Delays at toll booths - why wait in line?

Abstract

The availability of both simple and advanced techniques can now solve traffic delays at toll booths. One low-tech approach involves the addition of gates slightly downstream or upstream of the existing toll plaza. Another approach employs the use of an existing cashier-manned gate to collect from alternative 'platoons' of cars. This has shown a 30% increase in service capacity by making a platoon pay at a distance sufficient for accommodating storage of a platoon, while a second platoon pays at the first toll gate. On the other hand, a high-tech approach such as the use of Automatic Vehicle Identification would need fully automated toll gates to completely eliminate the need to slow down. In such a system, a vehicle must carry electronically readable tags. The driver is then billed periodically, or alternatively reloads the vehicle tag periodically with electronic tokens. The cost of eliminating toll booth delays pales in comparison to the overwhelming social costs. It would then be wise to pressure governments to implement these present solutions.