After an analysis of the needs related to the problems of management and optimization of traffic flows near the motorway toll gates, all the constraints that affected the design and development of the automatic fee collection system are presented. The outstanding technological aspects of the Telepass system are described briefly, together with the developments achieved in the most recent years. The multifunctional capability of the system, the advantages of Smart Card technology, and its utilization for a Multilane management as the starting point towards Integrated Payment Systems are pointed out. The impacts on the users, on the service provider and on those who directly manage the fee collection are also described. Some considerations on the cost/benefit ratio analysis, highlighting the overall advantages of such a system, are also presented. The problems that still have to be faced and the possible future initiatives for improving the system functionalitites and the quality of service are also discussed. (A)
Abstract