Managing Traffic Incidents - University of Queensland

Melbourne City Link Key Dates
– Aug 1999 - Western Link opened to traffic
(8 months after contracted completion date)
– Jan 2000 - tolling commenced
– April 2000 - Southern Link and Domain Tunnel open
to traffic
– Jan 2001 - repaired Burnley Tunnel opened to traffic
The Concession
CityLink has been developed by Transurban
CityLink Limited, which have a market capitalisation
in excess of AUD$1 billion, making it
one of Australia's top 100 listed companies.
Transurban was awarded the 'operating concession'
to build, own, operate and transfer the
City Link project on the basis of an agreement
which allows the company to collect payment
from users who wish to travel on the Link. The
toll charges are controlled by a strict formula
agreed with the local transport authorities.
Transurban is committed to maintaining a
high quality of service to its customers the road
users, to collect tolls accurately and fairly 24
hours a day, 365 days of the year. After 34
years, the Melbourne City Link will be returned,
in good operating condition and debtfree,
to the state. The collection of tolls over
this period is expected to pay for the initial investment.
Tolling
At the forefront of Transurban's highway revolution
is its tolling system. CityLink is the
world's largest application of electronic tolling
technology in an urban road setting, making the
project one of the first to commit fully to the
concept of cashless tolling - which can be referred
to as 3rd Generation Electronic Tolling.
Experience — problems arise on major complex
projects like City Link.
Challenges
Because all CityLink tolls are collected by
this sophisticated electronic scanning system,
there is no need for drivers to slow down or
stop. Tolls are paid at freeway speeds resulting
is fast, safe and stress-free travel. The benefits
of multi-lane free-flow electronic tolling include
no toll booths or boom gates, and no need
for cash or tokens. The system has the capacity
to collect fees and check a large number of vehicles
simultaneously, which ensures that are
never stop-and-go situations or queues. It is not
a problem, however, to debit queuing vehicles.
Each regular user fixes a small transponder,
about the size of an audio cassette, behind the
rear view mirror on the windscreen inside their
vehicle. The transponder, known as an e-TAG®
device, identifies the road user when the vehicle
passes under gantries located every few kilometres
along the tollway. There are nine Tolling
Zones distributed along the roads forming the
Melbourne City Link. The tolling strategy
adopted for City Link is an open system with
screenline gantries located along the route.
For the whole City Link there are 17 tolling
gantries ranging from two lane configurations
to freeway standard cross sections involving
four running lanes and emergency stopping
lanes on each side. The tolling strategy incorporates
a trip toll cap, which effectively places an
upper limit on the toll payable for a single journey
on the Link.
Road safety and occupational health and
safety were further issues in relation to the selection
of a fully electronic tolling system. The
stop start driving conditions associated with
conventional plazas are eliminated. In addition,
the exposure of employees to the relatively hazardous
environment of a toll plaza is avoided.
Outcome
– Western Link opened to traffic, eight months after contracted
completion date, tolling delayed for further four
and half months
– Delay in opening and tolling of Domain Tunnel and
Monash Freeway sections of the Southern Link until
three months after the contracted completion date
– Unavailability of the Burnley tunnel due to the need to
undertake major repairs to the floor slabs
– Adverse impact on financial performance and the basis
for a liquidated damages claim from construction joint
venture contractor
– Significant commercial issues and threat of major litigation
– Late delivery of the Central Toll Computer System
(CTCS), prevented tolling of the Western Link until four
and a half months after opened to traffic
– Significant inefficiencies in customer service and very
high administration costs
– Additional costs in manual transactions during critical
period, plus adverse public perception due top customer
service difficulties
– Takeover of full responsibility for CityLink customer
services from Translink Operations
28 DECEMBER 2001