e-TAG is a free-flow tolling electronic toll collection system used on all

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implement ...

s throughout Australia. It was originally developed by

Transurban Transurban is a road operator company that manages and develops urban toll road networks in Australia, Canada and the United States. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Transurban is the full owner of CityLink in Melbou ...

for use on their

CityLink CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Australia, linking the Tullamarine, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other works. In 1996, Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two e ...

tollway in the late 1990s, with the system since adopted by all toll roads, bridges and tunnels in Australia. The technology had different names depending on the issuer, such as Breeze ( Eastlink Melbourne), Linkt (Transurban, includes former names E-way and go via), and E-toll (

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an List of New South Wales government agencies, agency of the Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government established on 1 Novem ...

). However, these are all interchangeable across Australia and no surcharges apply for use on other operators' toll roads. Toll roads in Australia use free-flow tolling, with no toll booths along the entire length of the system to impede traffic flow. Australia was one of the first countries in the world to have complete, surcharge-free interoperability between rival tolling providers across different state roadway systems. In July 2007, both e-TAG and e-pass video tolling arrangements were introduced in the

Sydney Harbour Tunnel The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel in Sydney, Australia. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bri ...

Westlink M7 The Westlink M7 or M7 Motorway, formerly Western Sydney Orbital, is a tolled urban motorway in Sydney and is a part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by the NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group, it connects three motorways: M5 South-West Motor ...

Cross City Tunnel The Cross City Tunnel is a twin-road tunnel tollway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The tunnel links Darling Harbour on the western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. Each of t ...

and the

Lane Cove Tunnel The Lane Cove Tunnel is an A$1.1 billion, 3.6 km twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia, which connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon. It is owned by toll road operator Transurban and forms ...

. This measure substantially eased traffic jams heading towards electronic gantries, providing increased convenience and time savings. In early 2009, the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded ...

became toll-booth free, requiring e-TAGs to be used. There are over 850,000 e-TAG account customers, and over 1 million e-TAGs have been issued.

Technology

The e-TAG electronic tolling is based on

radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electrom ...

(RFID)

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

s using the DSRC protocol. The system uses electronic transponders provided by Kapsch (called e-TAGs) mounted on the inside of the vehicles' windscreen. Gantries constructed over each carriageway record registration plates and detect the e-TAGs. As the vehicle continues along the toll road, additional gantries monitor the distance travelled. Associated software then determines the toll amount payable, which is automatically deducted from the prepaid account associated with the tag. Where a tag is not detected, the vehicle's registration is recorded using

video tolling Video tolling (sometimes referred to as video billing, toll by plate, pay by mail, or pay by plate) is a form of electronic toll collection, which uses video or still images of a vehicle's license plate to identify a vehicle liable to pay a road ...

technology which incorporates an

automatic number plate recognition Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing closed-circuit t ...

system and checked against a government motor registration database. For infrequent use of the system a user can buy a Daypass – by phone, online, at any

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post ...

outlet or at participating service stations. A Daypass can be bought in advance or afterwards (until midnight three days later). If payment has not been made after three days, the vehicle's registered owner will be sent a late toll invoice in the mail, and if the late toll invoice is then not paid a fine will be issued. In Victoria fines are issued by Civic Compliance Victoria. The life of the battery in an e-TAG transponder is approximately 5 years. Customers are advised when a device is about to expire and to contact the issuer should their e-TAG not beep as they pass a tolling gantry, to receive a replacement device.

References

{{Reflist

Official site

Roam Tolling Pty LtdTransurban Group
(Parent Company) Toll roads in Australia Electronic toll collection Driving in Australia

Technology

See also

References

Official site