The border queue management service is an ICT-based tool that lets car and truck drivers reserve time slots for passing through border checkpoints, thereby eliminating the need for physical queues.
It has been developed by the Estonian company GoSwift as part of a public-private partnership; the service is used at all three checkpoints at Estonia’s border with Russia.
Prior to the system’s introduction in 2011, cars and trucks were processed on a first-come, first-served basis, which forced drivers to queue for hours or sometimes days near the border. The situation was particularly difficult for truck drivers as it made them vulnerable to fatigue and the threat of crime.
Moving the queues into the virtual realm has meant that drivers arrive at the checkpoint at their appointed times and are processed quickly, with waiting times now averaging as little as 30 minutes. In addition to drastically improving the lives of drivers, the change has allowed logistics companies to save millions of euros through better planning.
The service was awarded the Transport Achievement Award by OECD’s International Transport Forum in 2015. It has since been implemented in Finland, Lithuania and Russia.
Introduced in: 2011.
Benefits:
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- Elimination of days-long waits to cross border
- Spreads peak traffic over time
- Tourists and transport companies can effectively plan travel
- Truck drivers can better manage work and rest time
- Logistics companies save money through predictable scheduling – Estonian international carriers annually save 4M€
Key features
All GoSwift services are in line with the Four-tier Access Control Model and include the following modules:
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- Time-slot Booking
- Queueing Engine
- Monitoring
- Reporting
- Parking Area Management
- Access Control (integrated with ANPR cameras, stop-bars, traffic lights and VMS)
- Call Centre Interfaces
- Self-service Terminals
- Payment Collection
- Data Analytics
- Data Integration
Value created
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- More than 50 million hours saved in border waiting time annually (around from 60h to 1.5h per vehicle)
- Pre-registration increases border control efficiency
- Increase of exports
- No congestion on access roads
Contacts:
Madis Sassiad
Board Member
Mob: +372 508 8546
madis.sassiad@goswift.eu
www.goswift.eu
