PLEX86  x86- Virtual Machine (VM) Program
 CVS  |  Mailing List  |  Download  |  Newsgroups

IBM Toll Collection System history


Your Ad Here

Your Ad Here

On the history section of the IBM web page, they describe a toll collection data processing system they developed in the 1950s:

IBM Toll Collection System history 4144
I have driven on both the PA and NJ toll roads. When I was on the PA pike (75-85), they used IBM sized cards with a mag...

"IBM Toll Recorders were used to validate fare cards by printing and punching techniques. These console units were installed in toll booths and contained fare cards, cash and storage drawers, time indicators, axle keys and clbuttification keys. All Toll Recorders validated the fare cards by printing ticket sequence numbers; day, hour and minute numbers; and the collector's key number."

IBM Toll Collection System history 4145
No toll taker salary needed. In NJ the exit booths are unmanned in many locations after rush hour and prime holiday time. It remains your responsibility to insert the 35 cents in the bucket...

This system was for variable toll roads like the Pa and NJ Tpk where you were given a card at entry and surrended it at exist with your toll based on distance travelled. The cards were then used to calculate statistics.

The exact dates this system was sold and in service was not shown. It used the IBM 650 computer which was sold between about 1956 and 1962 (and the country's most popular computer for its era.) The article mentions a number of toll roads but didn't say which ones used the system. The article says free interstates doomed the system, which doesn't make sense since the toll roads continued.

IBM Toll Collection System history 4143
I did the maintenance on some of their stuff in East Brunswick, NJ back attached to the State Police Barracks. Don't try and get in there without approval and escort 8-). Anyway, theres one...

IIRC, the toll cards used on the Pennsylvania Turnpike had round holes. IBM cards normally had tiny rectangular holes. Perhaps the Pa Tpk system used Univac machines which retained round holes. I don't remember what the NJ turnpike used. Both systems now use little slips with a mag stripe and EZPbutt.

Would anyone know what turnpikes used this particular IBM system, or other variable toll road systems of the past? How many toll roads have distance based fares and use entry-exit cards?



Your Ad Here

List | Previous | Next

IBM Toll Collection System history 4143

Alt Folklore Computers from Newsgroups

The #1 Usenet Provider on the Internet

Earning Money on Your Computer