Road pricing, in various forms, can offer benefits to communities from reduced congestion to fewer collisions, cleaner air, reduced GHG emissions and improved health, to more funding for transportation options. Yet, pricing strategies face significant political challenges in gaining acceptance, including raising potential social equity concerns. The Mobility Innovations and Pricing (MIP) initiative focuses on understanding the equity implications of road pricing and other innovative transportation policies in the six-county Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region. Building upon SCAG’s 100 Hours campaign that explored how congestion pricing could impact the region, the MIP initiative combines stakeholder engagement, technical analyses, and communications strategies to elevate equity considerations as a key touchstone in planning for road pricing in the greater Los Angeles region.

Enabling fair and sustainable transportation funding is important for all road users.  Fortunately, many of the challenges toward large-scale road usage charging have also been encountered, and resolved, in parallel applications within the broader mobility and insurance telematics ecosystem. 

In this session, learn more about the usage of telematics in other related industries and their relevance in the growth of successful road usage charging deployments:

What are some of the key learnings from successful applications of telematics, such as in mobility and insurance telematics deployments?

• What are the best practices for data management in other industries?
• How is interoperability and standardization addressed?
• Where do technologies and data collection options fit in the overall solution?

Successful road usage charging policies rely on well thought out systems and data – this session will help prepare you for the future with applied learnings that will ensure the best usage of telematics in RUC deployments.

• How paying by the mile aligns with the user pays principle
• Current state of the program including local area pricing pilots
• Preparing for a mandatory program

Budgets are limited, and authorities face challenges in delivering customer-centric, equitable services to the traveling public.  Hence, agencies and authorities are breaking down barriers in data sharing, human operations, and delivery of services to enable the management of a holistic transportation network that delivers equity for all users. What does this mean for agencies? What does this mean for solutions? And most important what does this mean for the customer?

Three key people working on this issue in the United States will discuss the impact to road charging from various aspects of the  political changes that occurred in the United States last year.  Congress is moving quickly to update legislation and several states are looking to begin moving toward this system due to the impact to their transportation funding coffers from the increase of electric and hybrid vehicles using their roads.  In addition, the State of California announced they will not allow sales of gas powered vehicles in that state after 2035 which makes finding alternatives to the gas tax even more crucial.  The panel will discuss the current status of legislation in Congress, potential changes in the issue at the US Department of Transportation and how the issue is moving forward in Governor's Offices and State Legislatures across the nation. Tolling is the only current road charging system in the United States and panelists will highlight how these new road charges could be incorporated into current systems.

While the Los Angeles region is known as one of the world’s economic and cultural capitals, it is also known for traffic. Traffic has grown steadily worse through periods of economic growth and recessions. While COVID-19 is impacting the region now, it’s likely that the economy and population will continue to grow and traffic will intensify over the long term, unless the Los Angeles region takes bold steps. The Traffic Reduction Study is a multi-year effort to plan for a future where we can enjoy better mobility and economic growth without the pain and stress of gridlock. This study will look at if, where and how a traffic reduction pilot program that includes congestion pricing and additional transportation options can work somewhere in LA County to reduce traffic through a two-pronged approach: 1) managing travel demand through congestion pricing, and 2) providing more high-quality transportation options. Additional desired positive outcomes are: Environmental and economic justice, including seeking to address burdens and maximize benefits for low-income and vulnerable populations; Public health and safety, including supporting air quality improvements, enhancing roadway safety for users, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and Economic opportunity and equity, including supporting businesses and goods movement, improving access to jobs and other key destinations and opportunities, and allowing for more equitable access, especially for neighborhoods and individuals that have been historically overburdened by congestion. 

California has policy goals that are similar to the United Kingdom for transitioning to zero emissions vehicles.  In September of 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-79-20, making it California’s goal to transition to 100 percent zero emissions for the in-state sale of new passenger cars and trucks by 2035, and to transition to 100 percent zero emissions  medium and heavy duty vehicles by 2045 for all operations where feasible.

In this presentation, Mrs. Walter will discuss what actions are being taken by the state agencies to implement this Executive Order, the funds currently available and the funds needed to support zero emissions infrastructure in California, some of the questions the state is working through related to this issue, and the California Transportation Commission’s role in partnering with local government planning agencies to incorporate zero emissions into transportation planning.

The gas tax is so easy to collect people often don’t even realize they are paying it.  That is a really tough act to follow as we look towards a new system.  California is nonetheless tackling the issue of user experience, investigating how a road charge could be calculated and paid through four different potential systems: Pay at the pump/charge point, Usage-based insurance, Ridesharing, and Autonomous Vehicles

Distance-based charging – or Road Usage Charging (RUC) – is a feasible approach to achieving long-term, sustainable funding for transportation infrastructure. Contemplating a paradigm shift of this magnitude requires due diligence in setting policy parameters and objectives, as well as addressing challenges such as privacy protection, cost controls, and mitigation of potential adverse impacts. Washington State has spent eight years assessing RUC and establishing a roadmap to a full-scale program. Key findings will be shared in this insightful session.

In a partnership with Panasonic, the Utah DOT is expanding connected vehicle technology to an additional 128 locations in two counties and 150 vehicles. Vehicles provide valuable information on road conditions and potential crashes, while the system will provide warnings back to vehicles about hazardous weather conditions and dangerous curves. Even more expansion is planned in the next two years.

Much has been discussed about mobility/congestion pricing in Metro Vancouver for many years. It has remained a key policy plank throughout several regional transportation policy documents for almost 30 years. An independent commission recently undertook a comprehensive study to determine how mobility pricing could reduce congestion, promote fairness, and support transportation investments. They concluded with a number of important principles to help guide policy development, as well as some illustrative examples of what a regional system could look like. The world has changed in the three years since the Commission’s final report was released in 2018. In Metro Vancouver we are faced with new political landscapes, renewed interest to explore mobility pricing on a local level, while still trying to understand the wider implications of the pandemic on the way we live, work, and move around the region. All the while the region is in the midst of updating its long-range regional transportation strategy known as Transport 2050, which will have far reaching consequences for regional transportation planning and policy over the next 30 years. There are many challenges for mobility pricing under these dynamics. But there are also some important opportunities which we cannot ignore.

• Hawaii opening public road to self-driving passenger cars and trucks
• Manufacturers to conduct more tests involving self-driving vehicles
• Improve carbon emissions and pollution on public roads

What right has more value? The right to free circulation during the health emergency caused by the pandemic? Or, the right of road concessionaires to receive compensation for their investment in a timely manner? In times of pandemic, is it constitutionally acceptable to suspend the right of investors to receive economic compensation in favor of the free circulation of food and medicines for the entire Peruvian population?

This session is about the law enacted by Congress that suspended the right to collect tolls from concessionaires of co-financed and self-financed roads in Peru. The law was criticized by the toll concession companies but it was defended by the transport guild. Finally, the Constitutional Court of Peru established a primacy those rights.

In the session we will not only analyze the legal aspects of the judgement, we will also analyze economic topics and regulation consequences of the resolution. Finally we will analyze whether Peru is currently adopting populist measures or it is respecting the rule of law.

With lawmakers on Capitol Hill making a renewed effort this year to pass legislation that would create federal safety and security standards for autonomous vehicles (AVs), and new US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg already making clear his interest and focus on AVs, what does this mean for the future of the technology?

This panel will discuss the impact of the new administration, the policy recommendations needed to advance testing and deployment of AVs and the obstacles that exist in the uptake of AVs, including regulatory frameworks, consumer acceptance, safety concerns and technological developments.

CiTTi Magazine editor John Thornton will lead the discussion around AVs in the USA alongside Brian Kelley of Ohio Turnpike & Infrastructure Commission, Blaine Leonard of Utah Department of Transport, James Owens, former acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Hilary Cain of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

As of January 2021, six new data privacy bills have been filed throughout various states in the US. Other states are considering draft legislation, and the California privacy law is continuing to unfold. Data is the building blocks of road user charging, Mobility-as-a-Service and connected vehicle infrastructure, assuming it can be properly consented and shared across networks. We will discuss the challenges in front of us considering the GDPR and CPRA and possible impacts ahead of us with the fractionalization of the data privacy ecosystem in the US.

A presentation about the Brazilian concession program in transport. The biggest of its kind in the world, with more than one hundred and fifty successful asset auctions since 2016 and still more than fifty billion dollars of investments in future projects. A view about how Brazil addressed reforms towards a well-functioning business environment, solve past problems, brought legal certainty and predictability for investors. A show a brief view about our opportunities for partnerships in transportation sector: port, airports, railways with emphasis in toll roads projects.

Most of the first generation of interurban road concession contracts in Chile will expire between the years 2020 and 2030. The Chilean State through the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) and its concessions system is currently promoting a second generation of concession contracts for many of these interurban roads, which have been in the operational phase for more than a decade. Currently the MOP’s General Directorate of Concessions is developing and hiring consultancy services for each road in order to obtain the preliminary road engineering designs needed to call for tender these new brownfield and greenfield investment projects.  In line with the Chilean current public infrastructure policies, increasing lanes, construction of relevant civil works – such as bridges and tunnels – and also electronic tolling technology are included in the contracts. This presentation unveils in very general terms the Investment Plan of the Government of Chile which aims to re-tender the interurban road PPP projects and to develop new road concessions in the country.

The development of transport infrastructure has traditionally served as a catalyst to economic development in many countries. Consequently, governments worldwide, especially in developing countries, have sought progressive strategies for funding the development of transport infrastructure, especially in the face of increasing competing demands on very limited State resources. Jamaica has over the years sought to capitalise on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to expand its road network, an approach that embodies the User-Pay Principle. In my presentation I will share on Jamaica’s experience with the development of toll roads within the last decade, some of the wins, challenges and lessons learnt. 

Long-range planning agencies have a unique role in developing, implementing, evaluating, and refining RUC systems. Hear from the Metropolitan Planning Organizations who have started to implement Road Usage charging and the lessons they have learned along the way. Erin Aleman, executive director at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will lead a discussion among her peers who are in different stages of RUC planning including Julie Bjornstad of the Wasatch Front Regional Council (Salt Lake City), Josh Brown of the Pugent Sound Regional Council (Seattle) and Trish Hendren of The Eastern Transportation Coalition.

Toll roads have existed for at least the last 2,700 years going back to the Babylonian highway under the regime of Ashurbanipal , who reigned in 7th century BC. Today, tolling is primarily a form of road pricing implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and maintenance and to provide safe and efficient travel. Tolling in the 21st century is rapidly evolving with innovative roadside technology providing for electronic toll collection and open road tolling. Connected vehicle technology advancements will soon allow cars to make payments through Cellular Vehicle -to – Everything (C-V2X) technology. Mobile Tolling Apps are also providing new innovative ways for travelers to pay tolls. This session will give attendees insight into Tolling Technology on the Toll Road of the Future!

• How do commercial trucks fare in a distance-based fee system? The answer: It’s complicated. Learn why in this presentation that will share new insights from the nation’s first multi-state mileage-based user fee truck pilot.
• Conducted by The Eastern Transportation Coalition, the 2018-2019 pilot examined the feasibility of using existing regulations, administrative processes, and technology as a potential framework for a mileage-based fee transportation funding approach.
• This presentation will review five key findings from the truck pilot, how industry feedback is being reflected in rate-setting and other pilot aspects, and early data from the Coalition’s current national truck pilot that is even more expansive than the first. The Coalition will connect the trucking industry insights with its passenger vehicle work, including effects of distance-based fees in rural and multi-state environments.

• The need to educate and change the public perception of toll roads.
• How does Alabama compare to other US states?
• How does Colombia compare to Alabama?
• What does the future hold for toll roads in terms of funding and technology?