TransCore says it is “helping to introduce a new era of urban traffic management” in the US as the prime design-build-operate-maintain contractor for the Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP) recently launched by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The firm successfully designed and implemented “a cutting-edge, all-overhead, infrastructure-light configuration of its latest Infinity Digital Lane System” across more than 100 Manhattan congestion zone toll points. The system, which TransCore now operates, features “advanced neural network data processing and machine learning” to accurately identify and appropriately toll each of the 700,000-plus vehicles that the enter the zone on a typical weekday. “The installed infrastructure is designed to minimize the hardware footprint, visually integrate with the unique aspects of Manhattan’s diverse neighborhoods, and accommodate the city’s mix of high-volume multimodal traffic without disruption.”
As TransCore notes in a January 27 news release, initial MTA data show that CBDTP is achieving its intended results: lowering the volume of vehicles entering the congestion zone, improving travel times within and to central Manhattan, removing emissions from the atmosphere, and enhancing public transit. “As sustained results are reported,” the MTA program “is expected to provide new insight into how other metropolitan areas might leverage technology to create more livable, sustainable, and efficient urban cores in the future.”
TransCore president and CEO Whitt Hall expresses pride in the company employees who “truly push[ed] boundaries with cutting-edge technology and complex infrastructure installation” to make the CBDTP system a reality. He adds, “TransCore is humbled to play our role in this transformative project that will improve New York City’s urban mobility ecosystem in a sustainable way by reducing congestion and funding vital transit system capital programs.”