I rent a car about twice or thrice a year, and did in fact win a free one day rental of a Voxy from Toyota Rent-a-Car recently, and this summer I finally applied for an ETC, Electronic Toll Collection, card that interfaces with the box in all Toyota rental cars to allow you to automatically pay the tolls. The first time we used it we got two 200 yen refunds for a 700 yen charge, which was nice. If you want to rent from Toyota (a bit expensive, but their cars are very nicely turned out and all have car navi, and the Prius especially is a really pleasant drive) I advice applying online for a Hertz #1 Card, as you’ll get a 10% discount and with three rentals in Japan a year you get upgraded to gold status (I hope!) and nice bonuses if you rent in Europe or the US. Today’s survey is from DIMSDRIVE Research and is about not car rental, but ETC.
Demographics
Between the 14th and 22nd of November 2007 7,287 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitor panel who had a car for private use completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.8% of the sample was female, 0.9% in their teens, 16.2% in their twenties, 37.1% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 12.8% in their fifties, and 4.9% aged sixty or older.
Note that there are two components needed to use the ETC system; first, you need a card reader and transmitter to talk to the toll gate, then you need a special ETC card, usually tied to either your bank account or credit card account. Some credit card companies add the ETC functionality to a credit card, but others issue separate cards.
There’s one big puzzle regarding a highway near me; if you ever watch or listen to the traffic news during holiday periods there is always a report of 20 or 30 km tailbacks on the Chuugoku Highway at the Takarazuka Tunnel near Osaka. Having traversed this area, I can report that almost every time I go through that tunnel there is some sort of slowness. However, there are no turn-offs at that point and the road doesn’t narrow, dip or twist drastically, so why is that point a bottleneck? Last year I saw an in-train advertisement magazine with a teaser headline asking “Why is there always a traffic jam at the Takarazuka Tunnel?”, but I never bothered to buy a copy, so I am still scratching my head.
Research results
Q1: Usually, about how often do you take your own vehicle on toll roads or tolled highways? (Sample size=7,287)
| Almost every day |
11.8% |
| 3 to 5 days a week |
4.6% |
| 1 or 2 days a week |
7.8% |
| 2 or 3 days a month |
7.9% |
| 1 day a month |
7.1% |
| 1 day every 2 or 3 months |
10.7% |
| 1 day every 6 months |
8.4% |
| 1 day every year |
3.0% |
| Less than that |
7.8% |
| Don’t use toll roads (to Q11) |
30.9% |
Interestingly, the two regions with the highest number of non-toll road using drivers and the lowest number of daily users were the two most urbanised areas, Kanto and Kinki.
Q2: Do you have an ETC device in your car? (Sample size=5,021)
Strangely enough, looking at by frequency of using toll roads, it was those who used toll roads from one day per month to one to two days per week who were most likely to have an ETC device fitted.
Q3: Why do you have an ETC device in your car? (Sample size=2,155, multiple answer)
| Because I can pass through toll gates smoothly |
80.2% |
| Because I can get a discount on tolls |
75.3% |
| Because I don’t need to keep small change at hand |
62.0% |
| Because I won’t get stuck in a queue at the toll gates |
59.2% |
| Because I can pay buy credit card |
46.7% |
| Because I can get mileage or other usage points |
42.6% |
| Because I get a record of usage and payment |
16.4% |
| Other |
1.6% |
| No particular reason |
1.7% |
| Don’t actually use the ETC device (to Q5) |
0.6% |
Q4: Have you experienced any failures or troubles using the ETC device in your car? (Sample size=2,141, multiple answer)
| Forgot to insert card and drove through ETC gate |
16.8% |
| I’ve lost all sense of how much tolls cost |
8.0% |
| Accidentally used the standard lane |
6.3% |
| Rammed the tollgate bar |
4.4% |
| ETC card expired |
1.3% |
| Got into trouble due to the usage history |
0.6% |
| ETC card got stolen |
0.5% |
| Other |
3.5% |
| Nothing in particular |
66.3% |
Q5: How did you obtain the ETC device in your car? (Sample size=2,155, multiple answer)
| From dealer, car maker (including as optional equipment), electrical store |
35.8% |
| From car accessory shop |
31.9% |
| Internet shopping |
7.3% |
| Car maintenance company |
4.1% |
| Second-hand car dealer (including as optional equipment) |
2.0% |
| From friend |
1.9% |
| ETC equipment leasing company |
1.7% |
| Petrol station |
1.4% |
| Internet auction |
1.3% |
| Home centre, discount store |
1.2% |
| Electrical superstore |
1.0% |
| Other mail order |
0.7% |
| Supermarket |
0.3% |
| Other |
5.6% |
| Don’t know |
3.8% |
Q6: How much did you pay for the ETC device in your car? (Sample size=2,155)
| Up to 4,999 yen |
10.8% |
| 5,000 to 9,999 yen |
18.7% |
| 10,000 to 14,999 yen |
21.2% |
| 15,000 to 19,999 yen |
11.2% |
| 20,000 to 29,999 yen |
6.7% |
| 30,000 to 49,999 yen |
2.7% |
| 50,000 yen or more |
0.6% |
| Don’t know |
21.8% |
| Didn’t buy, but leased |
1.1% |
| Didn’t buy it (came as standard equipment, etc) |
5.2% |
Q7: When you chose that ETC device, what points were important? (Sample size=2,155, multiple answer)
| Price |
45.3% |
| Device size |
20.8% |
| Can install out of the way |
19.5% |
| Type of antenna |
18.1% |
| Recommendation by shop staff |
11.2% |
| Easy to use |
10.3% |
| Warning function if forget to insert, remove card |
9.8% |
| Built-in speaker |
8.5% |
| Link to car navigation system |
7.9% |
| Goodness of audio prompts |
6.6% |
| Usage, payment history functions |
3.9% |
| Security functions |
2.9% |
| LED, buzzer |
2.1% |
| Built-in type, mirror-mount type |
2.1% |
| Other |
2.6% |
| Don’t know, nothing in particular |
9.7% |
| Didn’t choose it myself |
17.5% |
Q8: What kind of company issued your ETC card? (Sample size=2,155)
| Credit card company |
70.5% |
| Petrol station company |
11.7% |
| Highway operator company |
5.0% |
| Other |
6.2% |
| Don’t know |
6.2% |
| Don’t have an ETC card (to Q12) |
0.4% |
Q9: Why did you select that particular ETC card? (Sample size=2,146, multiple answer)
| No annual fee |
54.0% |
| Added ETC functionality to a credit card I already carried |
28.7% |
| Can save mileage, other points |
24.7% |
| Can get cash back |
14.5% |
| Can get cheaper petrol |
9.0% |
| Large discounts on tolls |
5.2% |
| Has breakdown service features |
3.1% |
| Get shopping discounts |
2.3% |
| Could issue on same day |
2.3% |
| Has various good additional services |
1.6% |
| Other |
3.1% |
| No particular reason |
7.8% |
| Don’t know, didn’t choose it myself |
7.8% |
Q10: What do you do regarding inserting and removing your ETC card from the ETC device? (Sample size=2,146)
| Always leave it in the ETC device |
26.7% |
| Insert as necessary |
71.2% |
| Other |
0.7% |
| Don’t know |
1.4% |
Younger people were more likely to leave it sitting in the device all the time. Everyone who had an ETC card next answered Q12.
Q11: Why don’t you have an ETC device in your own card? (Sample size=2,828, multiple answer)
| Hardly ever use toll roads |
66.9% |
| Don’t feel it’s inconvenient not to have one |
30.9% |
| Don’t feel there’s enough merit in ETC to warrant buying the device |
28.1% |
| Paperwork is too much bother |
17.3% |
| Don’t want to use, to increase usage of credit cards |
10.0% |
| Don’t want to pay by credit card |
9.3% |
| Dislike having to put the device in the car |
6.5% |
| It’s not my car |
4.0% |
| The toll roads I use don’t have any discounts I can take advantage of |
2.0% |
| The toll roads I use don’t support ETC |
1.8% |
| It will leave a record of usage |
1.4% |
| Other |
4.1% |
| Just because, no particular reason |
7.7% |
Other interesting reasons for not having one were that people requiring care rode the car (presumably a worry about radio waves?), not accepting that one has to pay money in order to get a machine that allows one to pay money, and just not trusting the system.
Q12: If you use the ETC system to pay tolls, you can get early morning or late night discounts, or other special discounts, making it cheaper to use toll roads. Did you know about this? (Sample size=7,287)
| Know some details of the discounts, etc |
51.8% |
| Just heard about it |
37.0% |
| Didn’t know about it |
11.2% |
As in Q2, those who used toll roads every day were less aware of the details of the discounts than the moderate users of toll roads. Those with ETC devices were much more aware of the discount details than those without.
Subscribe to feed