Lead Presenter:  Juan Kuthy Saenger | Project Director | AtkinsRealis

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Presentation Description

The modern smartphone, given its likeness to a pocket-sized computer, has the potential to solve mobility challenges experienced today, such as high misdeclaration rates on managed lanes. The San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is looking for a way to improve the performance of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes by mitigating high misdeclaration rates. These managed lanes were designed with the hope of encouraging carpool formation and decreasing traffic congestion; however, due to Single Occupant Vehicles (SOV) misusing these lanes, there is a need to deploy a more effective method of verifying vehicle occupancy. As such, transportation agencies, such as MTC, are exploring emerging technologies to improve the utilization of managed lanes.
In February of 2024, MTC concluded a Phase 1 pilot (Express Carpool Check) with RideFlag Technologies that evaluated how well their app-based smartphone camera occupancy verification tool works to confirm carpools on I-680 Express Lanes in Contra Costa County. RideFlag’s app-based, asset-light technology has the capacity to accurately verify vehicle occupants with one smartphone.
Valuable insights have been collected from volunteers who used the app which will be leveraged to inform in-app enhancements and next steps, including the potential deployment on Bay Area Express Lanes. Preliminary pilot results from almost 2000 trips show that the tool accurately verified over 99% of carpools, and approximately 92% of users were either very satisfied or satisfied with the app and agreed that the app was as easy to use as other apps.
This presentation will focus on the innovation of Express Carpool Check as it relates to the growing digital landscape of the transportation and tolling industries, and how new, innovative technologies can redefine and revolutionize our daily lives.

Speaker Biography

Juan Kuthy-Saenger is a Project Director with AtkinsRealis Tolling Division. He has over 22 years of extensive experience in Tolling and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) development and operations. He has had direct involvement in some of the largest Toll and ITS Design-Build and P3 projects in the United States and has participated in the design, testing, commissioning and operations of multiple Express Lanes projects in the US including I-595 Express and I-4 Express in Florida, LBJ and NTE Express in Texas, the CTIO Express Lanes in Colorado and more recently on the I-680 Express Lanes in San Francisco and the SR 167 Express Lanes in Seatle. He has been directly involved in project management during all project phases including procurement documentation development and evaluation of proposals, design review, Quality Control/ Quality Assurance processes, construction, integration, testing, operations, and maintenance. Mr. Kuthy-Saenger has vast experience with system software and hardware deployments, scheduling, contracts and cost / project budget control while focusing on Quality Control and Quality Assurance.
Since 2020 he has been the Project Manager for the Express Carpool Check Occupancy App Phase I Pilot assisting MTC with all aspects of this pilot from conceptual design, documentation, volunteer recruitment and management including Equity goals as well as testing, deployment and evaluation of the mobile application. 

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