EasyTrip rolls out new Charge2Mobile toll payment service

14 Nov 2012

Eugene Mitchell, marketing and innovation director at Telefónica Ireland; Ray Tierney, Oxygen8 Ireland CEO; and Dermot MacEvilly, CEO at EasyTrip

Electronic toll payment service EasyTrip has joined forces with O2 to roll out a new channel for motorway tolls for drivers who currently pay by cash to pay via their pre-pay or bill pay account.

This new payment concept will enable car drivers in Ireland to avoid M50 fines and to stay in control of toll charges.

To use the service, drivers can sign up online at EasyTrip or lo-call 1890 67 67 68.

They are sent an EasyTrip electronic tag in the post, which is linked to their O2 mobile account, and which is then placed on the windscreen of their cars.

Once they drive through a toll location, their trip is recorded and the appropriate charge is made against their mobile phone account.

The motorist will receive a text message from O2 confirming that the toll has been paid.

New generation of mobile services

“We identified a customer need for the 10,000 or so users of the M50 every day and developed this niche product to meet it,” said Dermot MacEvilly, chief executive of EasyTrip.

“M50 users can now have tolls charged directly to their mobile phone accounts and they no longer have to worry about fines or next-day deadlines, plus it applies to all toll roads nationwide. It’s just one less thing for motorists to think about in their busy lives.”

O2 Ireland’s marketing and innovation manager Eugene Mitchell said the new service shows how innovations in mobile services can make customers’ lives easier.

“It is a perfect fit for our current charge-to-mobile strategy at O2 where we believe mobile payments has a very strong future. To date, we have enabled over 90 merchants with a wide range of Charge to Mobile services, including: Facebook, DoneDeal.ie and BlackBerry App World. Working with EasyTrip and Oxygen8 to be first to market with a solution that brings benefits to our customers has been very rewarding,” Mitchell said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com