Mass Governor to appoint all-electronic toll manager (MAJOR ADDITIONS)

Massachusetts DOT is seeking a new Deputy Director of Statewide Tolling to "transition existing toll collection operations to Open Road Tolling or All Electronic Tolling.”  The move reported first by Hilary Chabot at the Boston Herald pays up to $102k/yr and is open only to state employees.

The tolling deputy director would also assess installation costs, savings from eliminating toll collectors, and likely traffic improvements from free-flow all-electronic tolling.

The new manager would be expected to engage in an “appropriate outreach and communication effort for the project, designed to ensure awareness and understanding of (all-electronic tolling) for customers, media, elected officials, and key stakeholders.”

A MassDOT spokesman says that the job search is intended to "identify existing talent to help the Highway Division explore efficiencies in tolling that would make things easier for drivers and more cost-effective for MassDOT.

Chabot reported that state governor Deval Patrick and his transportation secretary Jeff Mullen had a discussion with representatives of Raytheon Jan 28.

All-electronic tolling is being implemented in Florida, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, California and other places but Massachusetts could be one of the first in the northeast.

Details

The duties of the job are described:

Duties:

"The Deputy Director of Statewide Tolling will report to and works closely with the Director of Statewide Tolling. The Deputy Director will be responsible for coordinating the array of operational, technical, business, financial and legal issues involved in the planning, design and construction of the future electronic toll system for MassDOT.

Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to: coordinating the planning and managing of a transition of existing toll collection operations to Open Road Tolling (ORT) or All Electronic Tolling (AET); and using state-of-the-art-technology for the next generation of tolling.

"Among the issues to be coordinated are: the development of and review of proposals, designs, and technologies for the selection and implementation of the future MassDOT electronic toll collection system; the comprehensive financial assessment of the project including a toll revenue risk analysis of various system options; the analysis of the costs and benefits, including costs of initial investment, transition plans, ongoing operations, and future system reinvestment needs, as well as the full range of benefits including cost savings/avoidance, improved traffic flow, enhanced safety, air quality and environmental benefits; and an appropriate outreach and communication effort for the project, designed to ensure awareness and understanding of ORT and AET for customers, media, elected officials, and key stakeholders.

"Additional responsibilities will include: the identification, resolution and implementation of adequate privacy safeguards; the cultivation of new mechanisms to assure toll payment from video charging methods; establishment of a system of collection incentives and penalties for toll evasion that are defined by State laws and automobile regulations to reduce the risk of revenue loss; and establishment of system specifications and requirements.

The full job posting is here:

https://jobs.hrd.state.ma.us/recruit/public/3111/job/job_view.do?postingId=J20195

Mass DOT PR Comment

Colin Durrant of Massachusetts DOT Public Affairs emails us:

"It is an internal job search only that will identify existing talent to help the Highway Division explore efficiencies in tolling that would make things easier for drivers and more cost-effective for MassDOT.

"There is a wide range of opportunities and technologies that fall under that umbrella. The position will not result in a new hire. We are just looking to redeploy existing talent within MassDOT NOT hiring someone new to do the work - regardless as a matter of policy we have to post the position. The search reflects the fact that we must always be adapting our business model to emerging technologies.

"Most important, no decisions have been made about these new technologies and how they could be implemented -- we are still in the preliminary stages of learning more about what is out there."

TOLLROADSnews 2010-02-16 MAJOR ADDITIONS from MassDOT 2010-02-17 10:50