Taiwan homegrown ETC system wins global honor

2015/09/02

A Taiwan-designed electronic toll collection system is winner of an excellence award at the annual meeting of International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association Aug. 31 in Dublin, Ireland.

Lauded for its accident-free implementation, operational efficiency and service quality, the system was honored by the U.S.-based organization in the category of Customer Service and Marketing Outreach.

Wu Mu-fu, deputy director-general of Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, said the achievement represents the culmination of nearly a decade of hard work to transitioning from a flat-rate, pay-per-use manual system to an electronic distance-based one.

“First launched in 2006 as an optional payment method utilizing infrared separate on board units, our ETC system has come a long way in earning customer trust and achieving operational excellence.”

Taiwan is the first in the world with a nationwide ETC network. The radio frequency identification technology was adopted in 2012 and took just 10 months to switch from a manual to electronic model.

“Now averaging 14 million transactions per day, we boast the highest global tolling and detection accuracy rates of 99.97 percent and 99.9 percent, respectively, with ETC coverage of 926 kilometers also a world record,” Wu said.

“Utilization grew from 40 percent to over 94 percent in 20 months after ETC went online,” Wu said, adding that 75 percent of all vehicles nationwide now enrolled in the system.

The system is also named recipient of an Intelligent Transport System award for pioneering advancement. The presentation will take place at ITS World Congress Oct. 5-9 in France.

According to TANFB estimates, the system has created added benefits of NT$2.4 billion (US$73.9 million) per year in carbon reduction and energy conservation while boosting freeway traffic flows.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=234459&ctNode=413)