Innovating a metroplex: Q and A with NCTCOG
For a decade and a half, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) sought out an effective technology-based solution to managing HOV lane tolls. Ultimately, they selected the GoCarma app. NCTCOG Senior Program Manager Dan Lamers explained the process.
What made you realize you needed a technology-based HOV system for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex (DFW)?
Dan Lamers: We started looking at ways to verify occupancy on our managed lane system years ago. When we adopted our managed lane policy for the region at least 15 years ago, our policy board, the Regional Transportation Council instructed us to try to find an electronic way to ensure that the high occupancy vehicles (HOV) were indeed high occupancy. So we began looking for various technology-oriented solutions.
After several requests for proposals and several failed procurement processes, we ultimately decided to work together with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to try to find something that could work statewide since all of our managed lane facilities are owned by TxDOT.
The reason we wanted to have electronic technology-based occupancy verification was threefold.
Safety: We were concerned about the safety of enforcement officers in the field, in the managed lanes, as they are designed to be high-speed facilities focusing on mobility. When officers pull people over on the side of the road, there's an inherent danger to the officers when vehicles are driving by them at 70 miles per hour plus in some cases, the officers expressed concern that they were in harm's way. So we knew we needed to find a better solution.
Enforcement: We wanted to make sure that we had an effective way of enforcing the occupancy. Currently, with officers in the field chasing down potential violators, at most, they could pull over three or four vehicles in an hour. With the size of our system, and the number of locations that they would have to enforce, we were not even getting close to identifying a fraction of the potential violations.
Incentives: We wanted the ability to be able to use the system to help us with other regional priorities or even other regional programs. Like offering incentives to people for other travel behavior other than just occupancy. So roadside equipment would not allow us to do that. We wanted something that was essentially either on the person or in the vehicle so we could monitor and be able to reward or incentivize certain travel behaviors if people signed up for the program. So those were the reasons why we decided we wanted to look for an in-vehicle solution as opposed to an out-of-vehicle solution.
Why was Carma selected?
Dan Lamers: We really liked the philosophy and the background that Carma had, working with other urban areas on different types of travel behaviors and occupancy-based travel behaviors in particular. The working relationship was very good. We were able to ensure that our regional priorities are included in the GoCarma system from day one.
GoCarma was able to provide us with a dashboard so we can monitor how the system operates. We have heard very good things from our partners associated with our management operations regarding the system.
Initially we had a few users who were not happy with the implementation of the Gocarma system, those users were generally unhappy as they were not able to cheat. That was telling us that we had found a solution that we thought could work.
The number one concern I hear from people who aren't familiar with the system is that there's no way we can ensure that there's no cheating going on. Everybody thinks they can find a way to cheat the system. Again, in our experience with Carma’s proprietary algorithms monitoring the people that use the system, we feel like we are able to first educate people on the proper use of the system. And second, remind them that not using it properly could result in their suspension.
Very few people have gotten to the point where their accounts have been suspended. So we're very pleased with the progressive enforcement process associated with the app conditions.
Who else was involved in the decision and implementation?
Dan Lamers: We didn't have to sell anybody on the need for a technology-based system. The partners that were involved in the decision are the same partners that are involved in the development of our managed lane system to begin with. That is TxDOT as owners of the facilities. There is a private managed lane developer that developed and operates two of the corridors within our region. TxDOT also operates several corridors within the region. So we have multiple operators.
We have the North Texas Tollway Authority, which is the billing agent for all of the managed lanes within the region. And then there are the back offices associated with each of the TxDOT and the private developers’ toll collection processing section that we had to work with directly. We also worked with the transit authority to a degree.
One of the policies associated with the managed lanes is that transit vehicles go free. We had to ensure that whatever system was developed would ensure that transit vehicles could go free.
Did you have to educate the partners on the GoCarma system?
Dan Lamers: We did have to educate the partners and initially they have the same questions that we now hear from the public. After walking our partners through the process and developing protocols for how the interface between the GoCarma system and their operations would work they were very comfortable with it.
The education was really more on how the system worked as opposed to why we need this.
Was there a plan to go beyond occupancy verification to incentives?
Dan Lamers: We knew that eventually, we wanted to be able to expand the use of the system to be more than just occupancy verification. The RFP that we issued was strictly focused on the occupancy in the discussions. During the contract negotiation, we had mentioned to Carma that this was a hope of ours that someday we could use this for other purposes. The folks at Carma were very excited about the possibility of us being able to do that someday. And then we found that opportunity last year.
We applied for an STSFA (Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives) grant through the US Department of Transportation, who were exploring alternatives to the allocation of costs of travel to different road users. We saw GoCarma as a logical means to be able to do that, as the GoCarma app is able to monitor the time of day and the location of system users under certain circumstances. That allows us to be able to offer incentives for certain behaviors that have those characteristics.
In fact, we are coming up with new ways that we think may be able to use the system in the future. We think we absolutely made the right decision in implementing this system.
Do you have any advice for those interested in updating their HOV lane technology?
Dan Lamers: The advice I give other people when they ask about our experience, is that it requires a mindset change on occupancy verification and management. Most managed lane operators focus exclusively on enforcement, trying to make this a legal issue. Very early on, we decided to change our philosophy, from it being a legal issue to simply being an opt-in benefit to people who carpool. So I encourage people to rethink the need for occupancy verification, moving it away from an enforcement policy in the legal sense, to simply an opt-in. You have to agree to the rules if you want to get a discount.
Were there any unexpected results or benefits?
Dan Lamers: Several people from our partner agencies have expressed that not having as many police officers in the corridor during the peak periods actually helps the traffic to flow smoother.
Prior to the GoCarma system, the app that we had was a self-declaring system, requiring users to declare occupancy 15 min prior to entering the managed lane, resulting in complaints about usability of the app. We also wanted to move to a system that requires no user interaction whilst driving.
Using the GoCarma system prevents all of that, once the user has downloaded the app and registered, it runs in the background, and requires no further interaction from that point. We have heard a lot of comments that people appreciate the simplicity of the system.
Any thoughts on being a trailblazer in managed lane systems?
Dan Lamers: The North Central Texas region prides itself on being at the cutting edge of transportation. Our policy board encourages us to explore technology in all ways and forms to solve our transportation problems. This was no exception. We also set out at least 30 years ago to develop what has become our managed lane system. I feel like we were the first major metropolitan area in the country to not just plan for what we now know as managed lane facilities, but we set out initially to plan a managed lane system.
As of now, we have what I believe is the largest managed lane system in the country. It's over 120 miles and close to 300 lane miles of interconnected managed lane facilities that allow people to move from one end of our region to the other in a very reliable system, and be able to take advantage of discounts when they carpool.