The Consortium is a voluntary coalition of Departments of Transportation, provincial Ministries of Transport, and other regional, state or provincial transportation agencies from western North America. Members are interested in collaborative research and development of a potential new transportation funding method that would collect a road usage charge (RUC) from drivers based on actual road usage. The Consortium’s vision is to develop Road Usage Charge systems that: • Are open systems to foster competition in the market for providing RUC services; • Allow for motorist choice in how a road usage charge would be assessed and paid; • Are compatible with readily-available and affordable consumer products and technologies (such as smartphones, in-vehicle navigation systems, and other data-dependent vehicle technologies); and • Are designed to achieve the primary purpose of collecting taxes to fund roadway maintenance and improvements. Members are free to determine how they wish to implement road usage charging systems – they are not required to adopt the system(s) used by other Members. The WRUCC was created by adoption of an organizational Charter that further details the Vision; Goals; Guiding Principles; Organizational Structure (including membership and minimum funding requirements); Governance; and Administrative Duties. The Charter is attached to this solicitation.

he Consortium Members share the following goals: • Explore the technical and operational feasibility of a multi-jurisdictional road usage charge system. • Investigate public and key decision maker criteria for acceptance; share experience and lessons learned to foster positive outcomes. • Develop standards and protocols for how road use charges could best be collected and remitted among the various jurisdictions. • Develop preliminary operational concepts for how a multi-jurisdictional road usage charge system would be administered. • Develop a model for regional cooperation and interoperability that can be used in the Western region and potentially across North America. • Engage the automotive manufacturing and technology sector to encourage the ability for mileage reporting to occur in conjunction with other products and services the sector provides in the marketplace. • Share knowledge to maximize the preparedness for and efficiency of policy and program development for road usage charging among the members.

The following initial Work Plan Scope is expected to form the basis of the Consortium’s Work Plan for the 2013-15 biennium. It is expected that the initial adopted Work Plan will be more narrowly tailored to the development of a sustainable revenue source as the primary policy objective of a RUC, and other tangible outcomes (better environmental outputs, improved traffic management, etc.) will be secondary. Subject to available Transportation Pooled Fund resources and separate funding from Consortium Members, the Work Plan will undertake select topics, research, projects and activities that fall within the following areas: • Legal and Institutional arrangements for implementing an RUC • Public policy analysis and development • Public Information/Communications • Technical research and system development • Consumer-oriented system design. • Identification of essential requirements to create a regional RUC system • Multi-jurisdictional issues such as revenue allocation, cost sharing, compliance, enforcement, interoperability, clearinghouse setup and operations, and dispute resolution. • Applicability and compatibility with federal programs, rules or laws including the directing and shaping of national guidelines based on the best practices developed by the Consortia. • Establishment of system standards and a certifications process that promotes and ensures: o Accuracy o Security o Tamper resistance • Economic impacts • Business models for program operations, including alternatives that optimize the use of private industry and marketplace forces to drive efficiencies and consumer acceptance. A proposed Work Plan will be developed by the Membership of the Western Road Usage Charge Consortium and proposed for adoption by the Board of Directors at their 2013 Inaugural Annual Meeting (exact date and location to be determined).