The Year Tolling Goes Invisible: What 2026 Is Telling Us About the Road Ahead

Something quietly significant is happening to tolling in 2026. On both sides of the Atlantic, the booth is disappearing, the pricing is getting smarter, and the journey is becoming seamless. For toll operators, this isn't a far off vision. It's the work in front of us this year.

Here's what the latest developments tell us, and what they mean for the agencies planning their next move.

Congestion pricing has moved from theory to proof

New York's congestion charge has now completed its first full year, and the results are hard to argue with. The MTA reports 27 million fewer vehicles entering Manhattan's Congestion Relief Zone, an 11 percent drop in traffic, and more than 550 million dollars in net revenue directed straight into transit improvements. A federal effort to cancel the scheme was ruled unlawful in March, giving the programme a clearer path forward.

The lesson for operators everywhere is bigger than New York. Demand based charging works when the technology is reliable and the public can see where the money goes. Cities watching from the sidelines now have a live, measurable case study to learn from, and the question is shifting from whether to price road use to how to do it well.

The toll booth is being designed out

While New York proves the demand case, other networks are proving the operational one. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is fitting gantries westward toward Ohio as it moves to statewide open road tolling, and the Bay Area began converting the Richmond to San Rafael Bridge this spring. Early Turnpike segments report crash rates falling by up to 76 percent where open road tolling is already live.

That figure matters. Removing the stop and merge of a traditional plaza doesn't just speed up the journey, it makes the road safer. Fully electronic tolling delivers two outcomes from one investment: better throughput and fewer collisions. For any operator still running mixed mode plazas, the business case is getting easier to make every quarter.

One account, more of the country

Seamless tolling only delivers its full value when a driver's account works across borders. The E-ZPass network now covers 20 states, 39 agencies and more than 64 million devices, and Georgia recently completed the Eastern Seaboard corridor from Maine to Florida. The next milestone sits in California, where Assembly Bill 334 could finally let FasTrak share the data the national interoperability standard needs.

If that happens, the long held goal of one tag that works coast to coast moves within reach. Interoperability is where customer experience and operational efficiency meet, and it rewards agencies that build their systems around open standards rather than closed silos.

In Europe, the price of a mile becomes a climate signal

Europe is pushing tolling in a complementary direction: using the charge itself to shape cleaner choices. The revised Eurovignette Directive requires distance based truck tolls to vary according to CO2 emissions, and new heavy duty vehicle CO2 standards take effect on 1 July 2026. The Netherlands introduces distance and emissions based tolling from July, France is building the legal framework to modulate tolls, and the EU Council clarified the rules in March to keep the rollout on track.

This is tolling doing more than collecting revenue. It's becoming an instrument of policy, nudging fleets toward zero emission vehicles through the price they pay per kilometre. Operators who can calculate, vary and explain charges based on vehicle emissions will be ready for a model that's spreading fast across the continent.

The market is backing the shift

None of this is happening in isolation. The global electronic toll collection market is forecast to grow at a 10.6 percent annual rate, rising from 16.9 billion dollars in 2026 to 46.3 billion by 2036, with satellite based tolling, AI number plate recognition and app only collection all gaining ground. India alone plans to move from RFID FASTags to an AI based national system by the end of this year. The direction of travel is unmistakable.

What this means for operators

Pull these threads together and a clear picture emerges. Tolling in 2026 is becoming invisible to the driver, intelligent in how it prices, and connected across networks and borders. The agencies that thrive will be the ones that treat their toll system as a live, data rich service rather than a row of booths to maintain.

That's the shift we help operators make: moving to fully electronic, interoperable, flexible tolling that's ready for whatever pricing model comes next. If you're planning that journey, we'd welcome the conversation.

The road ahead is electronic, seamless and smart. The good news is that the tools to build it are already here.

Sources

• amNewYork, Congestion pricing: 27 million fewer vehicles entered Manhattan's Central Business District in first year: https://www.amny.com/news/congestion-pricing-27-million-fewer-vehicles/
• Tax Foundation, EVs and the Highway Trust Fund: Five Things to Know: https://taxfoundation.org/blog/ev-highway-trust-fund/
• WTAJ, PA Turnpike installing equipment to expand Open Road Tolling across the state: https://www.wtaj.com/news/regional-news/pa-turnpike-installing-equipment-to-expand-open-road-tolling-across-the-state/
• E-ZPass Group, Interoperability: https://e-zpassiag.com/85-interoperability
• Council of the EU, Eurovignette: Council clarifies and simplifies EU rules on road tolls and user charges for heavy duty vehicles: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/03/04/eurovignette-council-clarifies-and-simplifies-eu-rules-on-road-tolls-and-user-charges-for-heavy-duty-vehicles/
• Future Market Insights, Electronic Toll Collection Market Trends and Forecast 2026 to 2036: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-electronic-toll-collection-market