The recent IBTTA Global Tolling Summit hosted in Athens, Greece on 11-14 November delved into the issues of sustainability, green mobility, and equity.

IRF President, Anouar Benazzouz joined other leaders from the sector including IBTTA President, Andrew Fremier, ASECAP President, Josef Fiala, and PIARC President, Nazir Alli, for the session “The Future of Mobility”. Moderated by Bill Halkias (incoming President of IBTTA), the session provided a space to discuss how to meet the challenges of providing sustainable mobility and maintaining the resilience of the road infrastructure.

Benazzouz called for more communication between different organisations, particularly in relation to the climate crisis: “We are fragmented – but we do agree on everything,” he said. “But when we talk on our own, the message is not clear and not loud enough.” It was important to share best practice, he added.

He stressed the role digitalisation plays and can play in accelerating the scale and pace of transformation in our sector. “Adopting and mainstreaming digitalisation and new technologies into planning, design and construction of infrastructure will be a game-changer for the industry. Roads are a fundamental piece of this multi-modal eco-system. But the sector still needs to learn to do things differently” he said. “Going forward we need to foster digitalisation to ensure efficiency and transparency of procurement processes, more effective asset management, and a more sustainable use of resources” he concluded.

The IBTTA Tolling Summit in Athens, hosted by Hellastron and in partnership with ASECAP, served as a platform for collaborative discussions, fostering a united front in tackling the multifaceted challenges and opportunities in the ever-evolving landscape of global mobility.