Oklahoma Transportation Authority Awards TransCore $16.6 Million Tag Contract

In addition to meeting immediate customer growth expectations, the contract is the culmination of a multi-year effort to transition the PIKEPASS system from read-only tags to next-generation read/write. OTA estimates it is adding 10,000 new PIKEPASS accounts per month and replacing old tags with new ones at a current rate of 10,000 per month, but expect to ramp up to 24,000 per month.

Oklahoma’s PIKEPASS system is the first and largest open-road ETC system in the world, allowing motorists to automatically pay tolls at highway speeds. Developed in the early 1990s, it is a statewide system, encompassing nearly 600 miles, 10 turnpikes, 453 lanes and more than 500,000 users. TransCore's involvement with the system dates to the 1990s. In 2000, TransCore was awarded a $33 million contract to upgrade and replace the entire toll collection system and add 164 new ETC lanes. The upgrade to read/write capability is OTA's latest investment to keep the system state-of-the-art and provide ongoing benefits to customers. With the upgrade, all new tags provide an audio alert or buzzer that sounds when a customer's tag has been read, allowing the patron the assurance the transaction was successful. If it does not sound, the patron can proactively contact the authority.

The key benefits of electronic toll collection are well known, reducing congestion and frustration for motorists while boosting efficiency for toll authorities. After enrolling in an ETC program and receiving an RFID transponder, a motorist no longer must stop at toll barriers and fumble for money to pay attendants or coin machines. Instead he continues through the toll zone, where a tag reader automatically detects the unique identification number encoded in his RFID transponder and notifies the system to deduct the toll amount from an established account. PIKEPASS users get a discount from the cash toll rate, as well as a volume discount if they incur more than 20 ETC transactions per month per PIKEPASS tag. ETC systems alleviate demands on toll authority manpower, automating and streamlining toll collection, violation enforcement, back office operations, as well as reducing emissions due to idling times at toll plazas.

TransCore is the largest global manufacturer of transportation-based radio frequency identification (RFID) products, and its experience in electronic toll collection systems, toll customer service centers and toll violation processing is extensive, including projects with some of the largest toll authorities in the world, including the Delaware Department of Transportation, Denver's E-470 Public Highway Authority, Florida Department of Transportation, Houston's Harris County Toll Road Authority, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, New York City Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Virginia Department of Transportation as well as installations in Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina and the Philippines.

About TransCore

TransCore is a privately held transportation services company with 1,800 employees and more than 80 locations throughout the world. With installations in 39 countries, 80-plus patents and a world-class research, development and manufacturing facility, TransCore's expertise is unparalleled. For more information, visit www.transcore.com.