Electronic Toll Collection Market Analysis

The South American electric toll collection (ETC) industry is gradually emerging as a vital part of the continent’s transport modernization efforts, driven by a mix of economic development, urban growth, and the imperative to manage increasingly strained road networks. Historically, many South American countries have relied heavily on manual toll collection systems, leading to significant bottlenecks, driver frustration, and operational inefficiencies. However, the last decade has seen a growing recognition of the benefits of electronic tolling faster throughput at toll plazas, reduced vehicle idling and emissions, and more reliable revenue streams for infrastructure maintenance and expansion. Brazil, Chile, and Argentina have led the region’s ETC adoption, rolling out radio frequency identification (RFID)-based and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR)-based systems on major toll corridors. Their examples are inspiring neighboring nations to consider similar upgrades, even though economic and political challenges continue to influence the pace of deployment._x000D__x000D_According to the research report “South America Electric Toll Collection (ETC) Market Research Report, 2030” published by Actual Market Research, the South America Electric Toll Collection market was valued at USD 530 Million in 2024.A major force behind the ETC industry’s growth in South America is the region’s rapid urbanization and motorization. Cities such as São Paulo, Santiago, and Buenos Aires have some of the highest vehicle densities in the world, contributing to severe congestion and air pollution. By implementing electronic tolling, these urban centers aim to ease traffic at critical choke points, improve journey times, and reduce carbon emissions. Brazil, in particular, has made significant progress with systems like Sem Parar, which allows drivers to pay tolls, parking, and even fuel charges with a single RFID tag, reflecting a trend toward integrated mobility solutions. Similarly, Chile’s TAG system has achieved high levels of penetration, enabling free-flow tolling on Santiago’s urban highways, significantly cutting down delays and promoting smoother mobility.

These projects have demonstrated that ETC not only improves road network performance but also supports environmental policy goals by reducing stop-and-go traffic that contributes to greenhouse gases._x000D_.

Market Dynamic

Electronic Toll CollectionSegmentation

Transponder/tag-based tolling leads in South America because it provides a practical, secure, and cost-efficient way to modernize toll systems in a region historically reliant on manual cash collection, helping reduce fraud, congestion, and operational inefficiencies.

Many South American countries have long struggled with the limitations of manual toll collection, including high rates of cash handling errors, leakage, corruption, and severe congestion at toll plazas. Transponder-based systems, generally using RFID technology, offer a straightforward and proven method to transition away from cash by enabling contactless, automated tolling that keeps vehicles moving and minimizes human error. These systems are affordable to deploy compared to more advanced camera-based license plate recognition systems, and they adapt well to varied road conditions and vehicle fleets across urban and rural areas. Moreover, RFID transponders are easy for users to install, can be linked with mobile apps or bank accounts for top-ups, and support prepayment models making them accessible even in markets with large unbanked or underbanked populations. By drastically reducing congestion and travel delays while creating transparent, auditable revenue streams, transponder/tag-based tolling aligns with the goals of South American governments and private concessionaires to modernize infrastructure sustainably.

RFID is leading in South America’s electric toll collection industry because it offers a simple, affordable, and highly effective solution for replacing outdated cash-based tolling systems while improving revenue collection and reducing congestion.

To elaborate, many South American countries historically depended on manual toll booths, which created long queues, fuel wastage, and opportunities for fraud or revenue leakage. RFID technology has emerged as a practical answer to these problems because it is relatively inexpensive to deploy compared to camera-based or satellite-based systems, yet robust enough to handle the region’s rapidly growing vehicle traffic. With RFID tags, drivers can move through toll stations seamlessly and without stopping, dramatically improving throughput on heavily used urban and interurban highways. The ease of distributing and installing RFID tags, along with their compatibility with prepayment systems and mobile top-ups, has made them accessible to a wide socioeconomic spectrum, including unbanked or underbanked populations. Moreover, RFID works reliably even in areas with variable weather conditions and imperfect road infrastructure, ensuring consistent toll collection and reducing operational costs. Concessionaires and governments see RFID as a trusted way to build transparent, auditable, and secure revenue streams while enhancing user satisfaction and modernizing infrastructure.

Highways are leading in South America’s electric toll collection industry because they represent the region’s primary long-distance transport arteries, where ETC delivers the highest impact in reducing congestion, improving safety, and securing revenue for critical infrastructure maintenance.

Highways in South America play an essential role in connecting major cities, ports, and industrial zones across vast and often rugged landscapes, serving as vital lifelines for both domestic and international trade. Traditional cash-based toll booths on these routes have historically caused severe congestion, long queues, and opportunities for fraud or revenue leakage, undermining road efficiency and increasing transportation costs. By focusing ETC investments on highways first, governments and concessionaires can dramatically improve traffic flow, cut fuel wastage, and reduce travel delays, which is especially important for commercial trucks and intercity buses that depend on predictable travel times. Highways also offer a controlled and predictable environment for deploying ETC hardware like RFID gantries, sensors, and cameras, ensuring accurate toll collection and enforcement while limiting the complexity associated with dense urban street networks. Furthermore, because these corridors carry the highest traffic volumes and generate significant toll revenues, modernizing highway tolling creates a strong financial base for maintaining and expanding critical infrastructure.

Electronic Toll Collection Market Regional Insights

Brazil is leading in South America’s electric toll collection industry because it has combined widespread concession-based highway management with early adoption of RFID tolling to modernize its vast road network and keep up with surging vehicle demand.

Brazil operates one of the most extensive toll road networks in South America, managed heavily through public-private partnerships and concessionaires responsible for maintaining and upgrading highway infrastructure. Facing growing urbanization, booming freight transport, and ever-increasing car ownership, Brazil recognized early the need to move away from slow, cash-based toll booths that created chronic congestion and revenue leakages. As a result, Brazil pioneered RFID-based ETC with systems like Sem Parar, which gave drivers a simple, affordable, and efficient way to bypass queues and pay tolls automatically. The country’s investment in ETC was strongly supported by its large concession sector, eager to maximize revenue collection while improving customer experience. These systems proved highly scalable across Brazil’s diverse geography and road conditions, integrating well with digital payment systems and mobile banking that are increasingly popular among Brazilian consumers. This combination of a large concession-managed highway network, political and private sector support, and user-friendly, reliable RFID technology has made Brazil the clear front-runner in South America’s electric toll collection market, setting an example for neighboring countries to modernize their own tolling systems.