The Last Word for 2008
The year 2008 will go down in history as the best of times and the worst of times. Leaving the best for last, If you were a toll agency or concessionaire attempting to acquire or build a facility, I hope you got it done in the first half of the year. The second half followed the financial meltdown of the global 'Wall Street' in the aftermath of the secondary mortgage collapse. There are no investment bankers left in the U.S., those that remain are now regulated banks. There are few if any credit insurance companies that can offer AAA ratings for municipal debt and the market is generally frozen for lack of liquidity.
The best is that more and more toll operators are realizing that Open-Road-Tolling / All-Electronic-Toll-Collection / Multilane-Free-Flow (ORT/AETC/MLFF) is the wave of the immediate future. A dozen or more agencies in the U.S. are studying or have already committed to go AETC. Just this week the USDOT secretary said '*You hold the key to speeding the transition to open-road tolling, the key to attracting more investment, and the key to unlocking gridlock through dynamic pricing*.'
I would consider that an endorsement of cashless toll collection. This trend is evident throughout the globe, South Africa with its new Gauteng project, the German, Austrian and Czech Republic systems, India, Malaysia etc. Everyone is implementing toll systems without cash.
As in any time, there are rainbows and rainstorms, and then they are gone and a new front passes through.
I hope your Holidays are full of happiness and joy.
Dr Hal Worrall
Published in Idris Winter 2008
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