MBUFA February 2018 Update

The latest Update about all things MBUFA

February 2018

MBUF Pilots Brief Congress on Progress

On January 25, Congressional staffers from the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee were briefed on the status of the various pilots from the Section 6020 Grants. Reema Griffith, Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission briefed the staff in person for both the House and Senate meetings and Trish Hendren, Executive Director of the I-95 Corridor Coalition was able to join the group in person for the Senate briefing. All of the other speakers briefed those attending on a conference call.

Briefing the staff were:

Reema Griffith, Washington

Carrie Pourvahidi, California

Lee Munnich, Minnesota

Debra Perkins Smith, Colorado and RUC West

Michael DeMers, Missouri

Trish Hendren, I-95 Corridor Coalition

Maureen Bock, Oregon

Both meetings raised a number of questions about the variety of pilots and the needs for the future. As both Committees look to consider these pilots in any future authorization legislation, questions centered around being able to access the information needed with the current legislative statute. In addition, questions also pointed toward future pilot proposals and areas of interest by the Committee in future pilots that are being considered.

After both meetings, several staff asked MBUFA if these briefings could be held on a regular basis to keep key staff current on the various proposals being considered around the nation.

Quarterly Meeting on March 1 to Focus on Pilots and MBUF Issues of Future

Members will gather in Washington, D.C. on March 1 to discuss a range of topics related to MBUF. Topics will include new states considering the issue of MBUF and various proposed new studies that would consider further research on a range of MBUF issues.

Additionally, members will consider the impact from the President's Infrastructure Proposal to the issue and various other Congressional proposals. Included in the program are updates on current Section 6020 pilots and the consideration for future pilots in the upcoming Round 3 proposals.

Updates from the January 25 Congressional Briefing will be discussed prior to further meetings with Congressional staff, that afternoon, on the issue.

If you are a member, or a potential member, of MBUFA and are interested in attending, please contact: [email protected]

Cofiroute USA is proud to be a new member of MBUFA

Cofiroute USA is a toll collection system and Express Lanes provider with a specialized focus on the management, operation and maintenance of tolling and express lane implementation, operations and customer service center management systems.

Cofiroute S.A. (France) was part of California Private Transportation Company (CPTC), which was formed in 1995 to finance, develop and operate the first all-electronic toll facility in the world, the 91 Express Lanes, which is located in Orange and Riverside Counties in California. The franchise rights to the 91 Express Lanes were sold to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) in 2003, and Cofiroute USA was formed to operate the 91 Express Lanes and develop other tolling and managed lanes projects.

In 2015 Cofiroute USA became a wholly-owned subsidiary of VINCI Highways, which is part of the Paris based VINCI Group, a global leader in transport and urban development infrastructure.

VINCI Highways manages over 4,100 miles of highways and road infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Caribbean, while servicing 2.2 million customers a day. Their unique expertise in electronic toll collection services resulting from many years of experience in all-electronic tolling activities has allowed VINCI Highways to be a leader in toll and road infrastructure usage payment services, transaction management and interoperability platform. Through the operation of its existing assets, VINCI Highways manages one of the largest customer portfolio's in Europe in the toll payment services and transaction management market and is part of the GPS based toll system consortium that operates the Road User Charge project for heavy vehicles in Germany. VINCI Highways is also a shareholder of Axxès, the first Electronic Toll Service Provider for commercial vehicles and cars in France and the current leader in the market.

In summary, Cofiroute USA with the support of VINCI Highways and their subsidiaries is in a unique position to bring solutions to Road Usage Charge projects in USA.

By joining the Mileage-based Fee Alliance, Cofiroute USA is interested in helping to promote Road Usage Charge projects in USA, and participating with Public Authorities and private companies to find the appropriate opportunities to make Road User Charge a reality in North America. Cofiroute USA thinks that MBUFA plays a key role gathering the whole community towards achieving these goals. Cofiroute USA is proud to be a new member of MBUFA.

Member News

E-ZPass Links With PayByCar to Advance In-Vehicle Payments

This month, Verdeva, Inc. announced a PayByCar pilot program in partnership with E-ZPass Group. More than 35 million E-ZPass transponders have been sold that can be used to pay tolls in 17 states. The PayByCar service is initially rolling out to three gas stations in Massachusetts and Verdeva is also planning service at drive-through restaurants.

Kevin Condon, Verdeva's founder and CEO, explains that "Payments have gone from cash to credit cards, to digital credit cards, and from that we've moved into proximity mobile payments using a smartphone... Now, we're moving from that into the next step, which is in-vehicle payments."

Read More at xconomy