[volkman10]

Minister announces FASTag-based annual pass priced at Rs 3,000, effective from 15th August 2025.

[nettooran]

In a major development, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has announced a new yearly pass for Fastags. This development has been confirmed by Nitin Gadkari, through his official X (formerly Twitter) handle.

https://www.financialexpress.com/aut...stags/3884240/


https://x.com/nitin_gadkari/status/1935233211480854812

[inder]

Thats excellent news for frequent highway travellers like me. Lets wait for the fineprint now.

[myavu]

Can somebody define the trip mentioned above?

200 trips

Or can we cross a toll plaza 200 times?

Is there anything in India defined in layman's terms?

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by inder

Thats excellent news for frequent highway travellers like me. Lets wait for the fineprint now.

Right , in the finer print they will decide what is the definition of a "Trip"
If 1 Trip = 1 pass through the Tollgate its a win win ...
Or
they can come up with some smart ass ideas like 1 Trip = Rs 25/-
So if the Toll amount is Rs 100/- it will count as 4 Trips

[codezilla]

Originally Posted by nettooran

In a major development, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has announced a new yearly pass for Fastags. This development has been confirmed by Nitin Gadkari, through his official X (formerly Twitter) handle.

https://www.financialexpress.com/aut...stags/3884240/


https://x.com/nitin_gadkari/status/1935233211480854812

Great news indeed! ₹15 per trip for 200 annual trips is solid value for regular highway users. Really hoping the major expressways are covered under this too—would make those pricey runs a lot more economical.

That said, I do wonder if this will also lead to more congestion on routes that usually have higher tolls, since this yearly pass might encourage more traffic there.

Also, whatever happened to the proposed lifetime toll pass? Haven’t heard any updates on that in a while.

[Bane214]

What would happen to the parking charges deduction at every mall parking. Will that also count as 1 trip of the allotted 200. Or would that get deducted from the normal balance like business as usual.

[Bane214]

This topic discussion is already ongoing on another thread (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

Mods: Please merge this to the ongoing Fastag thread

[SR-71]

A simpler way to implement this would be to distinguish between fast tag at toll plazas and private usage like parking malls and cap deduction at toll plazas to Rs.3,000/- per year. Regular deduction will happen until you hit the 3000 cap and beyond that, it will be zero for that year (can be CY or FY) and rest back at the start of the next yearly cycle. However, usage at locations like mall parking will be regular deduction per the prescribed charge at the location.

[Illuminati]

I hope this really covers all the roads (highways & expressways) instead of having fine prints and excluding major routes.

If it is as simple as it sounds, that will be great for all of us, currently I pay close to 3000 for a return trip from work place to home town visit.

[rroy92]

source link : https://x.com/nitin_gadkari/status/1935233211480854812

[MyLife_MyCar]

The minister's post also states:

By reducing wait times, easing congestion, and minimizing disputes at toll plazas, the Annual Pass aims to deliver a faster and smoother travel experience for millions of private vehicle owners.

Could someone please elaborate how this will ease the congestion? Vehicles will still have to pass via the tollgate where the scanner will scan the tag.

I understand it will minimize the no. of instances of low balance tags which get stuck at the gate and have to pay cash, but what is the percentage of such tags among the sea of vehicles?

What I have observed as the reasons of congestion at tollgates:

• Scanner is unable to read the tag and tollgate employee has to manually do it.
• Scanner is slow to read and record a transaction.
• Location of scanner is not standardized, i.e., each toll gate has placed it as per their convenience - sometimes too close to the barrier, sometimes a little away from the barrier. Even the position is not fixed - mostly it is mounted on the ceiling, a few times it is placed on a pole close to the barrier. As a result, the drivers have to move the vehicle back and forth for the scanner to be able to read it.
• Drivers who seek an exemption on whatever govt. ID they possess. This often leads to some discussion between the driver and tollgate employee leading to a queue buildup (is there a dedicated lane for vehicles seeking exemption?).
• Lot of vendors selling food/drinks/toys etc. If people in a car decide to buy one, they will hold up the line, again leading to the queue buildup.

I'll exclude the lane discipline and drivers trying to jump the queue.

Anyway, how exactly is this annual fastag going to reduce the wait time and ease the congestion?

[Way2Jimny]

I would not celebrate until I get to see the full details. I feel 3000rs is for every toll plaza.

[AnkitShroff]

A wonderful news. Now, we just need to wait for the fine print.

While some questions arise on whether or not the pass will be valid for expressways and state highways etc., I am a little more concerned if the local toll booth (<20 or so kms from the registered address of the car), which allows for unlimited monthly travel at a very meagre price, will be counted in the ration of 200 trips, as for travellers crossing such tolls frequently, the limit of 200 trips will exhaust pretty soon.

[kadanaJ]

I am extremely skeptical for the following reasons:

1. ₹3000/year to go through any toll plaza does not make economic sense for the government, especially one that seems intent on taxing the maximum amount possible from us well-off car owners. I reside in Mumbai and the most common tolls I go through are the Bandra-Worli Sealink (₹100 one-way, ₹150 return), Atal Setu (₹250 one-way) and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway (₹320 to Pune). If I go through the Bandra-Worli Sea-Link and return everyday I will recover my entire annual cost in 20 days of travel! If I was someone who used it for work every day (assume 220 days of working), the government would today be collecting ₹33,000 of annual revenue from me. The government forgoing ₹30,000 of annual revenue per daily commuter comes under my definition of "too good to be true"
   
   
2. It is mentioned that this is valid for 200 trips. That seems unfair. Someone traveling through the Atal Setu everyday would reap tremendous benefits versus someone who travels through a ₹40 toll-plaza. Different roads have different tolls for a reason (distance, cost of construction which may be higher for sea bridges, etc.)
   
   
3. This news is based off a tweet by the honourable transport minister Nitin Gadkariji, who is known for making sensational statements and causing confusion. If I were to go by his tweets, I am filling E20 petrol in my E10 compliant Baleno. Petrol pumps do not seem to be transparently indicating if we are filling E20 petrol. There is so much confusion regarding what % of ethanol is in regular petrol is that even those of us on this forum don't have any real idea of what fuel we are putting in our vehicles, we're all just crossing our fingers and hoping our older vehicles don't internally corrode.
   
   
4. Logically, what is even the purpose of having toll-plazas any more? Just charge every car owner ₹3000/year for owning and using their vehicles. It will have the same net result. The entire concept of tolls is essentially replaced with an fixed annual subscription charge regardless of your km usage.

Just to be clear, I will be extremely happy if this pass is real. It's not that I don't want such an annual pass. I just don't believe this news is real.

I'll only believe it when I get my hands on it (and trust me, I will be applying on day one along with everyone else). There are some things that make little sense, and also seem too good to be true, and this is one of them.