Comments on: Skymeter GPS congestion-toll system gets green light from Cisco

By: Robert Hollands

Robert Hollands — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:20:08 +0000

Skymeter needs to improve their value proposition to politicians and bureaucrats to include solutions for their municipal energy and infrastructure asset management problems, such as:

- Adaptive street lighting to support conservation and dark sky compliance
- PHEV charging/ utility peak demand intelligence
- Parked vehicle security and individual parking space management
- Vehicle to ITS sensor communications

Assisting Governments in the development of a comprehensive solution requires Skymeter to forge ahead with new partnerships in complementary market verticles.

These new partners are in the midst of designing integrated energy and asset management solutions, and building the required bureaucratic relationships required for consensus and early adoption.

Politicians need not only to to be educated, but to be provided with an overwhelming value proposition (so that they can be re-elected!)

By: Lee Haber

Lee Haber — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:28:24 +0000

To answer Paul C, I think the question of who benefits is irrelevant to who should pay for roads. When I eat a piece of fruit, the whole of society benefits in some way from my improved health from eating that piece of fruit. Should the whole of society pay a cost of my fruit since they benefit in some way? I don’t think so! It becomes clear that with “Who benefits” argument you end up on a slippery slope: it could be used to justify the subsidizing of virtually anything.

Users should pay for what they use. I am the only one who pays for the fruit since I am the only one who actually uses it. This is the same idea behind Skymeter; this technology could be used so that is largely road users who pay for the roads they use. It may not be the most efficient way to go, but it is certainly more efficient and fair than anything else out there.

By: Paul C from Austin

Paul C from Austin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:03:53 +0000

“privilege” Boy, do I need to have a blog-based spell checker:-(

By: Paul C from Austin

Paul C from Austin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:02:20 +0000

I don’t know- I have never been a fan of toll roads – the infrastructure to set up the taxing and collection for them seems redundant and costly. I know there is a great argument that the people who use the toll roads are the ones who then pay for them in this manner, but here I disagree- a good transportation infrastructure benefits everyone, even those who do not directly use most of the roads. I think we are better off using an existing taxing structure to collect monies for our roads. This will become more imperative if we do get away from ICE vehicles, and therefore away from the taxes collected on the sale of gasoline- but there are other ways to collect taxes, and having roads free from tolls, or from installing black boxes in everyone’s cars, would make it worthwhile. Skymeter is an amazing use of GPS technology- I just don’t see this as the mose efficient way to go. A better use of GPS would be in directing traffic flow to help avoid congestion- not using it to charge people more when they are stuck in traffic- people do not sit in rush hour out of choice, and I do not see this sitting well with those folks who are going to be charged more for the priveledge;-)

By: kennet

kennet — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:16:45 +0000

I enjoy reading your posts, keep them coming! And I’m always pleased to see blogs like yours because they share my point of view. If you’d like, you can check out
http://www.alternative-energy-secrets.com. I often go there for I have the same sentiments when it comes to cO2 emissions and how to save up money using alternative, energy-saving methods.

By: Jp Warren

Jp Warren — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:48:27 +0000

Transportation Futures:
Ontario’s Inaugural Road Pricing Forum
http://www.rccao.com/events
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008
Location: Hart House at the University of Toronto
Traffic congestion. Lost time. Crumbling roads. Increasing emissions. Few transportation choices.
Most Canadians agree that there is an urgent need to bring predictability and ease of mobility to the country’s transportation network — especially near large urban centres. Is there a role that road pricing can play in improving mobility, air quality and the state of the nation’s transportation infrastructure? Or are they just a cash grab?
The Transportation Futures Forum will showcase how several countries have dealt with road pricing issues related to policy development, public acceptance, technology, governance and investment. They include:
· London’s Congestion Charging Scheme
· France’s Variable Tolling System
· Germany’s Satellite-based Toll Collection System for Heavy Trucks
· Oregon’s VMT-Based Road Charging Pilot Project
· Holland’s “Different Payment for Mobility” Plan
A round table of local experts will be on hand to assess which of these road pricing approaches might be best for the Ontario context and when the time might be right for implementation — if ever. Decision makers, transportation practitioners, land use planners, business leaders, academic researchers and NGO representatives.
See http://www.rccao.com/events for more information.
Presented by: Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario in conjunction with Healthy Transport Consulting
Sponsored by: Local 183 Toronto, ReNew Canada Magazine, Halcrow Consulting, Ontario Professional Planners Institute

By: Bern Grush

Bern Grush — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:02:24 +0000

Tyler: Thank you for this blog. And Skymeter is not waiting. Not only is there interest in several countries, there are ways to build consumer products that drivers need to handle the nuisance of parking and the expense of insurance all bundled into a product that rewards not driving in peak hours. We are innovating around the tedious cowardice of politicians. Studies by people like Joanna Zmud show that motorists are smarter than politicians. Read her report here: http://www.ibtta.org/files/PDFs/win08%5FZmud.pdf Bern Grush