Utah I-15 HOT Lanes to use E-ZGo Anywhere transponders - TransCore's first sale $30ea (UPDATED)

TransCore have made their first sale of eZGo Anywhere transponders as part of a $16.3m contract to support tolls in HOT lanes on I-15 through Salt Lake City Utah. The eZGo Anywhere transponders will have special switching capability to allow motorists to declare themselves a carpooler and eligible for a free ride, or single occupant subject to tolling. The contract includes up-front construction, services and equipment including Encompass-6 readers at a total $10.9m, and nine years of maintenance for $5.4m.

The toll system on 61km, 38 miles of high occupancy/toll lanes (HOT lanes), brandnamed Express Lanes, must be up and running by the fall of 2010.

The project involves 38 readers and 3,000 transponders. The eZGo Anywhere transponder chosen has the ability to signal 'carpooler' or 'toll-liable' based on a button that allows the motorist to toggle between different 'states' in a small display.

The transponder will be supplied to UDOT at $30 each.

High end system

The system is clearly a high-end one with more expensive readers and transponders. Utah DOT are paying for customer feedback/switching, and the ability to sell the transponders for use elsewhere - most probably that means for California and Colorado traffic.

The contrast in price between UT/I-15's $16m and GA/I-85's $1.16m is striking.

see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4358

Also shortlisted were Telvent Caseta and Electronic Transaction Consultants (ETC.)

eZGo Anywhere

TransCore advertise the ability of eZGo Anywhere transponder and Encompass 6 (E6) readers to support national interoperability. TransCore recently announced that they are now making the E6 reader "5.9GHz compatible" which will appeal especially to ITS enthusiasts.

see link at bottom

eZGo Anywhere transponders seem to be at the heart of TransCore's proposal to the E-ZPass Inter Agency (IAG) Group in their procurement of new technology, along with plain vanilla transponders that work to the existing IAG standard manufactured by Mark IV. IAG is the cooperative through which tollers in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and mid-west operate the interoperable E-ZPass system.

The original TransCore announcement of eZGo Anywhere specified its ability to work in:

- IAG mode

- eGo mode ISO 18000 6B sticker tag

- Super eGo  a variant of ISO 18000 6B

- ATA original Texas, Oklahoma read-only tags

This was an Anywhere-but-California/Colorado tag.

TransCore officials told us they could add California capability to eZGo Anywhere but it would add something to the unit cost.

California's Title 21 specifications named after the law that defines them was a Texas Instruments elaboration of the ATA standard.

California Title 21 mode has been called ATA-with-bells-&-whistles.

The Sept 14 announcement by TransCore of new and improved features for eZGo Anywhere says now it is "programmable with the primary protocols utilized by toll authorities today (IAG, Title 21, eGO, SeGo, and ATA)."

Title 21 coverage is added in.

Utah stuck between two Title 21 states

Situated as it is between the only two states with Title 21 toll systems, it would make no sense for Utah to buy a fancy multimode tag without a Title 21 capability. But they are paying more.

Longer battery life claimed

TransCore claim a ten year battery life for the eZGo Anywhere transponder as compared to 7 or 8 years for the Mark IV IAG transponder. In IAG mode it makes full use of the battery, but in eGo, Super eGo and ATA modes it uses "beam power" sometimes also called "backscatter" - using the energy of the incoming signal from the overhead reader to respond, rather than drawing on the battery.

Utah may be paying also for continuity with previous TransCore work in Utah.

TransCore entrenched on shores of Salt Lake

The statement notes that UDOT has had TransCore working for it for 14 years now, serving as ITS systems manager. They installed the state's major traffic management system.

Dynamic pricing replaces decal

The Utah I-15 system will support dynamic pricing - adjustment of toll rates to traffic density so as to maintain free flow conditions. It will replace a clunky "decal" system cold as a monthly pass for $50.

The announcement says:

"The new electronic payment system will enable UDOT to dynamically adjust the pricing based on traffic conditions. Motorists pay only for their actual usage of the lane instead of the fixed fee for a monthly decal. This system will help UDOT to further reduce congestion and travel times in all lanes.

"The dynamic pricing system is built around a traffic-condition algorithm. Software collects traffic flow data from the Express and general-purpose lanes to calculate a price that optimally matches demand. The algorithm will use data provided by UDOT’s TransSuite® traffic management system, supplied by TransCore under a previous contract."

TransCore"s John Simler is quoted: “TransCore’s traffic engineering experience, particularly within Utah, and our knowledge implementing every aspect of electronic toll collection systems, from system integration to manufacturing RFID technology, allows us to speed the implementation process for UDOT."

The toll equipment for UT/I-15HOT Lanes will be mounted on T-frames erected in the median of a mostly 10-lane expressway. It is already equipped witha  major fiber-optic trunk line used for ramp metering and variable signs. For pricing there will be four spearate toll zones and dynamic message signs displaying the toll for the segment and the toll to downtown Salt Lake City. There is approximately one access and one egress site to the managed lanes per interchange, with the interchanges about 2 to 3 miles (3km to 4km) apart.

Monthly passes with $50 decals began Sept 2006. Enforcement has been with occasional intensive "blitzes" by six or more cruiser based highway patrolmen.

on the UT/I-15 HOT Lanes project:

http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:2332,

on TransCore on eZGo Anywhere:

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

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

see follow-up report on other bids:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4368

TOLLROADSnews 2009-09-18 FIRST REVISION: 2009-09-21 14:00