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"The Commission has hit the bull's eye with its recommendations", says Skymeter CEO Kamal Hassan. "Recognizing and recommending sensible policy using reliable and cost-effective technology addresses the three evils plaguing surface transportation: under-funding, CO(2) emissions, and traffic jams." Hassan says that by opting for a sensibly-designed GPS-driven user fee system America's total CO(2) emissions will be reduced by 5% or 350 million metric tonnes, the same reduction as if one out of every four cars on the road were replaced by electric cars. It will also make the average commute around 10% faster. "Those are pretty good side effects for a system that returns the nation's road financing system to health" says Hassan.

Skymeter Corporation is a Toronto, Canada-based data services operator that enables location-based payments using financial-grade GPS telematics. Its billing-delivery services include Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) metering for road use, parking and PAYD insurance. These services incorporate methodologies for both privacy and anonymity to ensure motorists enjoy complete privacy while traveling and absolute confidentiality of their trips. Skymeter is equivalent to an anonymous, in-car cell-phone that automatically pays for all transport services based on actual usage. Skymeter enables every form of road-use charging from small city areas such as London and Stockholm's cordon charges up to metering every vehicle in a state, province or country in order to replace fuel taxes.

But the next steps – getting the Skymeter vehicle location billing system tested in Europe, the U.S. and Canada – are crucial to the realization of Grush's entrepreneurial dreams.

pay-as-you-drive insurance. He spent two years driving around, collecting data, writing a little software.

Another person at the Innovation Centre offered to "take me in and help write a business plan – for a 40 per cent stake in the business," Grush says. "Fortunately, I found Kamal."