[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

And finally... MoU has been signed and they have a launch date as well...

FasTag on NICE Road to put an end to long queues - Link


Attachment 2230161

We have heard this many times before, so will believe only after it is launched!!
BTW what is 'fasttag smart card' that is mentioned in the article? Hope it is not something like the existing e-pay card

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

And finally... MoU has been signed and they have a launch date as well...

FasTag on NICE Road to put an end to long queues - Link

How many times have we heard this before. Second week of November started from yesterday and neither yesterday nor today did I find fastag enabled. I had to pay cash.

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

How many times have we heard this before. Second week of November started from yesterday and neither yesterday nor today did I find fastag enabled. I had to pay cash.

Looks like they are working on resolving technical glitches. Hopefully will start in couple of days. "Relief For Bengaluru Commuters As NICE Expressway Will Shift To FASTag Beginning Second Week Of November" https://swarajyamag.com/amp/story/news-brief%2Frelief-for-bengaluru-commuters-as-nice-expressway-will-shift-to-fastag-beginning-second-week-of-november

[hemanth.anand]

Today is the start of the third week of November and Today morning too there was no Fastag option on NICE road

[condor]

Originally Posted by shamanth

Looks like they are working on resolving technical glitches. Hopefully will start in couple of days.

The booth operators have been saying that since long. Its more likely that the company doesnt want to lose control of the collections and also reveal the actual number of vehicles use the road.

[Rajeevraj]

I drove through yesterday and not even a hint of FASTAG. The counters saying it is mandatory are there though

[sandsun7]

when asked about fastag, one of the operators said they have been doing testing since a few weeks and except Bannerghatta road exit, all other exits it is working fine. He mentioned they are redesigning the Bannerghatta exit/entrance post which they may start. I am not sure how much truth is there in this though as we have heard many versions about why no fastag yet in the past.
Anyone using Bannerghatta entrance/exit could confirm whether any such work is happening there?

[paragsachania]

In all these discussions, I like that excitement from us BHPians to experience something that we already have since last 5 years on other roads but here's a road that perhaps has the worst road design, laziest of toll booth staff and expensive too and then remains the last to get fastag implemented.

I expect the media, both print and electronic to publish the news in front page with all the gung-ho soon after Fastag is implemented making it appear that this is the first time in India, we have Fastag, just like they did when NICE got CCTV cameras installed at the toll booth gates and one of the newspapers mentioned that to be first in India .

[SNayak]

Took the Nice road from Neelmangla to Bannerghatta last Saturday and the worst experience in my entire journey from Mumbai to Bangalore. Huge queue and took solid 30 mins to just pay the toll. Totally mismanaged and not at all a good experience with such high charges. Things would have been much better if they would have FastTag in place

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Anyone using Bannerghatta entrance/exit could confirm whether any such work is happening there?

They have redesigned the Bannerghatta road exit(from Hosur road)/entry towards Mysore/Tumkur road(from BG road). This is to allow the bigger vehicles to make a wide turn while entering the NICE road towards Mysore/Tumkur road. Also, the earlier exit lane /toll counter is now part of the entry and for exit toll counter, they have constructed a separate one.

This is the new exit booth

[jkrishnakj]

It’s hard to understand how they creatively keep coming up with some reason or the other for not implementing this.

The drives in NICE are really stressful these days. Even trucks have started using the left most lane to overtake, pushing away the 2 wheelers or pulling them into the middle/fast lanes.

Saturday/Sundays are even worse. We see many folks stop on the side for selfies and god knows what.

Last Saturday, there was an accident towards B’Ghata side, and I guess this hapenned right after the Kanakpura exit. Since I exited, I’m not sure what the issue was, but I could see a very very long queue of vehicles.

There is atkeast one accident or some incident that keeps happening on this road. I suspect if those are even reported as part of the NH accident/fatality statistics. I’ve not seen any report of incidents that’s NICE exclusive either.

Overall, NICE is what I would term as a ‘Loot’.

[sagarpadaki]

Absolutely a loot! Except for the concrete section between the Link road and Clover leaf, which is laid very well, the sections with tar road are pathetic. Too much patch work due to erosion of top bitumen layer due to rains. I remember they had re-laid the entire stretch from Kanakapura road till ECity somehwere in the early 2020 and I see that the top layer is eroded and patch work has been done in many places already. They are planning to resurface again some sections between Kanakapura road and Bannerghata road since I saw the medians filled with dried tar to allow vehicles to migrate to the opposite lane while they perform repair.

I wonder when our NH's which handle far more traffic volume last much longer even with heavy rains, why the NICE road surface wears off so frequently? Being a private company, I cannot think of corruption and using sub standard materials that is causing this erosion.

For me, the NICE road is a convenience to reach from one part of the city to another part without traversing through the city. The expensive toll and bad road surface are things which I have decided to live with for the convenience aspect. Hope they start the fastag ASAP. The queues at ECity and Nelamangala toll during peak hours and weekends are absurd!

[autocool]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Except for the concrete section between the Link road and Clover leaf, which is laid very well, the sections with tar road are pathetic. Too much patch work due to erosion of top bitumen layer due to rains.

Very true, I drive from Clover leaf to Tumkur Road frequently and it is an unpleasant driving experience in spite of paying such high tolls. One has to zig-zag to avoid the pot holes or those uneven sections.
A while ago (as a sign of protest), I had started using the ORR to get to Tumkur Road. But these days even the ORR condition is bad due to white topping at certain junctions.

[mpksuhas]

Drove through on Saturday, as others mentioned, no sign of Fastag implementation.

However, between Bannerghatta road & Mysore road, noticed temporary road being constructed between two carriageway. Guess they will start relaying of road soon.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by autocool

I had started using the ORR to get to Tumkur Road. But these days even the ORR condition is bad due to white topping at certain junctions.

Slightly OT: Depending upon which part of Tumkur road you are heading to, I feel NICE PES exit- ORR - Gorguntepalaya (bypass signal by taking left near modern bread factory) indeed would be a better option. The entire stretch of ORR from Nayandahalli underpass to Rajkumar samadhi is now white-topped and traffic flows freely in this stretch.
This is my daily route from office near Art of living ashram to home near Hebbal. I typically take 25-30 minutes from Kanakapura toll to Modern bread factory during evening hours.