Evaluation and improvement of toll collection system in Sri Lankan expressways : case study for Colombo-Katunayake expressway

Abstract

With the latest development, three Expressways were opened for public in Sri Lanka and it is expected that the number of riders for expressway network will rise. The pay toll system in road is based on the traditional method which is collecting the toll by road barriers installed at the entrance & exit points of Expressways. Although in this system the toll is collected directly from the drivers, the existence of barriers causes increased travel time, increased fuel consumption and consequently increased pollution in the road environment. For a more continuous flow of traffic, an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system was introduced in Colombo – Katunayake Expressway (CKE) since June 2015 to help alleviate traffic congestions; reduce environmental pollution, reduced cash circulation, integration of the financial system, more passenger comfort, reduce the service time specifically at Toll Plazas. This research focuses on the economic and technical analysis of existing toll collection systems in Colombo-Katunayake Expressway. The study is aim to evaluate the newly established ETC Toll collection System CKE. In detail, the objective is to assess the amount of delay of the individual lanes of dedicated for MTC and ETC; their service time, lane capacities and the forming of queue in each lane and compare with the different modes of toll systems used in other countries. The study also aims to find out the specific factors that affect the delays experienced at Toll plazas & decrease the system performance and proposed suitable, recommend ways to improve the service. Not only that the study is focused on the evaluation of economic loss due to the delays in toll lanes and level of lane utilization by each mode of vehicles. The analysis of the current toll systems in CKE under the system, financial, traffic, environmental, infrastructure and socio-economic aspects would be conducted using SWOT analysis. Then, the different toll collection methods & technologies are studied under this research and compared characteristics, performances of each individual technology. Analysis is done for identify the appropriate ETC toll collection method. Further, fuzzy logic based MADM (Multiple Attribute Decision Making) approach is employed for selection of optimal ETC system for Sri Lankan Expressways.

Consequently, short-term and long-term recommendations for Sri Lankan road tolling system are proposed in terms of transportation.