[xantia]

In June this year, we drove down from Orlando to Miami, and it was all NPR. Deductions were small amounts like a quarter and we kept getting text messages. Sign posts informed us of upcoming toll “points”. You can pay by cash or card as well by diverting to a micro toll booth. Works both in the day and night.

It rained all through that distance and the NPR seemed to work well in spite of the shower, the tyre spray, and I am sure some muddy plates.

[i74js]

Only 4 to 5% of the total toll collection is attributed to personal vehicles for all highways with only exception being tolls within a city (Mumbai Sea Link) / cities and satellite towns (Manesar).
The numbers can be verified from latest NHAI public disclosures. Private vehicles can be formally excused from tolls thereby reducing the cost of implementation of such systems including their operational expenditure.

[G20Rider]

Singapore uses a system called Electronic Road Pricing which doesn’t need toll gates or for drivers to slow down. And it evolved to became the standard way to charge for parking all over Singapore, both private and public garages.


Tech in use seems to be a combination of short range radio signals+camera.

ERP uses a combination of short-range wireless system to communicate with the IU, and cameras that are used to capture (if necessary) the rear license plates of vehicle as they pass by

Refer https://www.techrepublic.com/article...ricing-system/

and the system has been in place for decades as far as I know.

Works well as licence plates are standardised and the system can handle foreign registered vehicles (mostly Malaysian).

Highly doubt how a camera based system will work in India with the very diverse number plate styles

[landcruiser123]

So much push for FASTag and they want to dismantle the system? I'm waiting to see which group of industrialists benefit from this move.

Originally Posted by Blanktrails

Can they not collect average life time toll of a 4 wheeler (different values for car and trucks) at the time of registration itself and make all the highways free.

Wouldn't be fair to some people? I know many people who own second hatchbacks exclusively for in-city driving that never see a km of highway driving.

[ashokabs]

I certainly don't want my bank account connected to anything so money will be whisked away by who knows what or whom!! Smells like someone wants to use every new technology to harass the car owner. Why not do this when you design the roads? Check all the technologies and select the one that will be around for a long time - which is somewhat tech independent. Seems like RFID is a good choice. The idea of having several sensors on the last 100 metres is great as it will take care of poor reading at the toll gate itself. More sensors more likely to get a proper reading. That is a much simpler technology.

Reading number plates is fraught with error. First you have to standardize the number plate. That itself is a huge exercise. Secondly who will pay for all the new number plates - the hapless citizen. Many senior citizens never leave town. Why should they have to pay for a new number plate??

Another loony idea which as someone said will enrich some crony or politician.

[DeadCenter]

My opinion is that this system needs to be changed. I bought a Fastag more that 7 years ago and have seen that there has been no improvement in performance since then. I use them on highways, ring roads and even in city. Some of them work well (usually the new ones which then get worse with time) and some of them don't. All in all I would say that the time at toll booths has definitely reduced but now it needs to go away altogether. Below is where time is lost on a daily basis.

• Most tolls do not operate all of their lanes since they need to have one employee in each working booth. Time lost when traffic builds up at limited lanes.
• If the Fastag does not scan then they make you go back and forth a couple of times and then manually scan. Time lost.
• Time lost when your lane shuts down for a random reason like the end of the booth operators shift.
• During rush hour, time lost due to a high number of vehicles trying to get through a nozzle of a toll booth even if all lanes are functional.
• If a car in your lane is low on balance then usually takes a few minutes to resolve and most time is lost when they get into an argument, close the lane and make everyone back out to rejoin other lanes.
• Even right now there are a few toll booths in our country with a Fastag board hanging out front but are not accepting Fastag and demanding cash. Time lost here as well since if I don't transfer my pain to them, they will feel no incentive to change. Plus additional time for the cash transaction as well, of course.

Yes, money can be spent somewhere else but money can be spent here as well. When one of our ministries are active we need to encourage them to keep moving ahead. Most developed nations had initially focussed on roadways since they are the blood vessels of nations and toll booths are nothing but cholestrol blocks.

We were 200 years behind the rest of the world the day we got independence. Today, we're roughly 50 years behind. To catch up, we need to overhaul our systems faster than the rest of the world. This is expected.

We don't have to reinvent anything here. There are already well running systems across the globe.

Also, let's not worry about us becoming a police state due to these systems. We are a very large democracy. If sufficient people are antagonised, the government cannot get away with anything. Case in point, right here in namma Bengaluru. Recent flooding has resulted in the government bodies demolishing structures that they have already taken bribes for and approved, especially properties of influential people. Are these people sleeping well at night right now? I think not.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Paym also offers FastTag. Per my understanding, that one is linked to wallet?

When I have to travel through a toll booth I add money into the Paytm's wallet. The toll gets deducted from the inbuilt wallet and not directly through my bank account.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

When I have to travel through a toll booth I add money into the Paytm's wallet. The toll gets deducted from the inbuilt wallet and not directly through my bank account.

Thanks for the validation. That was at the back of my mind when I had chosen Paytm fasttag over others.

[biller777]

Our politicians are very "innovative" and future oriented. They will do anything but to fix the roads. Looks like no innovation required here.

[akg7091]

What needs to be done, if the minister ji actually wants to do something useful is

1 ) Make toll tax nil for pvt vehicles
2 ) Increase toll tax by ~20% for the commercial vehicles
3 ) NO CASH PAYMENTS - if the tag reader isn't working then the vehicle passes for free ( rule is already there about this and 100m queue length but not implemented at any plaza I have been to ). Use AI enabled cameras looking at queue length. Once the queue is longer than 100m then the control room at NHAI should automatically open all boom barriers till queue reduces.

If 1 and 2 are implemented then there will be no queues at most toll plazas. But we live in India. Nothing will be done.

[Sen]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

The best option is to eliminate tolls themselves.

Madhya Pradesh as a state has already done this.

Commercial vehicles are truly the heaviest users of the highways, much more than private car owners. Would make sense. As it is, we pay a lifetime road tax on each vehicle. And through our noses to boot.

[Jaguar]

I thought this might be the proper place to discuss this.

I am unsure if it is just me, but I cannot properly read EVs' small green + white/yellow number plates. This is true, especially on two-wheelers and autos but even the car plates are not legible from a distance. The automatic readers might read them but would a person be able to note down the number in case of an accident or theft?