Data capture and analysis facility (DCAF) - a tool for the assessment of the DIRECTS road-user charging research trial

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. 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.