April 30, 2007

OmniAir VII Tolling ConOps Workshop Draws Double Expected Numbers

OmniAir's VII Tolling Concept of Operations Workshop, April 23rd in Austin Texas, drew over 60 people, twice the number than originally expected. While most of the participants came from the toll industry, which was the plan, there were also representatives from the other key participants in VII Electronic Payment Services (EPS): car companies and banks.

The point of the meeting wasn't just to present information. It was to establish momentum, reduce the inertia and move past some of the expected wariness and suspicion that seems to pervade these types of activities when they begin.

Rather than sit still, what happened was that people gave opinions, reported concerns, and most importantly, shed a few of the mis-perceptions about both the VII Program and the business requirements of those 'others' sitting across the table.

What the ConOps workshop was an example of is grassroots development—one driven by the constituents of a community where people can represent their particular views, but also be fair-minded toward others. Maintaining this process is itself a requirement to getting what the transportation community wants out of VII.

Next Steps

The ConOps team is presently consolidating meeting minutes and also determining how best to create issue-area working groups who will begin writing sections of the ConOps document.