Taking place on 4-5 March at the Steigenberger Wiltcher’s in Brussels, Belgium, the 22nd annual Road User Charging Conference will explore the latest advancements in user-financed transportation.

The prestigious two-day event gathers industry leaders, policymakers and innovators from around the world.

It serves as a vital forum for discussions, knowledge exchange, and peer learning on best practices for planning, financing, implementing, operating, and maintaining tolling, road usage charging, and mobility pricing schemes across motorways, highways and urban areas.

One of the experts confirmed to speak at the event is Adam Searle, chief technology officer at Capita.

In this role, Searle leads the technology strategy and oversees the implementation of innovative solutions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of operations for UK transport body, Transport for London (TfL).

Searle is also responsible for driving digital transformation initiatives, ensuring that Capita TfL remains at the forefront of technological advancements in the transportation sector.

His leadership has been instrumental in developing and deploying cutting-edge technologies that improve service delivery and customer experience.  

At the conference, Searle will discuss Capita’s partnership with TfL and how they operate one of the world’s largest road-user charging systems and seamlessly manage millions of customer accounts, keeping everything secure and user-friendly.

Drawing on the partnerships collective experience, Searle will demonstrate how Capita TfL’s commitment to fairness and equality can create a road-user charging system fair for everyone.

Name: Adam Searle

Job Role: Chief Technology Officer

Organisation: Capita

What is the best aspect of your job?
Knowing that my team is making a key contribution toward continuous improvements in safety, health and mobility across London is hugely rewarding and makes it very easy to get out of bed in the morning!

The schemes we operate for TfL are making a real difference – fatal collisions involving HGVs have dropped by 62% since the introduction of the Direct Vision Standard scheme, NOx levels in Central London are 46% lower than they would have been without ULEZ and since the expansion in 2023 there has been a 42% increase in children using active modes of transport to get to school.

What is the biggest challenge facing those with responsibility for user-financed transportation in 2025?
Balancing political necessity with public acceptance by demonstrating fairness in user charging is, for me, the biggest challenge. The need to implement user-financed transportation is unquestionable as revenue from internal combustion engine travel continues to diminish – ensuring the public accept the changes and see them as fair, however, is far from a simple task.

What’s your best piece of advice for those looking to implement user-financed transportation solutions?
Ensure whatever is being implemented is motorist-centric, simple to engage with, well communicated and equitable. In the UK, metropolitan clean air schemes have inconsistent rules, rely on different technologies for the motorist to engage with and are poorly communicated. To be successful the solution must be simple to use and maximise customer engagement.

Does legislation help or hinder development in the sector?
Both! It can provide better access to funding and allow the enforcement of environmental and safety standards, but it can also introduce inflexibility and is often influenced by political agendas that can make the demonstration of equitability more challenging.

How will the business of user-financed transportation have changed by 2030?
Undoubtedly it will have changed hugely and possibly in ways we cannot yet forecast. The ongoing adoption of electric vehicles will continue to drive the demand for alternative funding mechanisms other than fuel tax. The likely integration of autonomous vehicles could fundamentally shift private vehicle ownership models.

Technology developments, especially in areas such as smart infrastructure and ambient invisible intelligence, could dramatically change the overall efficiency of transport networks. It’s not going to be a dull sector to work in over the coming five years!

Why are you looking forward to speaking at Road User Charging Conference 2025?
This will be my third year attending the RUC Conference but 2025 will be my first time speaking. It’s a great opportunity to share the story of what we have achieved in London. I’ve no doubt subsequent conversations with colleagues from around Europe will help challenge and shape Capita’s future RUC strategy.