[abirnale]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Apologies to everyone for misleading!

No no, its good that you brought this up and we have some views, information for everyone to educate. While the Fastag continues to be slowest tag, these rules needs to be formulated/ implemented anyway if not today... may be in near future.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Thank you Abirnale!! Apologies to everyone for misleading!

Not really. In fact there are some protocols the booths have to follow and meet the SLAs too, else they are bound to free up the booth and allow seamless flow of traffic.

However, not each one of us is aware of this. Hence, I was referring to the signage/board put up at the 2 booths on the way to Bangalore where they refer to vehicle queue length.

I also recall Khedshivpur Toll Plaza near Pune had to be thrown open and traffic let go for free when the jam was super long and it became a mess. This was only 2 or 3 years back.

And the article you posted cannot be termed as Hoax if you happen to read this news article that is also referring to 3 minutes wait time:

FLOODED WITH complaints from commuters over long queues and stranded vehicles at the Khed Shivapur toll booth on National Highway 4, a team of Revenue Officials inspected the toll on Saturday and Sunday, only to find that with “strict monitoring” the traffic can be easily streamlined —with each vehicle passing through the toll plaza in exactly three minutes.

So the 3 minutes of waiting time rule holds good but not everyone is aware of this.

The district administration had decided to act tough so that the toll collecting agencies strictly implement the waiting period of three minutes, besides the 10 seconds to pay the toll, collect the receipt and drive on. “We will ensure that this becomes the standard procedure. We will be collating the data obtained on Saturday and Sunday, and instructions will be given to the NHAI officials and toll plaza to follow the three-minute time strictly along with other recommendations,’’ said District Collector Saurabh Rao

And here's more interesting and rather convincing report that relates your article on free passage that is assumed to be Hoax. May be the authorities wants to play safe because such posts take minimum time to get viral and then the social media is a great catalyst to ignite fires and play around with public sentiments as we keep seeing.

Rao had earlier warned that if the toll plaza officials are found to be not following the norms, then stringent action would be taken against them. It would become imperative for them to not charge the passenger if they did not adhere to the norms, he had said. The team held the inspection during weekends as there is major rush during that time. ‘With the weekend seeing many commuters returning from Mahabaleshwar, we decided to hold the drive at both the toll plazas on these days,’’ he said.

Source

In reality, such an arrangement does exist regarding waiting time and the subsequent action in case the booth staff doesn't meet the SLAs. I seriously hope this one doesn't die down.

At one place we talk about conserving fuel but imagine the amount of fuel wasted during waiting time at the toll booths. Truckers association had even come up with some novel idea to pay a huge sum (2000 Cr) every year to the authorities in return for toll free roads.

TAKE RS 20,000 CR FROM US AND SHUT TOLL BOOTHS, TRUCKERS TELL GOVT

[earthian]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Attachment 1658088

Originally Posted by abirnale

Attachment 1658099

So which is right? Are we missing something here?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by earthian

So which is right? Are we missing something here?

Nothing is wrong. That is for sure.

But what is right is not something most of us know even though that's our right and this discussion and those news bits only hint at the sad state of affairs where we mango men are paying a huge toll for the toll

As I said, the wait time of 3 minutes is something that is fixed but not implemented across. The Authorities are shaken and stirred when there are mass complaints/grievances and then they take up the survey and again whisper into the years of the booth staff the same lines which they are otherwise supposed to follow - To ensure wait times do no cross 3 minutes.

However, just because you waited for 3m30s seconds doesn't entitle you to get a free passage and the tweet that Abirnale shared only tries to tell the same that don't take 3 minute rule too seriously!

[earthian]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Nothing is wrong. That is for sure.

However, just because you waited for 3m30s seconds doesn't entitle you to get a free passage and the tweet that Abirnale shared only tries to tell the same that don't take 3 minute rule too seriously!

NHAI would have, whilst issuing the RFP or while finalising, stipulated that the number of booths be so provided so as to ensure the traffic does not have to wait for more than 3 minutes. The above statement is my hope and not firm knowledge.
The concessionaire would like to maximise his/her profits and hence keep operating expenses down by employing less staff and having less booths. Again, this is my conjecture.

If the above statements turn out to be true and taking into account the response from NHAI to the RTI query, it does seem so; then the tweet is wrong. Except of course if the RTI response was for that particular road/section/State- which is also possible since RFPs of tenders keep on evolving.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by earthian

The concessionaire would like to maximise his/her profits and hence keep operating expenses down by employing less staff and having less booths. Again, this is my conjecture.

Makes complete sense and I agree with you.

Without naming the states through which certain National highways pass and I have driven umpteen times, while a certain state employs just one man per lane, there is another state with 3 people per lane : One collecting the money, the one inside printing the receipt and the 3rd one next to the window handing over the balance and the receipt and while this happens, the first person would have already walked 3 steps to collect money from the vehicle behind. That's called being efficient.

Not to mention Mumbai where Toll booth staff is smart enough (along with the drivers) to identify the currency note the driver is displaying as he approaches near the booth and he passes this message to the fella inside and he fetches his hand out with a receipt and the right change. It has worked reasonably faster every time I have passed Mumbai for Thane and beyond from Panvel. And most of the time this transaction is complete while your wheels are still spinning without coming to complete halt.

And I somehow would blindly trust that response for the RTI query as there is nothing unusual that one need not believe: I am sure certain waiting time would have been stipulated and if that is not adhered to, let the vehicles pass without paying; However, the biggest catch is that the commuters were always left in dark regarding such a simple rule & that is the reason why we are all discussing this here .

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by NaXal

I guess the issue will go political if they try to implement toll on two wheeler.

But here in Kolkata, the Vidyasagar Setu (2nd hoogly bridge) do collect toll on two wheelers.

When did this start ? I never paid on 2 wheeler. The left lane was open for 2 wheelers.

[earthian]

There are enough solutions to solve this issue, if one would like to. Even periodic audit by the NHAI can do this. And i am sure that there would be periodic audits. However, we in India are cursed by the evils of corruption, bad management and ignorance ( of the users/customers/clients) and hence such issues continue till they reach their levels of intolerance.

@paragsachania:

Without naming the states through which certain National highways pass and I have driven umpteen times...

Why not name them? That is one way of making them take remedial action.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by earthian

@paragsachania:

Why not name them? That is one way of making them take remedial action.

Reason is simple - This should not take the turn of "my state better than yours" or "it happens elsewhere too" type debates.

Learning how to be efficient is not something new when it comes to toll booth.

If at all there is a remedial action we expect, that has to come from the central agencies and applicable across all the highway toll booths.

[NaXal]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

When did this start ? I never paid on 2 wheeler. The left lane was open for 2 wheelers.

Not sure when but as far as I can remember, since 2008, I have always paid Rs. 5/- toll for two wheeler on that bridge.

[Eddy]

Since this turned out to be a hoax, closing thread.

[GTO]

Thanks to paragsachania & parsh for sharing this article.

Tribune India

Re-opening thread.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks to paragsachania & parsh for sharing this article.

Tribune India

Re-opening thread.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Since this turned out to be a hoax, closing thread.

Thanks for re-opening the thread.
I was in Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon a few years ago for a senior management certificate course training. My Professor (Prof (Dr) S.K. Chatterjee) while taking a class, spoke about the findings of his research scholar. This researcher was working on highway toll tax management and would spend a lot of time collecting data on the spot. The focus fell on the Gurgaon Toll Tax collection centre, that falls on the National Highway connecting Delhi to Jaipur. About 1.25 lakh motor vehicles passed to and fro through this collection centre then (2011). It was then run by an ex-serviceman. The researcher could get his data and also the terms of reference that the successful bidder had to honour. It said that if the waiting time is more than 3 minutes or "n" number (I forgot this number ) of vehicles are waiting in the queue, the contractor (successful bidder) will have to open the gates to allow movement of the entire lot, without collecting any toll.

The researcher questioned the contractor and his men about this clause that was not being followed sensu stricto at the toll collection centre. They told him to keep shut or else ???

Hence, the NHAI has the prescribed set of guidelines that go into the tenders and have to be honoured by successful bidders. As is illustrated in the case above, such guidelines are not followed by contractors.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by GTO

this article.

Tribune India

Re-opening thread.

Thanks GTO! This thread indeed needs to be discussed by most of us as it refers to something which we have either been totally oblivious about or way too complacent and killing time waiting at the booths.

In fact, if the Tribune Article that I referred earlier dates back to year 2015, here is another article from today's TOI which clearly confirms the fact that such an RTI query was indeed requested.

RTI REPLY No toll if your wait is over 3 minutes: NHAI

The next time your wait at a toll booth exceeds three minutes, you could drive right through without paying.

In what must come as music to the ears of lakhs of hassled commuters across the country, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told an RTI applicant that there was a provision for free passage if the waiting time at a toll booth was more than three minutes. The RTI query was filed by advocate Hariom Jindal from Ludhiana. “I filed the RTI as I experienced long delays in paying toll while travelling on NH1 between Ludhiana and Delhi and also between Chandigarh and Ambala at different places and on various occasions,“Jindal told TOI over the phone. “I used to get frustrated and I used to argue with the staff, but they never gave me a proper reply to redress my grievance of endless waits. If a person is made to wait before the toll plaza for an hour or 30 minutes, the very purpose of having such tolled roads is defeated. I thought I should do something about it and filed an RTI.“

“Based on that provision, I used to record a video during such waits, show the video and the RTI reply to toll booth personnel and they allowed me to pass without paying toll.“ Jindal received the reply in August last year but put it out on social media recently to inform others .

And here's something that the same article refers to the state of affairs in the state of Karnataka, especially Booths within (or around) Bangalore, where they say if this rule is followed, how there will be loss to the Govt as they quite easily ignore the amount of precious time and fuel wasted due to such inordinate delays.

YV Prasad, chief general manager of NHAI-Karnataka said it was up to the ministry to reply. Y Rajeev Reddy , former chief gener al manager of NHAI-Karnataka said: “As per NHAI rules, we should not collect toll from a vehicle which has been waiting in queue at a toll plaza for more than three minutes. But in cities like Bengaluru, we do not get enough land to have more toll booths at any toll plaza, so the queues are more than three minutes. But we are unable to follow the rule.The concessionaire charges toll from all vehicles which have waited for more than three minutes because if it does not, it will be a loss to the government.

And then, the same report also mentions how easily one can pass the buck on the hapless commuters hinting at unusual wait times at a Toll Plaza near Mangalore on Bangalore-Mangalore National Highway

Rule doesn't apply'

The Brahmarakootlu toll booth on NH75 near BC Road is plagued by delays since there are only two lanes on the busy Mangaluru-Bengaluru highway but the three-minute toll rule would not apply, NHAI said.“The inconvenience is due to land acquisition problems. We will soon acquire land to make provision for another lane. That rule does not apply due to insufficient number of lanes being present,“ NHAI project director Vijay Kumar said.

[Bageera]

Has there been another change regarding "No toll if your wait is over 3 minutes: NHAI" ? Was discussing about this at office and came across the below article
http://www.financialexpress.com/indi...h-rule/772126/

The above article says:
The National Highways Authority of India has issued a clarification stating that no such rule allowing exemption from paying toll charges because of time taken exists. The clarification, shared with FE Online states, “there is no specific exemption applicable relating to either time taken or distance of queuing of vehicles at Plaza, as part of transaction. As such, it is clarified that there is no provision of exemption to User Fee in case time taken for crossing the plaza is more than 3 minutes”.