[prateekm]

I don't really get it. Is there a deficit in revenue from toll collections that they aim to reduce by charging a surcharge of 10-20% for cash payments? They can achieve similar adoption results by giving a 10-20% discount for those who pay via FASTags.

[shamanth]

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[Aditya_Bhp]

Instead of providing incentives to people who have moved to cashless payment, this is just penalizing the people who pay cash, as if spending cash is a crime.

We, the folk at TeamBHP must have all fastags and do online recharges but there is a generation of people who have not kept on pace with the technological developments, the elderly section, Fastag appears to them like something in movies.

This move will unnecessarily penalize such people.

I do hope the central govt doesnt think about increasing the already high toll rates even further, they can provide more incentives for fastag instead as this reduces cost of labour in toll gates!

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

We, the folk at TeamBHP must have all fastags and do online recharges but there is a generation of people who have not kept on pace with the technological developments, the elderly section, Fastag appears to them like something in movies.

I don't have Fastag in my car since my driving through toll roads is hardly once in 2-3 months or even longer. And on the toll plazas I encounter during my highway travels, Fastag is still not robust enough; most often Fastag lanes are open for cash payers too; even paying with PayTM is a huge gamble due to network issues. I am all for digital economy, but I will adopt Fastag payment only if the system is robust and/or my highway travels increase.

[Turbohead]

Maybe a bad move!

For all you know, toll operators may damage the RFID readers and hand held machines to collect more cash. After all, if they have the guts to collect toll and not maintain the roads, this should be a piece of cake-provided all the other toll operators work together.

I hate being pessimistic but unfortunately reality here is often dark.

[maverick.munish]

There are people who have FASTag fitted vehicles and do not recharge them.
Such idiots queue up on the FASTag express/no-cash lanes and causes massive delays.
There should be some penalty levied on such folks as well. This is a common occurrence on Delhi-Chandigarh road and causes massive delays for people who regularly top up their RFID's as well.

[NaXal]

I often need to do same toll return drive & buying return is much cheaper but how do I use this feature with Fast-Tag?

Since every time I approached a toll with Fast-Tag there was no interaction & one way got charged even before I could roll down my Window.

Once my account got empty, I stopped using it.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by NaXal

I often need to do same toll return drive & buying return is much cheaper but how do I use this feature with Fast-Tag?

Since every time I approached a toll with Fast-Tag there was no interaction & one way got charged even before I could roll down my Window.

Once my account got empty, I stopped using it.

The return logic is built into the fastag system. If you pass back within the time limit for the return journey, only the deficit for the return fare is charged. For example if the one way fare is 30 and return fare is 50, on the return leg only 20 will be deducted from the fastag account.
Please start using fastag again.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by bkc

Took the next lane, paid by cash and also received message of fastag deduction.

Exact thing happened to me, they don't even have good support to refund too in such cases.

[ShivrajG]

Why cant we install barriers with RFID at lane entry points in fast TAG lanes so that even if somebody tries to get into such lanes wouldn't be able to and have to move along to cash lanes. This may increase the speed in FAST tag lanes and everybody will try to get their hands on FAST TAG to get FAST .
I have seen network issue on the ATM machines and multiple times money getting deducted but gate not opening up. These issue have to be sorted out first before moving to surcharges on cash.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Exact thing happened to me, they don't even have good support to refund too in such cases.

It happened to me, but when I raised the complaint and shared the cash receipt, the ICICI fasttag account was refunded. Try to complain, most of the time it is <100 so we will ignore, but you can try. It worked for me.

[RajeevSharma]

Process of toll payment in general needs improvements. With advent of time we are seeing more and more toll plazas not only having dedicated fast tag lane but also accepting fast tag payments in all other lanes. The problem is with heavy congestion regardless of method pf payment. The should increase number of toll collecting booths and also research into something that will become saviour in the future.

The problem is not with how payment is collected but how long it take to make the payment in even dedicated lanes and for that I see no solution unless toll collecting stations are increased.

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by ShivrajG

Why cant we install barriers with RFID at lane entry points in fast TAG lanes so that even if somebody tries to get into such lanes wouldn't be able to and have to move along to cash lanes.

Along the Coimbatore-Cochin route, we have a low tech version of that. A guy manually checks for the tags and moves a traffic cone from the lane entry. Last time some dude in a Lexus SUV barged into the lane before the guy could replace the traffic cone. Wasted nearly 15 minutes of everyones time before he was forced to move into the cash lane.

[jithin23]

A bad step to encourage people to use digital transactions. Fastags are convenient but most of our parents/elders are technologically challenged and do not know how to recharge phones, let alone fastag. For rural people, it is much harder. The government needs to educate people on how to use fastag and mention its benefits rather than burdening the already overburdened taxpayers of this country by collecting more money for cash toll transactions which are expensive in the first place.

Most of them don't know how to use fastags on their new cars itself(I had to explain the steps to my friens itself, if they are using it for the first time).

[deadguy25]

Utter stupidity.
Instead, they should ensure:
- all their FASTAG readers\sensors are working fine,
- valid vehicles enter the dedicated FASTAG lanes (there are innumerable idiots who enter dedicated FASTAG lanes without the tags and pay money)
- toll roads are maintained well and strict policing should be done to reduce accidents.

We maybe digital, etc, etc! There are still lots of us who are yet to catch-up and catch-on. It is not nice to pull people by their scuffs and force them into something as trivial as this.