Electronic Payment Applications

Electronic Payment Systems (EPS) provide a convenient, secure and auditable means of paying for different transport services and offer major advantages over cash payment for transport and highway operators, their passengers and customers, including:

• time savings – faster than paying by cash
• reduced emissions – ETC enables vehicle drivers to pay a toll without stopping
• increased convenience - payment may be made without small coins or the exact value in cash
• reduced operating costs – a shorter transaction time for each person or vehicle means increased capacity for each point of payment compared with slower methods of payment

Electronic payment benefits travellers and operators whilst speeding up the payment process, improves the efficiency of payment processes that were formerly cash-based and provides convenience for users of public transport. Electronic payment enables new business models, for example Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) no longer has to be considered as a means of improving efficiencies at toll plazas alongside cash and card-paying customers, but instead toll roads can now be designed exclusively for ETC operation, eliminating the need for toll plazas and allowing vehicles to pay tolls without having to slow down or stop.

Electronic payment applications are enabled by a variety of technologies including smart cards, RF tags and mobile phones. The principal applications are as follows:

• toll collection (See Toll Collection)
• Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) tolling (See HGV Tolling)
• congestion charging (See Congestion Charging)
• variable pricing (See Variable Pricing)
• passenger fare payment (See Passenger Fare Payment)
• Parking Payment (See Parking Payment)
• integrated multi-use payment and intermodal ticketing (See Integrated Multi-use Payment and Intermodal Ticketing)
• Value Added Services (VAS) (See Value Added Services)

Videos: How Electronic Tolling Works & Interoperable Electronic Toll Collection( ETC) on NH-8