Local smart toll system expands reach to Balkans

2016/12/08

Taiwan’s Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co. and Republic of Srpska Motorways concluded a memorandum of understanding recently in Taipei City, paving the way for the latter to introduce the FETC’s smart toll system to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The pact was signed Nov. 30 by FETC President Chang Yung-chang and RSM General Manager Dusan Topic, who was visiting Taiwan as part of a delegation that also included business leaders and officials from Belarus and Kazakhstan.

This fact-finding trip was the second jointly arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development since 2015 to promote smart city projects and foster partnerships between local firms and related businesses in EBRD recipient economies.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Chang expressed his company’s eagerness to share its smart infrastructure solutions with interested nations. In response, Topic said he hopes to fast-track collaboration with FETC so that residents can enjoy the same advanced multilane free-flow tolling system as the people of Taiwan.

The latest MOU follows two similar pacts that the Taipei-based company concluded with Belarus and Kazakhstan in December last year. FETC also signed a consulting agreement with Vietnam in early 2015 to introduce an electronic toll collection system on 2,400 km of the Southeast Asian nation’s freeways.

Launched in 2006 as an optional payment method using onboard infrared units, Taiwan’s ETC system converted to e-Tags based on radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology in 2012. It boasts tolling accuracy and usage rates of 99.99 percent and 92.75 percent, respectively.

The system has garnered several global awards since its introduction, including the Traffic Management and Intelligent Transportation Systems prize at the International Road Federation-organized Global Road Achievement Awards in October this year. It also received the Customer Service and Marketing Outreach award from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and the Industry Award from the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, both in 2015.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=250126&ctNode=2194&mp=9)