What Happens When You Rotate the Wheels on Interoperability?

This week’s question is about interoperability and open road tolling – in recognition of the workshop we just held in Boston. But first, a skating story.

This morning I rotated the wheels on my Rollerblade inline skates. The manufacturer recommends rotating the wheels periodically to avoid uneven wear patterns that could shorten the life of the wheels and cause accident or injury to the skater. So with my newly rotated wheels, I enjoyed one of the smoothest and comfortable skating experiences in weeks. Funny how that works. And much appreciated.

In Boston on Sunday through Tuesday of this week, more than 100 speakers and 375 delegates engaged in dialogue, debate, and discussion on a host of issues under the theme “The Future of Tolling: Going Mainstream Through ORT and Interoperability.” The members of IBTTA have some very definite convictions about interoperability, open road tolling, the prospect of vehicle miles traveled charging, and a host of related issues. Throughout the three days of meetings, I sat and stood with clusters of different people during meals and refreshment breaks and listened intently to the many ideas tossed about. Sometimes a person would be brimming with such energy and passion they would start to assert their own ideas even before the other person finished talking. This often happens at the dinner table in my family, so I realize it’s hard to avoid this level of passion in the tolling family.

However, reflecting on my Rollerblade ride this morning, it occurred to me that occasionally we exert some well-worn views without checking their condition. Is it possible that the “wear pattern” on our interoperability ideas is a bit uneven because we haven’t “rotated the wheels” lately? Think about it. What would happen if you rotated the wheels on your ideas about interoperability and ORT? Or better still, what would happen if you put on someone else’s skates – their ideas – and went for a spin? What would the ride feel like and how might you see the world differently?

So, the question for this week is to discover what happens when you rotate the wheels on interoperability? Take your own ideas and rotate them to avoid the “uneven wear pattern” that sometimes happens when you ride on them in the same position for too long – and tell us what your new idea looks like. Or, try on someone else’s ideas about interoperability and tell us what the world looks like through that new set of skates? Totally stumped? Then take a fresh approach to tell us what you think should be done to advance tolling interoperability in North America. If you need inspiration, you can consult the blog posting and comments from January at this link: http://ibtta.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-should-be-done-about.html

What Does the Mergers and Acquisitions Trend Mean for Tolling?

In recent months, we have witnessed a spate of mergers and acquisitions activity in the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) side of tolling. One prominent example is Federal Signal’s acquisition of Diamond Consulting, Sirit, and VESystems which, combined with PIPS and Federal Automated Parking Devices, formed a new unit called Federal Signal Technologies Group.

On the public agency side, Massachusetts recently consolidated the Massachusetts Highway Department, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the Massachusetts Port Authority (MassPort) with its Tobin Bridge, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (Boston area’s transit system) all under the management of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.  In a similar move several years ago, New Jersey consolidated the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike into one authority overseen by a board of commissioners appointed by the governor.

Over the years, we have seen similar consolidations of toll road concessionaires in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere around the world. So, mergers and acquisitions are a fact of life. Most M&As begin with high expectations for success and the promise of cost reductions, improved efficiency, and greater productivity. Some M&As live up to those expectations while others fall short by varying degrees. Others fail miserably.

What do recent mergers and acquisitions mean for the toll industry? What is the significance of M&As for the sustainability of tolling as a funding, financing, operating, and governance mechanism? What do they say about the political, economic, technological, and social forces that are exerting their influence on mobility solutions around the world? What influence, if any, will these M&As have on the goal of achieving universal interoperability of electronic toll collection?