PIARC International Seminar on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) In Road Network Operations August 14, 2006 to August 16, 2006 The Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Mahmoud Saffarzadeh, IRAN Abdolreza Rezaee-Arjroody, IRAN 1 COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION (ETC) SYSTEM IN IRANIAN FREEWAYS (CASE STUDY: TEHRAN-QOM FREEWAY) Mahmoud Saffarzadeh 1 ,Abdolreza Rezaee-Arjroody 2 1 Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University AND Research Deputy of Transportation Research Institute, No. 19 , Noor Alley, Africa St., Tehran, Iran e-mail:Saffar_m@modares.ac.ir 2 Deputy Head of Transportation Economics and Sustainable Development Department, Transportation Research Institute, No. 19 , Noor Alley, Africa St. , Tehran, Iran e-mail:Rezaeear@yahoo.com ABSTRACT In Iran, the pay toll system in road is based on the traditional method which is collecting the toll by road barriers installed at the beginning of Freeways. The drivers will be permitted to enter the freeway after paying the toll by cash or ticket. 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. Another method widely used in industrial countries is Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system. This method has quite a considerable number of advantages amongst which the reduced fuel consumption through reduced vehicle stop times, increased vehicle speeds, reduced number of personnel required for running the system, reduced environmental pollution, more passenger comfort, reduced cash circulation and consequently integration of the financial system, may be mentioned. This paper focuses on the economic and technical analysis of ETC after investigating the ETC systems in Tehran-Qom and Tehran-Karan freeways. It should be noted that this paper is based on a study carried out two years ago and according to a more recent research Tehran-Karaj is not a toll road anymore. The most important aspects considered in this paper are reduced fuel consumption, reduced personnel costs, and reduced waste time of passengers. Finally, the economic savings obtained by utilization of such a system in the mentioned freeway is calculated. Keywords: Electronic Toll Collection(ETC), Road Transportation, Cost-benefit Analysis, Intelligent Transportation System(ITS) Biography of the presenting author: Mr. Mahmoud Saffarzadeh is currently an Associate Professor of Depatment of Civil Engineering at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, Iran. He is also the research deputy for the Transportation Research Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. and Master’s degree in transportation planning and engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to performing several research projects, he has published five books and more than fifty papers in journals and international conferences. 1. INTRODUCTION Any structure, building or system needs maintenance and rehabilitation which are of course costly. Highways and roads are also not an exception. From the very past, the construction, extension, maintenance and operating costs of highways, roads, bridges and tunnels were collected directly or indirectly. In the older indirect method, the expenses are compensated either by tax payment on fuel or rubber, or by budget allocation from the national income. The shortcoming of this method is that a number of tax payers, who do not use some of the roads and carriageways, have to pay extra money. However, in the other system, called direct method, the tolls are taken directly from the drivers passing that road or street. In the common traditional method that is currently experienced in Iran, the road is blocked by some barriers in the route and the vehicles are permitted to pass the road after they pay the toll (in cash or by ticket). Although in this method the tolls are directly collected from the users, the mobility