Interoperability of road toll tags tested

The National Roads Authority (NRA) will this morning begin a pilot test of interoperability of electronic tolling tags.

Interoperability means that motorists who have an electronic tag for use on any toll road in Ireland would be able to use it to pass through any other toll in the country. This is possible because all electronic tolls in Ireland use the same industry standard known as the A1 protocol.

Approximately 1,000 motorists have been invited to take part in the trial, which is expected to last for a month. It is understood that if the trial is successful, commercial deployment could happen within a matter of weeks.

Etrip Services Ireland - a joint venture between French transport engineering company Egis Projects and Irish firm Electro Automation, which already provides tolling for the Dublin Port Tunnel - has plans to market electronic tolls aggressively once interoperability is introduced.

"The advent of interoperability now offers us a platform to build on our success to date with Dublin's port tunnel," said Ciara O'Brien, general manager of Etrip.

Etrip will compete with other providers of electronic tolls, including National Toll Roads subsidiary EazyPass, which operates on the East Link and West Link bridges and the M1 motorway.

The backers of the company have invested €5.4 million to set up Etrip and Ms O'Brien said it was currently negotiating with car park operators and other firms so that its electronic tags could be used for a variety of purposes. She said that despite the public perception, electronic tolling alone was not a high-profit business.

"This is not just about tolling or car parking," said Ms O'Brien. "There is no huge barrier to building a customer base with the product we have."

Ms O'Brien said the company, which employs 10 people in Dublin, planned to expand internationally once it had established itself in Ireland.