[interest]

While it is a great judgement and I completely back it, I dont think it can be implemented. I remember the time when the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the NH8 concessionaire (Delhi Gurgaon) to allow free passage to vehicles if the vehicle queue crossed a certain length. The concessionaire followed this ruling only on days when the traffic police was present at the toll plaza. On other days it continued to charge toll even if the vehicle in queue were double the permissible number. I tried on several occassions to argue with the toll plaza operators that they cannot charge toll as per the HC order, they would all gang up and start harassing me. The toll plaza operator would hire the most rude and uncivilised guys to start abusing anyone who tries to talk sense.
As it is the order has not clarified what bad roads mean. Without a clear definition of bad roads there would only be an arguement between commuters and toll operators and in such arguements, the commuter is usually outnumbered. Even if NHAI reports certain highways as unfit for tolling/fit for partial tolling, the toll operator would immediately contest the decision in court and the case would drag for months before SC also decalres the NHAI's decision (regarding classification of that particular stretch as unfit) as correct.
These toll operators only give in when rowdy villagers break open the toll gates by force.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Who decides which road is good and fit to be charged toll ?
...
Can the citizens report bad stretches of tolled roads ?

In a similar case with the NH4, the High-Court had requested the Indian-Road-Congress to assess the condition of the 'repairs' carried out by the toll road operator :
- Fix NH4 or stop collecting toll
- High Court orders IRC to inspect Chennai-Bangalore NH

The Indian-Road-Congress web-site does have a grievance page that one can use to report bad roads.
These days I make it a point to add a grievance after a Bengaluru-Chennai trip ( which is once a week )...
.

[500ContyCruiser]

Nice gesture by SC.

Definition of "good road(s)" is very subjective, at least in India! How is SC going to judge on whether the road is worth the Toll or not?

Having driven in various parts of our country, I have seen people saying road is in "excellent" or "amazing" conditions as long as it is tarred. Does not matter surface quality or markings or any safety measures.

How a normal person (with family on-board) is going to fight with Toll operators on day-to-day basis?

There should also be a rule, wherein, if any person comes across not-so-good road as per the standards (be it road surface or markings or anything related) and has enough proof,
1. Refund the Toll amount in next Toll Booth + free on that booth.
2. In case the driver returns back to the same Toll Booth with the complain, refund the amount + a penalty amount given.

There should be service road for all major highways with decent drivable condition (may not be on par with highway itself).

Absolutely NO speed breakers !!

Atleast on National Highway's, speed limit should not be limited to 60 kmph.

Do not understand why one has to travel within city limits (with two way roads), even after paying Toll. Ex, near Harihar on NH4 ? That too road on the bridge is not always in good condition.

Whatever is said with regard to the not-so-NICE road is less. Toll charges are too high for that kind of road. Though it does not come under NHAI, still there should be a check on it.
If we keep talking of things, there will be endless list. Will end here

Originally Posted by Pallavi

It would be great if the Supreme Court also passes a ruling that there should be an alternate road, either good or bad, for those who wish to avoid paying toll.

BIAL road is one such road where you dont have an alternative except to pay the high toll. Well, there was an alternate road but it is rendered useless by blocking it forcing people to pay toll.

There is an alternative road (Club Cabana road) if you want to skip BIAL toll (certainly cannot avoid for Airport though). I sometimes take this route. It is a two lane road, about 2.5 kms more and almost double the time taken. Atleast I can buy 2 liters of diesel for the toll amount.

Take left turn at the last signal before Toll Booth (near McD).

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by hangover

I don't think honorable courts have thought through this one.
Many states have cess on sales tax or surcharges which are ostensibly for infrastructure building or garbage collection.
Quoting this case as a precedent everybody can now refuse to pay the cess whatever as the promised Singapore roads and garbage collection has not been implemented.

Forget such cess, the BEST which is a part of the BMC in Mumbai even today collects a cess of a few paise on each ticket for "the benefit and development of Bangladesh war refugees".... speak about the heights of corruption

[anand.shankar]

Originally Posted by VW2010

@anand...

Arent they constructing a 3rd lane either way. Is that a reason for the delay in fixing the other two lanes?

Been last when there was two lanes and the third was in progress.

Construction can be seen in bits, but its surely going to take good 2-3 years to get that completed. The stretch from Wallajah to Chennai is plain horrible! A friend said that its because they use some place near Wallajah to store heavy equipment and construction materials for Chennai Metro. I am not sure how true this is though.

But surely the road isnt worth paying a single rupee as toll, I did give a piece of my mind to the Toll booth operator, but whats the point

[thatsdileep]

Originally Posted by interest

As it is the order has not clarified what bad roads mean. Without a clear definition of bad roads there would only be an arguement between commuters and toll operators and in such arguements, the commuter is usually outnumbered.

You are absolutely correct. Although the SC's verdict is moving in the right direction, without a clear cut definition of what constitutes bad roads, this will always end up in an argument or yet another court case. Good or bad are always relative terms and purely depends on individual perspective unless a reference base line is defined. Obviously a bad road for general public might be decent road for toll operators!

[low_rider]

The contract for the toll roads are diluted so that the contractor has an easy life. In Gurgaon-to-Faridabad (Haryana) toll road, which is maintained by our beloved Reliance group, the contract does not require the contractor to provide street lights. So, the contractor has to just pave the roads and start extortion. Everytime the topic of street light comes up, they are quick to respond that the street lights have to be provided by government.

[hangover]

I'll tell you a small secret.

When you get to a toll, don't go for the one with smallest queue. Go for the one with least vehicles.
3 trucks will be a longer queue than 9 cars. BUT that's only 3 payments before you get your chance. Plus busses and trucks keep exact change ready in a pouch near the driver. Capeesh?

[anoop_lamba]

Being from Delhi and working in Jaipur, I drive on the Delhi-Jaipur NH8 stretch quite frequently.

Given the bad condition of the road, I was quite happy to have read this article a few days ago thinking that developer now be forced to complete the expansion work soon or remove toll.

But yesterday to my utter surprise I read the news that they have increased the toll from 18/- to 98/- for various categories of the vehicle on Delhi-Jaipur stretch.

Where are the authorities? The road expansion project was supposed to be completed in 2011. Construction patches and heavy trucks traffic leads to a horrific experience every time.

Reminded of a saying in Hindi/Urdu "Har shakh pe ullu baitha hai, anjam-e-gulistan kya hoga?"

Being from Delhi and working in Jaipur, I drive on the Delhi-Jaipur NH8 stretch quite frequently.

Given the bad condition of the road, I was quite happy to have read this article a few days ago thinking that developer now be forced to complete the expansion work soon or remove toll.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/48780968.cms

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by hangover

I'll tell you a small secret.

When you get to a toll, don't go for the one with smallest queue. Go for the one with least vehicles.
3 trucks will be a longer queue than 9 cars. BUT that's only 3 payments before you get your chance. Plus busses and trucks keep exact change ready in a pouch near the driver. Capeesh?

Good tip ! This is what I usually do, choosing the queue with the least vehicles from a distance. Unless there are dedicated queues for heavy and light vehicles, then I join the shortest car queue.

This is a good order but I still want to know which govt body will ensure that a road is in "good condition".

[swiftdiesel]

Received this on FB. A good initiative.

[mrbaddy]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Received this on FB. A good initiative.

The link provided is not working.

nhai.asia and not nhai.org???

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by 500ContyCruiser

1. How a normal person (with family on-board) is going to fight with Toll operators on day-to-day basis?

2. Absolutely NO speed breakers !!

1. The chap we are dealing with is the booth operator and not the toll franchisee!

2. There was an Allahabad HC Judgement around 1988, but who cares. They have even put up car breakers (aka speed breakers) even on major expressways.

[swiftdiesel]

Originally Posted by mrbaddy

The link provided is not working.

nhai.asia and not nhai.org???

Sorry about the link. Looks like they've changed the address later. This is the central complaints redressal link http://pgportal.gov.in/ and that's where you register your toll road complaint.

[xway]

Hello,

I tried searching for something on this lines and did not find anything
Mods - Please move it to appropriate forum if required.

I have been driving for years but never bothered checking the tolls that one pays during travel.

Off late I have started observing in details on tolls charged and the distance and facilities provided.

Some observations came to me are absolutely shocking -

• Many roads on which tolls are charged are in poor quality or shambles some even worse than non-tolled roads, does not justify paying tolls in such.
  
• Many Tolls have long queues and inadequate infrastructure, if one has to be in queue for half an hour it beats the purpose as within the same time you could be at the place saving you both time and money, it does not justify charging tolls at all in such places.
  
• There are some places where there is no option but only tolled road (there might be some small path or road which would be totally encroached or rendered useless), i mean isnt road tax and other taxes collected to provide roads, tolled roads can be an better option to reach faster but there should be atleast some road to reach a point.
  
• Many tolls charge a flat fee, even if it means you are using only maybe 2-3 kms of the tolled road where as the road might be 20-30 kms, using only 10% but end up paying full toll.
  
• In some cases I have seen paying a very high toll for a very small distance, I know of many examples in such cases, where for a distance of 1km you end up paying more than 50 rupees.
  

I would share some examples below, which I frequent in Delhi NCR region :

Faridabad Toll - For people travelling to Faridabad from Delhi and need to take Faridabad bypass, have to pay Rs. 30 as toll one way. The distance is hardly 2 kms making it a whopping Rs.15/km.
There is a path down the tolled bridge which is full of encroachment, illegally parked vehicles autos buses, markets - making the road unusable.
Strange thing is this encroachment could not be cleared in years due to vote bank politics and finally a bridge was made by the government, for which toll is not justified as there is no usable road left to travel to Faridabad.

Kherki Daula Toll Gurgaon - If you are travelling from Golf Course extension road and joining the NH, you need to pay the toll which is just half a kilometer to the toll, even if you have to just take a U turn to come back or go across the road. This toll however is being considered to be moved away. Still it does not justify paying for it if you have not actually used it.

DND Toll Noida - It has been removed already after court action.


I am sure you too have come across may tolls which take away a big chunk of money from your pocket and removing the smile while travelling due to the unjustified and exorbitant toll charges.

Please feel free to share your toll experiences and suggestions