Rethink how roads are funded and managed.
Road User Charging
Around the world, governments are being forced to confront the dramatic decline of fuel duty. Electric, hybrid and high efficiency vehicles, despite being an environmental success, typically contribute little or even nothing to the funding of the roads they use.
But revenue loss is only one part of a much deeper structural shift that is occurring in countries around the world. As vehicle numbers continue to grow, so congestion – particularly in cities – is getting worse. At the same time as environmental obligations are tightening, there is evidence that the public tolerance for a blunt, flatrate of taxation is falling.
New schemes that charge based on an annual odometer inspection are certainly simple and may recover some revenue. However, they cannot be used to reduce congestion in cities, provide a fair charging differentiation between urban and rural drivers, respond to peak time road demands or promote behavioral change.
The good news is that today, what has changed is not the principle of charging for road usage, but what is now possible. We are living in a fully digital, connected world where vehicles, smartphones, cloud platforms and infrastructure already exchange data continuously.
As a result, road user charging no longer needs to be manual, fixed, or dependent on expensive roadside infrastructure. Instead, with Kapsch TrafficCom technologies, it can be a dynamic and trusted charging solution that also responds to many different real world conditions and challenges.
The unique Kapsch TrafficCom road user charging solution
A new way to fund and manage the road network
Our RUC solution uniquely enables governments to address the urgent challenge of declining fuel tax revenues while simultaneously delivering wider transport and policy benefits in a fair, transparent, and politically acceptable way.
Governments can replace fuel tax revenues while simultaneously delivering wider transport and policy benefits
Rather than replicating fuel tax through limited odometerbased systems, we enable GNSS (locationbased) charging that reflects how, when, and where roads are actually used. This makes it possible to address issues such as congestion, emissions, infrastructure use, and regional differences within a single coherent framework.
Our location-based charging solution is demonstrably fair
Charging based on distance travelled aligns payment with actual road use, rather than vehicle ownership or use of selected infrastructure. This principle is inherently more equitable and provides the foundation for smarter outcomes in the future.
Our solution addresses the political sensitivity of road user charging
Unlike fuel tax, which is largely invisible, distance-based charging is highly visible and therefore demands greater trust, transparency, and fairness. Kapsch TrafficCom provides an opt-in, consent-driven system in which road users choose which trusted service provider manages their data. We therefore offer privacy by design; however, we also deliver on this through privacy by architecture. Location data, for example, is never shared directly with government, ensuring a clear separation between data collection and tax collection. This, in turn, lowers implementation risk, and supports public confidence.
The strategic transition to location-based road user charging does not need to happen overnight
Governments do not have to deploy every capability on day one. The value lies in making it possible to start simple, build public confidence, and progressively unlock smarter outcomes. Governments can start with a simple payas-you-drive approach and evolve at their own pace.
Listen to our Podcast with CTO, Alfredo Escriba and Barbara Rohde, Executive Director of Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance.
Our unique Geo Location Platform (GLP)
An open architecture
Rather than being locked into a single device or data provider, the system is provably open. Road users can choose how their data is generated and shared, while governments can be fully confident that charges are calculated correctly and consistently.
The GLP creates and manages charging transactions that are proven to be trustworthy
Kapsch TrafficCom’s core value is not simply collecting location data but converting it into trusted charging transactions. The GLP applies validated rating, auditing, and compliance mechanisms to ensure that every charge can be proven accurate. This ability to demonstrate accuracy and performance, using data from any source and validated independently, is a key differentiator in building public and institutional trust.
The GLP ensures privacy
Trust is further strengthened through clear role separation and consent. Location data does not need to be collected by governments themselves; it can be provided by third party services chosen by users. Kapsch TrafficCom processes this data securely and compliantly, without “tracking” vehicles, focusing instead on verified charging events. This approach addresses privacy concerns while maintaining the integrity of the charging system.
The GLP is a modular platform
Kapsch TrafficCom’s core value is not simply collecting location data but converting it into trusted charging transactions. The GLP applies validated rating, auditing, and compliance mechanisms to ensure that every charge can be proven accurate. This ability to demonstrate accuracy and performance, using data from any source and validated independently, is a key differentiator in building public and institutional trust.
Why Kapsch TrafficCom?
The real challenge facing governments is not how to collect charges, but how to influence behaviour, reduce congestion, improve network efficiency, and deliver fair and transparent outcomes for road users. This requires more than tolling know how; it demands the ability to understand, analyse, and actively manage traffic in real time and over the long term.
That’s where Kapsch TrafficCom is so unique. Unlike providers focused on charging alone, we combine proven expertise in revenue collection with a deep understanding of traffic flows, congestion management, and demand management.
It is this breadth of capabilities that enables us to deliver better outcomes rather than simply replacing lost tax revenue.
Technology that delivers proven, independently validated results
Accuracy is central to public trust in road user charging. By combining proven uptime, measurable performance, and long-term operational experience, Kapsch TrafficCom delivers RUC technology that authorities can trust and depend on.
Our solution is proven to be highly accurate in all conditions
In rigorous external testing conducted in November 2025, our GLP demonstrated distance measurement precision of up to 99.97%, even when calculating distances down to individual metres. In live national operations, average accuracy significantly exceeds 99%, despite challenging conditions such as dense urban environments, mountainous terrain, poor cellular coverage, and adverse weather.
Our solution is proven to be highly reliable
Beyond accuracy, Kapsch TrafficCom’s RUC technology is proven where it matters most: operational reliability. Live systems operate against demanding service-level agreements, typically requiring over 99.9% system availability and rapid response to critical incidents. Performance is continuously monitored through real-time KPI dashboards tracking throughput, latency, and system health. This operational transparency ensures issues are detected and resolved before they affect users or revenues. Evidence from long-running deployments shows that the platform maintains stable performance while scaling to national transaction volumes, peaks in traffic demand, and evolving pricing rules.
Our solution boasts unmatched experience of tolling
- Kilometres of managed (map matched) road network: c.400,000
- Kilometres of toll or charging liable road: > 25,000
- Average number of GNSS positions processed per day: >100 million
- Average number of transactions processed per day: >3 million
- Average number of transactions processed per year: >1 billion
Lithuania: A European first in smartphone‑based tolling
A recent example of digital innovation comes from Lithuania, which will is about to launch the Baltics’ first fully electronic, satellite‑based tolling system built on the ‘polluter pays’ principle. This Kapsch TrafficCom solution provides road users with a smartphone app that puts them at the heart of a fully transparent tolling solution. The app communicates with our GDPR-compliant GLP data processing and tolling platform. The system also offers full Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) flexibility for fleet operators. This approach reduces the need for physical roadside infrastructure, cuts operational costs, and gives full transparency to end users.
Partnering with Kapsch is a unique opportunity for governments to reimagine how the road network is funded and managed. To find out more, get in touch.
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