ELECTRONIC ROAD PRICING IN HONG KONG. 2. THE TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

This article, the second in a series of four about the electronic road pricing (erp) project carried out in Hong Kong between 1983-85, specifically describes the technology which was applied as part of the project and the preparation of the design for a full territory-wide system. One of the primary objectives of the pilot stage project was to demonstrate the technical viability of an automatic vehicle identification (avi) system, suitable for the rigorous requirements of a road-pricing system. Though avi technology had been researched at TRRL during the 1970s and further developed by Plessey for use on tracked systems such as the Glasgow underground, no practical system had been demonstrated capable of reliably identifying vehicles on a road where there are problems of weaving vehicles and multiple simultaneous transactions, etc. An overview of the system is described together with the data capture system and the accounting and administration system. A detailed evaluation of system performance is discussed and it is concluded that the technical viability of the proposed full erp system has been successfully demonstrated. (TRRL)