Data capture and analysis facility (DCAF) - a tool for the assessment of the DIRECTS road-user charging research trial
R.N. Danbury · 2004
The Department for Transport (DfT) is investigating the feasibility of an interoperable electronic road-user charging system. The DIRECTS project (Demonstration of Interoperable Road-user End-to-end Charging and Telematics System) is a research trial of such a system, currently being installed by the Fareway Alliance on a small network of roads in south Leeds. DIRECTS will ensure that on-board and roadside equipments from different manufacturers are interoperable, and that back-office systems are compatible. If future schemes are deployed, DIRECTS is trying to ensure that road-users would need just one on-board unit to pay local charges in different parts of the country, and that they would receive just one bill from a single organisation. The DIRECTS trial will help local authorities interested in setting up a local charging scheme, and will assist in the design of the national lorry charging system. Volunteers will help test the system. DIRECTS is just a demonstration - nobody will be charged, and the project will not affect other drivers using these roads. The performance of the trial is being independently monitored by means of a system called DCAF, the data capture and analysis facility, supplied by Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd (SEA). DIRECTS is required to achieve billing and penalty-charge accuracies akin to those achieved in the telecommunications industry, and DCAF's role is to provide an independent assessment of the performance and accuracy of the DIRECTS system. This paper gives an overview of DIRECTS, describes the considerations that determine the design of the DCAF system, and illustrates how DCAF is being used to support the DIRECTS trial.