Toll on the Bangalore Int'l Airport road

[libranof1987]

Since a month or so, work has been on to construct a toll booth on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway. This would be just before you leave the highway (take the elevated bridge and turn right) to get to the Bangalore Int'l Airport.

What reports say is, the toll is being collected for expansion of the highway; but sounds strange considering the placement of the toll booth and timing.

Everyone travelling to the airport would have to shell out some toll now.

Whether the toll and the placement of the booth is legitimate is of course beyond our scope of discussing; any idea how much the toll would be?

MODS : tried searching, did not find this discussed anywhere so posted a new thread. If it is meant to be posted somewhere else, please do so.

[sachinj12]

Word is that the toll will be 50 bucks one way. Don't know to what extent the word is true.There was an article on this in Bangalore Mirror a few days back.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Word is that the toll will be 50 bucks one way. Don't know to what extent the word is true.There was an article on this in Bangalore Mirror a few days back.

That is one helluva amount!

The users who will actually benefit from the expansion of the highway are the ones using the highway all the way; not people using it for some 20-odd kms to reach the airport!

Worst part, no alternative road to the airport, so we HAVE to pay!

I wonder how much of the toll Vayu Vajra will pass on to passengers.

[kannan666]

Read in the papers yesterday that the government is taking this up with NHAI, hopefully it will get sorted out and the toll booth gets relocated to Devanahalli after the airport turn off !

[sfilinto]

FYI...
Flying out of BIA to take a toll - Bangalore - DNA

[mykal shoemaker]

Yes.Saw reports that Govt. is going to oppose this move.
ITs ridiculous to put toll infront of bus stand,railway station or airport,where people need to go there numerous times on day/week/month.

Else, they need to remove those life time road tax stuff and charge individually on allroads.

[raghu230506]

This is utter rubbish, they should collect toll only for people driving ahead on NH7/44, collecting toll for airport commuters is a shame.

[praful]

I can't imagine the amount of traffic pile-up that is going to happen once the toll booths go active. The effects of this pile-up are definitely going to percolate down the road and will lead to increased density all the way till Hebbal.

The worst part is that we going to have to pay for the increase in travel time, fuel consumption and the mental peace lost due to traffic!

Hoping against hopes, this "smart alec" move is corrected by the Govt.

[addyhemmige]

This is nothing but daylight (and night) robbery. I would have understood if they had placed the toll booths just after Yelahanka, but the placement just before the Airport entrance ramp is just absurd. There is no other entrance to the airport and NHAI has taken advantage of it.

I have no qualms over paying toll, only if I am able to enjoy the highway. But, this really is irritating. Hopefully, the state govt will pursue the case with NHAI and have it shifted.

Btw, the toll tariff is slated to be fixed at Rs.15 one way (as per DH)

[ashwin49]

This is just so ridiculous on so many levels. Bangalore, already has one of the highest road tax in the country. On a 5.5 lakh car , the so called lifetime road tax ( Local RTO) is close to 70,000 and VAT ( Central Govt) is is around 45,000. I wonder if someone has filed an RTI application with the RTO folks locally on how our Tax rupees are being used? Considering the clowns running Karnataka at the moment I don't think anything fruitful will come out of that .

The other issue being Govt treating the Airports of the country as a cash cow rather than something of a strategic value which helps commerce, connectivity and tourism. There is an artificial shortage created which has jacked up the prices helping only vested interest and cartels. Consider a trip to Hyderabad I was trying to make for Diwali, here were the options:

• Air - 8000 Rs on a No Frills Airline ( Spicejet)+ 900x2 for Radio Taxi at Bangalore and 400x2 for the same at Hyd.
• Didi's Railways - Everything booked 3 months before Diwali ( collusion between Railway folks and travel agents to blame)
• Bus - Absolutely crazy prices for Bus travel ! - 1500 to 2000 on an overnight journey on private Volvos ( 5 times Sleeper Train tickets !)
• Drive - Close to 6000 Rs in Petrol and 300 in Tolls. Travel fatigue makes this impractical.

India Shining ! Hell Yeah !

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by ashwin49

This is just so ridiculous on so many levels. Bangalore, already has one of the highest road tax in the country. On a 5.5 lakh car , the so called lifetime road tax ( Local RTO) is close to 70,000 and VAT ( Central Govt) is is around 45,000. I wonder if someone has filed an RTI application with the RTO folks locally on how our Tax rupees are being used? Considering the clowns running Karnataka at the moment I don't think anything fruitful will come out of that .

The other issue being Govt treating the Airports of the country as a cash cow rather than something of a strategic value which helps commerce, connectivity and tourism. There is an artificial shortage created which has jacked up the prices helping only vested interest and cartels. Consider a trip to Hyderabad I was trying to make for Diwali, here were the options:

• Air - 8000 Rs on a No Frills Airline ( Spicejet)+ 900x2 for Radio Taxi at Bangalore and 400x2 for the same at Hyd.
• Didi's Railways - Everything booked 3 months before Diwali ( collusion between Railway folks and travel agents to blame)
• Bus - Absolutely crazy prices for Bus travel ! - 1500 to 2000 on an overnight journey on private Volvos ( 5 times Sleeper Train tickets !)
• Drive - Close to 6000 Rs in Petrol and 300 in Tolls. Travel fatigue makes this impractical.

India Shining ! Hell Yeah !

Bangalore ain't the only place; Pune too has unexplicably high road tax!

1) If you recall, after every festival season, AAI and Aviation Ministry "demand" airlines to explain why air fares shoot up exponentially. Nothing comes outta it.

2) People say, there's some software these travel agents have that blocks the seats the moment they are available. Wonder how that works!

3) Buses are quite on the Airliners' path surcharging during festivals.

And toll?! Guess opening a toll booth is the "in" thing! They are cropping up every now and then. Moral of the story : Either be a Govt. official and make the public pay for yourself or pay it yourself!

[libranof1987]

Any updates on the toll? Is the booth shifting, commissioned?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Any updates on the toll? Is the booth shifting, commissioned?

The way things looked yesterday when I went to the Airport gives an impression that the booth will remain at this spot. They were also manned by security personnel on both sides. Unless we get to see or read anything from the media as a concrete news, I guess its too early to make any assumptions on its removal or further existence.

[sgiitk]

There is already a Rs.13 toll for T3 at Delhi. There is also an alternative route, and the cognoscenti take that. I did hear that they were planning to do away with the toll.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

There is already a Rs.13 toll for T3 at Delhi. There is also an alternative route, and the cognoscenti take that. I did hear that they were planning to do away with the toll.

They might just increase the toll at the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. I'm wondering, how long will they continue collecting toll on that stretch; they must've recovered the cost ages ago!

You might wanna take a look at this :
Big hike in toll tax next year - The Times of India

The whole B-O-T (Build-Operate-Transfer) concept is being exploited terribly!