Listen to this articleemovis is a mobility service provider that aims to transform toll payment into seamless journey for the millions traveling on highways around the globe. To find out more we sat down with Rossi Benoit, Head of Marketing & Communication at emovis:
Q: Could you tell us something more about the company?
A: We operate some of the world’s hottest traffic spots in 7 countries and employ over 550 staff in Europe and in North America.
We changed our name to “emovis” in June 2016 to reflect our new ambition as we are now fully owned by Abertis, one of the world’s largest highways management firms with over $6b annual revenues. Last October, we launched our latest barrier-free tolling operation over the $2.4b new Mersey Gateway Crossing near Liverpool, UK.
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Q: What are the major trends that will impact mobility?
A: Three major trends will reshape people’s mobility in the next 5 years:
– Pay-Per-Distance: there is a societal shift from “asset ownership” (such as cars) to a “usage-based service”. We are already testing a pay-per-mile solution in Oregon (US) which could eventually replace the 20th century gas tax in the U.S.
– Dynamic Pricing: demand for travel is unquenchable. Adding more highways, more buses, or more cars on the roads won’t quench this insatiable human need. The solution will consist in adequately pricing the access to the scarce resource that is the road. Instead of binary peak /off-peak rate, big data is now allowing us to “price” the tolls according to the actual level of congestion to ensure optimum fluidity on the road. Our group successfully implemented this solution on Puerto Rico’s main highways (PR-22).
– Digital Infrastructures: tomorrow’s mobility will not be about pouring more concrete or erecting new equipment by the roads, but about digital mobility. The winners will be those who will be able to offer a global mobility brand to the millions of travelers and commuters. We have, for instance, developed a mobile application (“M50 QuickPay”) which is now widely used by Irish motorists to pay their tolls when travelling along Dublin’s Ring Road.
Q: You’ve recently successfully completed the end to end upgrade of Concession A25’s All Electronic Tolling Systems; could you tell us something more?
A: This is a perfect example of what we have described above, that is, the digitalization of the road infrastructures. A25 is a strategic corridor between the cities of Laval and Québec, Canada. Instead of installing a traditional toll plaza with booth and barriers, the road manager opted a barrier-free solution, thereby allowing motorists to freely travel along the A25 without the need to stop or even slow down.
Our solution automatically captures vehicles’ licence plate numbers or, alternatively read the sticker tags affixed to the windscreen (if any), and bill the customer accordingly. But in addition to that, our solution provides business intelligence reports allowing the Road Manager to analyze traffic data in view of optimizing its asset usage.
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Q: What advantage does emovis have over its competitors?
A: In today’s connected societies, mobility is not about technology, but about customer experience.
Our strength lies in our capacity to deliver smooth travel experience to road users by offering multiple choices of payment that fit best motorists’ consuming habits, especially the Millenials. We, for instance, pioneered the use of six-sigma technique to improve customers’ satisfaction on our London’s tolling operations: the Dartford Crossing.
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Q: What are your plans for next twelve months?
A: We are exploring new mobility concept based on block-chain technology as we believe this could allow us to offer more secure and cost effective mobility solutions to our customers. Earlier this month, we participated in a seminar on that topic organized by the International Transport Forum at the MIT.
This is a complete new field of investigation, but we believe this new technology has the potential of transforming the way people transact with Road Authorities and Public Transport Bodies.
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