Tollroad Data Solutions

Data Solutions for Toll Road Service Operations

Murray & James Consulting has in-depth expertise analyzing and improving end-to-end toll road service operations. We offer solutions for user recording and billing, violation prevention, focusing on the interoperability of toll services across the nation.

Recording & Billing Toll Road Users

Toll road service agencies consist of two main backend software systems – the customer service center (CSC) and the violation processing system (VPS). The customer service center is relatively straightforward in that it provides a standard user interface for toll road users to access their personal online accounts. From there, users may pay off any existing toll balances that have accumulated over time. Another option, designed around more frequent toll road users, is to add credits in anticipation the money will be cycled through.

The violation processing system (VPS) is a more in-depth solution that absorbs all collected data from the reviewed image history. The core function of this system is to analyze which plates need to be billed and distribute the mailings accordingly to collect fines. VPS also flags which specific invoices have not been paid, and add an additional fine to the plate. If the vehicle owner does clear the fines, the processing system is programmed to send off unpaid invoices to third party collection agencies.

Decreasing & Preventing Toll Road Violations

One of the main goals of toll road services is to protect its customers by keeping the roads exclusive to those who pay. There are drivers who attempt to avoid paying toll fees altogether. This is where the incident management team comes in to play. Toll road services diligently work with local law enforcement to prevent toll violations. In addition, there are people who purposely obstruct their vehicle’s plates. In some cases, officers can identify offenders at the toll gates though by law, though toll gate violators must be caught “in the act” (of disobeying toll laws) resulting in millions of dollars’ worth of lost revenue for toll authorities annually. Murray & James developed a unique solution to solve this recurring issue for toll authorities.

Traffic pattern analyzers are installed at multiple toll gates to assist in the identification of toll road violators. Murray & James designed an analytics-specific software tool that records specific vehicle patterns. Once a pattern is determined, law enforcement officers can easily monitor the appropriate toll gate(s) —within a specific time frame —to seek out the specific plate number. If the matching plate is identified and the vehicle operator commits another violation, the officer may issue a ticket on the spot. Murray & James’ traffic pattern analysis capabilities have proven very successful for our existing clients and we are actively making further advancements in terms of accuracy and data.

Interoperability of Toll Road Services

More and more states are adopting a toll road model to increase funding for transportation infrastructure. As such, toll authority services must quickly adapt to a rising number of vehicle operators using Hot Lanes, Fast Lanes, and the E-Z Pass. To create a more fluent workflow, toll road authorities are starting to understand the value of leveraging “crossover” or “interstate” data. For example, instead of a toll road user in Texas needing to pay off different accounts for each state driven in, the Texas account will overlap to any “foreign” or different state account and apply relevant credits. This fluidity speeds up the overall toll road service processing system in that more data is readily accessible for analysis. It is also more likely that cross-state penalties will be paid off and cleared – so the toll road authorities do not lose potential income. Murray and James helps toll authorities connect toll road service systems, whether created by us or a third party.

Murray & James Consulting specializes in streamlining the entire toll road service process and can identify areas for improvement from image reviewing, to data processing, handling violations, and much more. For additional information on how to improve your service’s operation, or to build a new solution to meet your objectives, please contact us at info@murrayandjames.com.