his paper describes a toll road payment and control system in which a mobile device (for example mobile phones or tablets, etc) is used as payment device, instead of more complicated and expensive systems. The phone can allow users to start and end the trip of a vehicle inside toll areas. The system follows the current trends of moving most daily communications and transactions on mobile devices such as smartphones that today represent an almost indispensable tool. With the use of a simple dedicated application, (installed on the user’s mobile device), the user can start certification of payment at the beginning of the trip time. The application, based on user inputs, acts as an electronic ticket and certifies the use of the service and concurrently the payment, testifying, to any roadside inspection, the actual payment of the trip. The system has many advantages and among them the easy implementation in any urban context, moreover the system proposed is absolutely original as it allows system managers of toll areas to collect fees through the use of mobile communication devices even in areas where there may not be voice or data and/or GPS coverage. Many researchers have already worked to define systems allowing payments and electronic transactions using mobile devices in the field of transportation. But the main obstacle to these systems is the need for an almost permanent internet connection on the device (Leea et al., 2008) or the presence of chip Near Field Communications (NFC) (Bravo et al., 2008). Other systems are based on the identification of the vehicle entrance and exit from the toll zone or instant communication with the system company through sms or signals transmitted by Internet (Burnham, 2008). In 1998, Hassett had patented a system for automatic toll payment through an electronic device in vehicles that is able to store the amount of money available to the user and emit signals near a structure able to use this technology. When the vehicle is near this kind of structure, the device captures a radio signal and calculates the toll which is charged to the driver. During the exchange of data, the driver identity and his credit, which are referenced to a bank account, are transmitted. In 2008 Korean researchers patented a similar method for the collection of highways data, such as revenues and expenditures in the payment areas, through the information that is gathered by a base station that records the position of in-vehicle mobile communication terminals used to collect tolls. This was done through the exchange of data between different stations until the information can get to a control center which manages the whole system. In 2009, Robinson and others patented a system for billing based on the duration of a period of service, including the sending of the vehicle data by a third party to a toll authority by an online bank account. In the last years systems improvements have been carried out by researchers around the world, but they all, however, continue to maintain some restrictions with regards to the user possession of an internet connection or of an NFC chip (Ondrus et al., 2011). In 2012, to mitigate this problem, Astarita and al. patented the system we propose below, that is able to bypass actual limitations by exploiting current technologies in common use. The advantage of the proposed system is in the very limited resources needed to start and maintain the whole system, this allows also small city administrators to rapidly implement a toll area with immediate results. The system proposed applies a policy of toll fees based on the time of use of the road system (instead of the distance in travelled kilometres). This alternative policy, that can have advantages and disadvantages, raises new issues that must be scientifically addressed in order to establish the operability constraint and the sustainability in term of safety issues. Time of use toll policy has, in fact, the advantage of taking into account automatically congestion issues and allows city governments to introduce an useful mobile payment system without any additional infrastructure expenses, it has though the disadvantage of increasing the cost of travel time for users by adding to the travel time the monetary fee. This could encourage an aggressive driving behaviour if the toll fee for unit of time is too high compared with the value of the unit of time. All this practical issues are addressed more in detail in the paper with some examples carried on a test network where traffic is reproduced with a micro-simulation model. A simple road pricing system based on mobile phone and time of use toll policy.
A simple road pricing systems based on mobile phone and time of use toll policy
Astarita V.;GUIDO, Giuseppe;Festa D. C.
2013-01-01
Abstract
his paper describes a toll road payment and control system in which a mobile device (for example mobile phones or tablets, etc) is used as payment device, instead of more complicated and expensive systems. The phone can allow users to start and end the trip of a vehicle inside toll areas. The system follows the current trends of moving most daily communications and transactions on mobile devices such as smartphones that today represent an almost indispensable tool. With the use of a simple dedicated application, (installed on the user’s mobile device), the user can start certification of payment at the beginning of the trip time. The application, based on user inputs, acts as an electronic ticket and certifies the use of the service and concurrently the payment, testifying, to any roadside inspection, the actual payment of the trip. The system has many advantages and among them the easy implementation in any urban context, moreover the system proposed is absolutely original as it allows system managers of toll areas to collect fees through the use of mobile communication devices even in areas where there may not be voice or data and/or GPS coverage. Many researchers have already worked to define systems allowing payments and electronic transactions using mobile devices in the field of transportation. But the main obstacle to these systems is the need for an almost permanent internet connection on the device (Leea et al., 2008) or the presence of chip Near Field Communications (NFC) (Bravo et al., 2008). Other systems are based on the identification of the vehicle entrance and exit from the toll zone or instant communication with the system company through sms or signals transmitted by Internet (Burnham, 2008). In 1998, Hassett had patented a system for automatic toll payment through an electronic device in vehicles that is able to store the amount of money available to the user and emit signals near a structure able to use this technology. When the vehicle is near this kind of structure, the device captures a radio signal and calculates the toll which is charged to the driver. During the exchange of data, the driver identity and his credit, which are referenced to a bank account, are transmitted. In 2008 Korean researchers patented a similar method for the collection of highways data, such as revenues and expenditures in the payment areas, through the information that is gathered by a base station that records the position of in-vehicle mobile communication terminals used to collect tolls. This was done through the exchange of data between different stations until the information can get to a control center which manages the whole system. In 2009, Robinson and others patented a system for billing based on the duration of a period of service, including the sending of the vehicle data by a third party to a toll authority by an online bank account. In the last years systems improvements have been carried out by researchers around the world, but they all, however, continue to maintain some restrictions with regards to the user possession of an internet connection or of an NFC chip (Ondrus et al., 2011). In 2012, to mitigate this problem, Astarita and al. patented the system we propose below, that is able to bypass actual limitations by exploiting current technologies in common use. The advantage of the proposed system is in the very limited resources needed to start and maintain the whole system, this allows also small city administrators to rapidly implement a toll area with immediate results. The system proposed applies a policy of toll fees based on the time of use of the road system (instead of the distance in travelled kilometres). This alternative policy, that can have advantages and disadvantages, raises new issues that must be scientifically addressed in order to establish the operability constraint and the sustainability in term of safety issues. Time of use toll policy has, in fact, the advantage of taking into account automatically congestion issues and allows city governments to introduce an useful mobile payment system without any additional infrastructure expenses, it has though the disadvantage of increasing the cost of travel time for users by adding to the travel time the monetary fee. This could encourage an aggressive driving behaviour if the toll fee for unit of time is too high compared with the value of the unit of time. All this practical issues are addressed more in detail in the paper with some examples carried on a test network where traffic is reproduced with a micro-simulation model. A simple road pricing system based on mobile phone and time of use toll policy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
