Abertis Mobility Services (AMS), which provides smart mobility solutions, is joining a project to develop a satellite distance-based fee (DBF) solution, which will be piloted in the Low Emission Zones of Munich (Germany) and Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain).
The project is financed by EIT Urban Mobility, which is operated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) – a body of the European Union and other partners.
AMS is an industrial partner of Immense, a project set up to establish innovative ways of managing traffic demand in cities and encouraging sustainable transport options.
The project will see the cities of Munich and Esplugues de Llobregat simulate the satellite DBF solution pilot in an urban environment.
Municipal authorities will be responsible for back-office management and the development of the app.
AMS claims to have experience with similar schemes through road user charging projects in Washington, Utah, Oregon and Virginia in the US through its subsidiary Emovis.
The satellite-based tolling framework is designed to allow drivers to pay for their use of the road network, with the cost decided based on an exact calculation of kilometres driven.
Those behind the project hope to help local authorities in Esplugues de Llobregat and Munich to increase the efficacy of their Low Emission Zones by cutting congestion by 10% and 25% for Esplugues de Llobregat and Munich, respectively.
Christian Barrientos, CEO of AMS, said: “We believe that all agents and players of the mobility ecosystem must promote a paradigm shift in urban traffic management, implementing Traffic Demand Management (TDM) schemes, to improve air quality, discourage and reduce the use of private vehicles entering the city centre”.
The pilot is planned to run for two months, from September to November 2023, during which approximately 1,000 users in the cities of Esplugues de Llobregat (Spain) and Munich (Germany) will test the system.
Dr. Maria Tsavachidis, CEO of EIT Urban Mobility, said: “With Immense, Esplugues de Llobregat and Munich will deploy and test dynamic road pricing for traffic demand management. Their experiences may open the way for many other European cities that are urgently trying to reduce private vehicle traffic.
“Changes to the transportation system have a direct impact on citizens, businesses, and communities. Therefore, citizen participation and awareness during testing are key to ensuring acceptance and a wider scale of these solutions.”
The solution will be accompanied with an integrated system platform and end-user application.
In addition to this, AMS hopes the final system developed through the pilot will prove scalable to other cities.
