Wialon + BG Toll: a time-effective way to comply with the Bulgarian toll system regulation

Bulgaria is another EU country launching toll roads and automatic payment methods. As of March 1st, 2020, a new set of requirements has come into force containing toll collection provisions for the usage of the republican road network via electronic charges. We have collected key facts about the requirements and some tips for your clients to comply with them using Wialon.

Bulgaria: some facts from the state toll regulation

The current legislation introduces electronic toll on a distance traveled basis for vehicles with a total technically permissible maximum mass over 3,5 tons and on a time basis for light vehicles with total technically permissible maximum mass up to or equal to 3,5 tons (electronic vignette). 

The system offers two ways to purchase a pass: 

• a one-time pass for a particular trip from a BG Toll platform;
• transferring the GPS data to the electronic system for automatic tolling.

The BG Toll requires several parameters from a vehicle before proceeding with a toll payment: pan number, vehicle license plate number, vehicle axles count, and vehicle weight.

Buying a one-time pass is not a big deal in case you have a couple of vehicles. But if you operate a fleet containing dozens of vehicles, getting such passes will quickly turn into a nightmare for your operators. The second option that proceeds the collected data and calculates the sums you owe looks much more attractive. 

Gurtam has used its Wialon platform to deliver a solution that automates toll pass purchases.  We’ll share with you how such a solution works and what is the role of Wialon in its architecture. 

Wialon and BG Toll

The Wialon platform is an integral part of the delivered solution that automatically sends the unit’s positioning data to the BG Toll system. The system receives data, sends payment requests, and accepts toll payments. 

Here is how it works:

• Unit data is transferred directly to the Wialon platform.
• When telematics messages from selected devices are needed for payment processing, they are forwarded from a client’s Wialon account to flespi, another Gurtam’s product presenting a backend platform for telematics solutions, via a particular plugin.
• The flespi platform appends the data needed by the toll system to messages.
• The messages are forwarded to the BG Toll system via a dedicated stream. 

Units configuration process

Registration on the BG Toll service

The tollbg.eu service allows users to forward telematics data from their devices into the Bulgarian toll roads system.

• Register on the website, receive authentication credentials that you will use for your stream, and the plate number of the vehicles you want to stream.
• After the registration, indicate the endpoint that will be used to perform a health check and general monitoring of the registrant company exchange service. 

Setting up a flespi account

The next step is getting a flespi account on the flespi official website. 

• Create a flespi channel: 

• Choose wialon_retranslator as protocol_id: 

• Point your Wialon units to the generated IP:PORT via Wialon Retranslator protocol. For this, configure a proper retranslator in Wialon and add multiple units if necessary: 

NB:  Don’t change the original Unit ID.

• Click on the flespi channel and go to the Toolbox tab to make sure the data is coming to flespi (there must be at least one connection):

• Create a flespi device: 

• Enter the Device ID from Wialon into the Device Identifier field, choose the appropriate device type, and click Save:

Creating a plugin 

Then you need to create a plugin for your device.

• Go to the Plugins tab and create a new plugin:

• Choose the tollbg plugin template and click the Save button:

• Here is the result you’ll see:

The next step is to assign the created plugin to your device.

• Open your device settings: 

• Go to the Plugins tab:

• Сhoose the tollbg plugin, enter the Pan number and vehicle license plate number (required), vehicle axles count, and vehicle weight (optionally). Click the Save button:

• The plugin is assigned to the device:

The plugin will automatically add the parameters required by the BG Toll system into the original device messages.

Creating a stream 

The next step is to create a stream of the BG Toll type: 

• Go to the Streams tab and create a new one:

• Use the following configuration to input your BG Toll username and password:

• Open the stream card by clicking on it:

• Navigate to the Devices tab to assign devices to the stream. This way, you indicate from which particular devices the stream should forward data:

• The device is assigned to the stream:

Once the connection is established, the stream card turns green. New messages from the devices will be sent to the BG Toll system via the activated plugin. 

Monitoring messages

A user can use the Toolbox tab to monitor messages sent in the logs on the stream 一 all issues with authentication and dispatching will pop up there.

The solution featuring Wialon and BG Toll integration provides users with all the necessary tools to comply with the latest Bulgarian regulations and make toll payments automatically without time- and effort-consuming manual manipulation. As a result, we have:

• significantly reduced workforce cost, 
• low upfront investments, as integrators don’t build a system from scratch but leverage the current solution, 
• facilitation and convenience as the main benefits for end-users. 

If you have any other questions on working with the BG Toll system, please contact your personal manager, or send a note to sales@gurtam.com.

There are also some other articles on similar integrations with Wialon such as HU-GO in Hungary, WASL in Saudi Arabia, and Sixfold in Europe.