Case Study Mobile Toll Enforcement in Poland

Finding and implementing a reliable mobile enforcement solution for toll roads in Poland

2021 marked a paradigm shift in toll collection for Poland. The government converted the paper ticket payment into a modern GNSS-based electronic payment system. This change also required a novel solution for toll enforcement that would support the new „free flow“ of traffic while securing revenues.

The e-TOLL system, launched in Poland, is based on satellite positioning technology and allows drivers to pay road tolls among others via mobile applications without having to stop at checkpoints or service stations. This facilitates the flow of traffic and the toll payment, but also presents a significant challenge to toll handling – the new solution makes it easy to bypass the payment, whether intentionally or accidentally.

With over 550,000 vehicles already registered in the system in September 2021, a reliable solution for payment enforcement, that could technically keep pace and secure toll revenue, was needed fast. Adding to the challenge of urgency, the Corona pandemic complicated delivery processes of any kind, jeopardizing timely implementation of a solution.

Polish National Revenue Administration

The National Revenue Administration, abbreviated KAS from the Polish Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa, is a state administration operating under the “umbrella” of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Poland.

The KAS protects the interests of the State Treasury and the customs territory of the European Union and is responsible for revenues from taxes, customs duties, fees and non-tax budget receivables. Therefore the collection of tolls on toll road sections in Poland through the new electronic toll system is one of its key responsibility.

In order to be able to meet this task, KAS had concrete specifications regarding the capabilities of the toll enforcement solution. The device or system needed to be capable of:

VITRONIC Enforcement Bar for mobile toll enforcement

To comply with KAS requirements and enforce toll payment precisely without interfering with the improved traffic flow brought by the new e-Toll system, VITRONIC supplied 102 patrol cars equipped with its Enforcement Bar – a fully automatic and mobile number plate recognition system (ANPR) that can be installed on top of a patrol car.

Integrated within a state-of-the-art lightbar system, it captures passing vehicles and automatically reads their number plates. Capturing and reading the number plates of vehicles can be performed whether the patrol vehicle is parked or moving at full speed. Both lanes to the right and left, as well as the lane in front of the patrol car, are simultaneously monitored.

This solution provided the following features:

VITRONIC delivers mobile toll enforcement solution despite of difficult pandemic times

The Polish National Revenue Administration required delivery of the vehicles within a period of four months. One of the first steps the VITRONIC team carried out was to prepare prototypes – from bodywork to equipment and additional functionalities – in order to present them to the customer and refine the features. During several meetings, the requirements stated in the tender were discussed in detail and the configuration of the vehicles was tailored exactly to the customer‘s needs.

Thereafter, despite time pressure, each vehicle was subjected to detailed drive-through tests to confirm that it met the KPI requirements set out in the tender agreement. For the tests, VITRONIC organized vehicles that were „representative“ of their category, e.g. trucks with trailers, tankers, buses, minibuses and motorcycles, and conducted a record-breaking 46 hours of testing. Altogether, VITRONIC managed to complete the full order even one month before the deadline specified for the last batch. The vehicles were added to the fleet and have since enabled the enforcement of correct toll payment on the toll roads in Poland.

Effective toll enforcements on Poland‘s toll roads

VITRONIC‘s mobile toll enforcement solution fully meets the required specifications of KAS and contributes significantly to the success of the transition to GNSS-based tolling in Poland. The technologies enable reliable enforcement of toll payment regardless of weather and visibility conditions or vehicle type, allowing the patrol cars to be part of the free-flowing traffic or enforce from the roadside – the perfect fusion of precision and flexibility.