[TusharK]

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, has announced that the government plans to roll out a satellite-based toll collection system in India in the next three months.



During the ongoing session of the Rajya Sabha, Gadkari revealed that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will begin implementing the new system on national highways by March 2024.

The government is said to be working on reducing waiting times at toll plazas and streamlining export release processes at land ports. FASTags have been instrumental in reducing waiting times at toll plazas. As per reports, the average waiting time at toll plazas has dropped from 714 seconds to 47 seconds.

The construction and expansion of National Highways increased by approximately 10% between April and November 2023, compared to the same period between 2011 and 2023. Data shows that 5,248 km of National Highways were completed by November compared to 4,766 km during the same period last year.

The pace of bidding for new projects though, has slowed down this year. Agencies had bid for 5,382 km of work between April and November 2022. But, this year, the figure dropped to 2815 km.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[MotoDrive]

What's the point of setting up all the toll booths? Does it mean every vehicle will be fitted by GPS tracker to monitor the movements of the vehicles? Huge cost factor involved in enabling the GPS based toll system. We just have to wait and see...I think Fast Tag is still best but make it more fast, remove those barriers, closing and opening of barriers has to be discarded and make the wide path to pass under the RFID scanners to scan the fast tag or install more powerful scanners.

[furyrider]

Originally Posted by MotoDrive

remove those barriers, closing and opening of barriers has to be discarded and make the wide path to pass under the RFID scanners to scan the fast tag or install more powerful scanners.

While I agree with you, this might never be implemented. I foresee people removing their tags entirely and passing through the tolls unobstructed without paying anything. Unfortunately, that is how it is in our country!

[saisree]

The end of life for Fastag's? I would like to see the necessary GPS/tech provided by the manufacturer than some harry potter companies.

Someone giving too much importance to the Navik GPS system? I'm not against using it, "should we choke it", is my question.

[BlueFyre]

Good initiative IMHO if implemented properly.

I have been paying 3 tolls within 3 kms for long even after the announcement of minimum distance criteria of 45 kms between 2 tolls so would be happier to pay for kms driven.
The reasoning of privacy breach with GPS can be thrown into the bin as there is no concept of privacy with the amount of tech involved in today’s generation cars.
One thing that the government itself is not so sure about is the implementation process which is an actual task compared to just coming up with an idea.

[antonylejos]

How can this technically be possible?

Each vehicle requires a GPS tracker.
Additionally, each vehicle needs a data connection or SIM card to transmit its route to a centralized server.

Who will be responsible for the monthly data subscription?
The cost of data transfer and GPS device installation will amount to at least Rs. 5000/-.

Will every vehicle owner have to bear this cost in addition to a monthly data subscription fee of Rs. 200+?

Above all, if you switch off the device / remove hardwire connection, you are not charged?

[Satkaj]

If I understand government’s working, they set an ambitious task, give a target which will be extended and extended and extended till its achieved or accepted partially. So please don't be amazed with such statements.

[akg7091]

The right approach would be to make tolls nil for private vehicles and increase the toll amount on commercial vehicles by 20-25% to compensate for this. Also, remove the toll booths and install multiple ANPR cameras which capture the number plates of the vehicles. 100m before and immediately after the ANPR scanner setup medium sized speed breakers ( with proper visible markings at 500m and rumble strips at 700m to warn drivers ) so vehicles are forced to slow down to <20kph

Any commercial vehicle found crossing a toll junction but not having a GPS transponder installed should have it's registration cancelled upon x such incidents. The fine for not paying toll should be 10x the toll amount. Link tolls paid electronically to eway bills as an audit measure.

[Raghu M]

While I agree with many of you on the implementation, I seriously have a thought that this will look as complicated as implementing the QR code payment across the country (remember Mr. Chidambaram's speech on it in the Parliament?) but on the ground, it may get super easy. There are scores of ways in which the ministry can implement this. But the only question I have is, how will it be monitored? I am sure the govt. won't force anyone to install a GPS tracker that will cost 5K. It's simply not possible. They will come up with something that is super quick, easy and yet fool proof to collect tolls. However, the grievance cell is something they need to work on. My Fastag balance got deducted by 795 rupees while I was in a meeting at home and my car happily resting in the cellar. The issue was resolved after repeated emails/calls to HDFC.

[itspatra]

Originally Posted by akg7091

The right approach would be to make tolls nil for private vehicles and increase the toll amount on commercial vehicles by 20-25% to compensate for this. Also, remove the toll booths and install multiple ANPR cameras which capture the number plates of the vehicles. 100m before and immediately after the ANPR scanner setup medium sized speed breakers ( with proper visible markings at 500m and rumble strips at 700m to warn drivers ) so vehicles are forced to slow down to <20kph

Any commercial vehicle found crossing a toll junction but not having a GPS transponder installed should have it's registration cancelled upon x such incidents. The fine for not paying toll should be 10x the toll amount. Link tolls paid electronically to eway bills as an audit measure.

But why though, Sorry if this comes out as rude. Why increase the penalty and price for commercial vehicles while making it free for personal vehicles. This feels more of a self-centric approach. It is like you hate commercial vehicles.

[akg7091]

Originally Posted by itspatra

But why though, Sorry if this comes out as rude. Why increase the penalty and price for commercial vehicles while making it free for personal vehicles. This feels more of a self-centric approach. It is like you hate commercial vehicles.

Not rude at all. A valid question.
The logic is to minimize the difficulty of implementation of any large scale / public project where the propensity of the public is to "avoid" paying.

As per NHAI data commercial vehicles account for ~75% of the toll tax paid. A commercial vehicle also incurs SIGNIFICANT cost when it is "waiting" to pay toll due to delays ( especially city tolls which are not RFID based and can take upto an hour to clear )

Assume INR 75 comes from commercial vehicles and INR 25 comes from private vehicles. While 90% of commercial vehicles will be frequently crossing toll borders unless they are purely inter city, less than 25% private vehicles cross NHAI tolls annually.

Commercial vehicles are already having AIS 140 compliant GPS mandatory by law since 2020 ( don't remember the exact date ) and the gps data is mandatorily shared with BSNL as the coordinating agency while almost nil private vehicles will have this.

Cost of implementation can be drastically reduced overall if the 80:20 rule is used.

While it looks unfair that only commercial vehicles should pay as per my suggestion, logically this is a sound approach which will reduce the bottlenecks at the collection point and reduce leakage massively. System should be efficient and not prone to leakage. To prevent revenue leakage current systems are designed to be inefficient in terms of throughput. This affects the country overall due to loss of productive time, fuel, additional resources deployed / maintained to prevent leakage etc. Penalty is to encourage good behaviour and reduce overall complexity / cost of the system to prevent leakage. Users should be encouraged to pay legitimate and reasonable tolls instead of trying to avoid paying

PS : I worked on / designed the entire fastag system for axis / paytm / hdfc in the initial phase so have some idea of how the system works and what the challenges are on ground

[itspatra]

Originally Posted by akg7091

Not rude at all. A valid question.
The logic is to minimize the difficulty of implementation of any large scale / public project where the propensity of the public is to "avoid" paying.

Thanks for the insights. I was expecting a reason for your previous post . This justifies the previous opinion.

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[Raskolnikov.R]

Originally Posted by akg7091

The right approach would be to make tolls nil for private vehicles and increase the toll amount on commercial vehicles by 20-25% to compensate for this. Also, remove the toll booths and install multiple ANPR cameras which capture the number plates of the vehicles. 100m before and immediately after the ANPR scanner setup medium sized speed breakers ( with proper visible markings at 500m and rumble strips at 700m to warn drivers ) so vehicles are forced to slow down to <20kph

Any commercial vehicle found crossing a toll junction but not having a GPS transponder installed should have it's registration cancelled upon x such incidents. The fine for not paying toll should be 10x the toll amount. Link tolls paid electronically to eway bills as an audit measure.

The flaw in your argument is that the cost of transportation directly affects you, the Consumer.

This may not be substantial when when seen in individual perspective.

However, India depends on road transport for the transport of vegetables, and foodgrains, and the cost of transportation has a direct impact on the food inflation. And, that impacts the country as a whole!

As for having GPS transponders on commercial vehicles, we would be better off taking out most of the multidecade vehicles on the road, and helping owner-operators pick up the latest vehicles. And again, eway bills don't say the whole story of palms being greased at every state entry/exit.

We need a better plan what the government is proposing.

[RM Motorsports]

I am not sure how this system will work but recently i came across a cab driver who runs daily between Bombay and Pune. He said he uses Fast Tag on Mumbai - Pune Expressway toll booths. Whereas he uses monthly pass at Vashi toll plaza. On an average he does daily 2 trips between Mumbai and Pune and sometimes even three. According to him he is able to save around 2500-3000 rupees every month just by using monthly pass at Vashi toll plaza, instead of Fast Tag.

I don't know how this satellite based toll collection will work for commercial transport but Indians are smart enough to find loopholes or jugaad where one can save a few bucks. I feel this monthly savings of Rs. 3000 for this cab driver is substantial amount in long run.

[enj0y_ride]

I guess the only way is to mandate GPS + data connectivity for all new vehicles since 202X [ Existing vehicle owners will have to fit some aftermarket solutions and bear the cost like Fastag , but cost will be Fasttag x 100 ] The cost might spike few thousands, but the solution is not completely off limits. Link the IMEI ID of device to the Fastag ( or similar ) accounts. The biggest drawback is NHAI ( or whichever agency is managing it ) gets all your commute ( private ) data.
AND FINALLY, the vehicle won't start unless there's balance in your Fastag account !!!!