Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems have significant benefits for both highway motorists and management agencies. A well planned and implemented ETC system provides road users with efficient and user friendly toll payment services without stopping them in front of toll gates, which in turn saves travel times and costs. On the other hand, ETC systems can reduce operational costs by transferring manual toll collection to automatic means. It does not only reduce costs for both highway users and operators, but also decrease air pollution and fuel consumption. In spite of the beneficial properties stated above, before investing a cashless toll road system, there still remain cost effectiveness concerns that if user and societal benefits are able to justify the total costs induced by the implementation of an ETC system. Therefore, a systematic scheme for the evaluation of cost and benefit on ETC is one of the crucial issues for various ITS stakeholders to participate into this investment. In the present research, a systematic cost and benefit evaluation approach based on Benefit and Cost Ratio mechanism has been proposed. Numerical evaluation was conducted based on a local ETC test project. Preliminary test results show that the B/C ratios of various ITS stakeholders' perspectives range from 0.99 to 15.07, which suggest that the implementation of an ETC system is generally positive to different ITS stakeholders. More importantly, it is helpful and beneficial in preserving a livable and sustainable environment for our next generations.
Abstract