnership with big EPS product tag system supplier IPICO managed to get disqualified. GSRTA say in a footnote to their summary sheet that IRD failed to comply with either of the required standards - in effect the 6C standard.

Neology on the other hand, which to our knowledge has never done a toll system, bid quite close to TransCore at $1.28m and came in second. Neology based in San Diego are best known for a large electronic vehicle license system contract they won recently in Mexico based on 6C. They have also done some toll systems work in Latin America.

Experience

One requirement of the Georgia contract was that bidders or their suppliers must have three years of experience with systems in toll applications  in volumes of at least a million transponders/year.

In the runup to the bids TransCore put in a strong pitch for their 6B 'eGo' sticker tags, saying that they are open standard, implicitly criticizing the procurement for specifying 6C or 5.9GHz.  (see nearby)

TransCore also argued - unsuccessfully - for an extension of the deadline for bidding.

It is clear they had to scramble to make their bid with 6C equipment.

Their position has previously been that their Super eGo is the top-of-the-line sticker tag product, and a proprietary subset of 6B. The company had previously maintained that 6C offered nothing new or improved on the eGo/super eGo systems based on 6B and had declined to compete with 6C.

All this was changed by Georgia, and quickly.

Give 'em what they want...

TransCore clearly has embraced the salesman's adage: "Just give the customer what they want.

"If they want established 6B they can have that, but if they want 6C we'll give them that instead."

That philsophy was on display recently with the announcement of multimode eZGo Anywhere variants with a transponder switchable to any protocol in use in North America including California Title 21, all with new bells and whistles by way of switches and feedback buzzers and lights. Also in their announcement they will offer a plain vanilla E-ZPass IAG standard transponder previously regarded as proprietary to Mark IV.

see invitation to bid (ITB):

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/ITB.pdf

see summary sheet:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/SummarySheet.pdf

fun reading in Q&A:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/Q&A1.pdf

press release today:

pricing:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/Pricing.pdf

CORRECTION: We initially only had the overall GA/I-85HOT toll system bid from TransCore and were given incorrect volume numbers.  Now we have the real thing. Please forget our guestimate which was way out. 2009-07-17 16:10

TOLLROADSnews 2009-09-16