Oakland, CA, Dec. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) has signed a contract with Electronic Transaction Consultants, LLC (ETC), a Quarterhill Inc. company (TSX: QTRH) (OTCQX: QTRHF) for the implementation and operation of the electronic toll system integration services for the I-680 Express Lanes. Alameda CTC is the managing agency for the I-680 Express Lanes on behalf of the I-680 Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority. The initial term of the contract is ten (10) years with options for up to four additional years of operations and maintenance. Excluding option years, the base contract is valued at approximately $60M USD.
“This is the next step in delivering advanced technology and modern solutions to improve the experience for Alameda County motorists, including high-occupancy vehicles,” said Gary Huisingh, Deputy Executive Director of Projects. “We’re pleased to expand our partnership with ETC to continue improving the efficiency of our transportation system.”
Over the course of the contract, ETC will deliver a new toll system for the I-680 Express Lanes, implementing ETC’s next-generation express lane toll management system to improve mobility and alleviate congestion along the corridor. ETC’s riteSuite™ is an updated family of end-to-end tolling and mobility systems, built on mainstream open-source platforms for flexible deployment and futureproofing. riteSuite™ comprises a variety of new tolling and multimodal products, including:
- riteJetStream™ – A multimodal transit event processor using big data infrastructure and a modern user interface, with configurable microservices and pricing algorithms for static and dynamic pricing out-of-the-box.
- riteView™ – An advanced big data reporting, analytics, business intelligence, and dashboarding system, incorporating machine learning.
- riteVision™ – An advanced ALPR and vehicle recognition system built on machine learning technology.
- riteOSS™ – An enterprise-level IT maintenance and asset management system, providing complete system infrastructure mapping, with service and component-level monitoring, interactive dashboards, configurable alerts, predictive lane analysis, and comprehensive asset lifecycle management.
“ETC is excited to be selected as Alameda CTC’s technology provider,” stated ETC’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin Holbert. “Technology-savvy motorists from the region will expect nothing less than the most advanced systems in the industry and the highest quality of customer service, and ETC is poised to deliver both, in a true partnership with the Commission. As an industry leader, ETC systems are architected for responsiveness to changing business needs by integrating seamlessly with the latest in open-source technologies and big data infrastructure, for a lean system that will remain technology relevant for years to come.”
About Alameda County Transportation Authority (Alameda CTC)
The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) coordinates countywide transportation planning and delivers essential, voter-supported transportation improvements in every city throughout Alameda County. Funding sources for Alameda CTC’s expenditure plans include Measure B, approved by 81.5 percent of County voters in 2000, and Measure BB, approved by more than 70 percent of voters in 2014. Visit Alameda CTC’s website to learn more, www.alamedactc.org.
About Electronic Transaction Consultants, LLC
ETC is a leading U.S. intelligent transportation systems provider, developing and delivering best in class solutions for tolling, congestion management, smart mobility, and multimodal transportation initiatives. ETC’s passionate and innovative team has been driving the future of mobility since 1999, with a number of industry firsts, including all electronic tolling (AET), dynamic pricing, agency interoperability, hosted mobility solutions and machine learning.
For over two decades, ETC has delivered sophisticated solutions to many of the U.S.’s largest toll authorities, including state-wide programs, county networks and tolling-specific authorities. ETC's solutions process over two billion transactions annually totaling over $3 billion in revenues for our customers, incorporating the latest in evergreen open-source and SaaS technologies and Big Data architecture through our innovative riteSuite™ products.
About Quarterhill
Quarterhill is a leading provider of tolling and enforcement solutions in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) industry, as well as, through its Wi-LAN Inc. subsidiary, a leader in Intellectual Property licensing. Our goal is global leadership in ITS, via organic growth of the Electronic Transaction Consultants, LLC (ETC) and International Road Dynamics, Inc. (IRD) platforms, and by continuing an acquisition-oriented investment strategy that capitalizes on attractive growth opportunities within ITS and its adjacent markets. Quarterhill is listed on the TSX under the symbol QTRH and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol QTRHF. For more information, visit www.quarterhill.com
Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding ETC, Quarterhill and their businesses. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by ETC and/or Quarterhill in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and the expected effects of new business strategies, as well as other factors that ETC and/or Quarterhill believe are appropriate in the circumstances. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed herein may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting ETC and/or Quarterhill, including: potential risks and uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”); the severity of the disease; the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak; actions that may be taken by governmental authorities to contain the COVID-19 outbreak or to treat its impact; the potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy and financial markets and any resulting impact on ETC and/or Quarterhill and/or their businesses. Other factors include, without limitation, the risks described in Quarterhill’s March 20, 2022 annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2021 (the “AIF”). Copies of the AIF may be obtained at www.sedar.com. ETC and Quarterhill recommend that readers review and consider all of these risk factors and notes that readers should not place undue reliance on any of ETC’s forward-looking statements. ETC has no intention, and undertakes no obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
