Thinking outside the box on toll roads

I was perusing Toll Road News and came across this article:

Cato Institute transportation specialist Randal O'Toole asks rhetorically in a blog: "When am I going to be able to get an app for my iPhone that allows me to use it as a transponder for tollways?" His question was provoked by a CNN Money report discussing how cellphones are taking the place of debit/credit cards as a payments mechanism.

Toll Road operators were asked about this, and all came up with reasons it cannot be done.

First the opinionated reporter's answer: never in America while two-thirds of the tolling is under the control of a collection of state toll agencies wedded to an ossified, dysfunctional institution called the E-ZPass Group.

And this:

Cell phones are not very accurate in locating themselves, at least not by the standards of electronic tolling with a specialized dedicated short range communications (DSRC) device, also known as a transponder or electronic tag. In electronic tolling a vehicle needs to be located within a few feet in order to make sure the right vehicle account is tolled. The toller needs locational accuracy down to the lane or one vehicle may get confused with the vehicle alongside.

And this:

Dick Schnacke, a technology expert at TransCore puts it this way: "People ask frequently about tolling via cellphone since it seems you can do everything else that way today. But it's technically very challenging. It has to be done at highway speed because everyone demands that these days. But it also has to be very accurate and reliable.

Why are these comments coming from folks stuck in a box?

Well, for one thing, I can use Google maps and plan a trip next year in Shanghai from my basement here in Fresno,CA. I could pay them today for a ride on the toll road next week. Would they refuse the money? Well, they would need to match my license plate to the my name to make sure I was prepaid in the database. That is about 200 lines of code, and well worth the effort to install the code.

The experts in the Toll Road business are entangled with Toll Road Business so deeply that they forget, I use my smart phone for hotel space, airline seat space, food space, car rental space and the rest. They do not yet think about being in the travel business which is all done by the Internet today.

How long will it take for Toll Road Operators to figure out they are in the travel business?  About five days after posting that article the light will blink on in their heads.