[gomzi]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thane and Navi Mumbai traffic department will start issuing e-challan for traffic offenders on the spot. Armed with Android phones and printers, the e-challan will be issued through a printed receipt in place of the previous hand written ones. This initiative will be applicable for other Commissionerates from July 1 2015. Will this reduce the haggling which follows when a traffic offender is caught, waits to be seen.

While this is a good move, considering the amount of traffic offenders who break rules and get away with it under the nose of the traffic police especially at large signals such as at Teen hath naka, I think the money could have been better utilized to improve policing reach.
A better bang-for-buck could have been cameras at signals which record such signal jumping cases and send the challans directly to the offenders residence with a deadline for payment or else risk a visit from the police to your house.
The frequency with which rules (and signals in particular) are broken and the sheer number of offenders make it an enormous, almost impossible task for the police to catch these daily offenders efficiently by increasing manpower. Most times the thane police just seem to give up this futile task and watch the proceedings.

Another pet peeve is the kind of planning that the TMC has done by placing a large mall right next to a major hospital, both on a narrow service lane. The number of visitors to the mall clog up the entire lane on weekends affecting traffic to the hospital as well. What were they thinking?!?

[ghodlur]

News about the about to be started Kamothe toll has been vandalized by a political party group. Every time I used to pas this toll, I would be alarmed whether I would be asked to pay for the toll and heave a sigh of relief when I breeze through those toll sections. Totally unaware that the toll was about to start since yesterday.

In a vehement protest against the toll collection being started at the new toll plazas at Kharghar and Kamothe with effect from midnight of January 6, a convoy of MNS activists of the transport wing while passing the Kamothe toll plaza vandalized some of the toll booths.

The incident occured on Tuesday around 4.45am wherein a convoy of seven cars with around 30 MNS activists damaged the toll booths of Kamothe toll naka on the Panvel lane. The convoy broke the glass shield of the booths and sped away before the police team arrived at the spot. However, the toll plaza staff, who were caught unawares immediately vacated the booths upon spotting the mob of protestors and watched the vandalism helplessly.

The controversial toll plaza on the Sion-Panvel road started functioning on Monday midnight.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45771415.cms

[TMRT]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

News about the about to be started Kamothe toll has been vandalized by a political party group. Every time I used to pas this toll, I would be alarmed whether I would be asked to pay for the toll and heave a sigh of relief when I breeze through those toll sections. Totally unaware that the toll was about to start since yesterday.







http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45771415.cms

I can't express how much grief this is causing me being a frequent Pune traveller. Within less than 30 km we are going to have to pay tolls twice. Vashi and Kharghar. When this new one is indeed termed Panvel Sion expressway then why have toll at the decades old Vashi bridge? This bridge should be transferred to the people now as per the BOT norms? I have no data to support this but my hunch tells me this bridge is fully paid for by now!

Ain't this flouting one more norm of not having two toll booths within 70km?

Hey who cares for the commuters, let those moolah flow in.

[manas27587]

Isnt it the same harassment for the last so many years where residents from Borivali Kandivali have been paying 2 tolls to go to Thane?

If toll collection is indeed the intention why not make it a flat ₹10 for all cars and increase the tolls on heavy vehicles by 10%.
One observation I made is the amount I paid on my last trip to Gir;
The amount I paid on the Maharashtra side was more than double of what I paid on Gujarat side.

Again today morning the Times of india flyover was closed North bound creating a Havoc for everyone .

No planning , no intimations what the hell is being planned!

[mahesh_sn]

Originally Posted by TMRT

I can't express how much grief this is causing me being a frequent Pune traveller. Within less than 30 km we are going to have to pay tolls twice. Vashi and Kharghar. When this new one is indeed termed Panvel Sion expressway then why have toll at the decades old Vashi bridge? This bridge should be transferred to the people now as per the BOT norms? I have no data to support this but my hunch tells me this bridge is fully paid for by now!

Over and above this, this toll is already causing huge traffic snarls at the toll booth. So you take half an hour from Sion to Kharghar and waste anothe half an hour at the toll booth.
These Mumbai entry point tolls are not going out anytime before 2027 as per toll contracts made in 1997 to compensate for approx. Rs. 2000 Cr spent on 55 flyovers in Mumbai. I was watching local Marathi news yesterday where they said that the toll contractor has already recovered ~4600 Cr since 1997 and the toll still continues.
Btw people from Thane to Koparkhairne can avoid the toll via Kalwa/Mhape-Shilphata-Taloja route.

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by TMRT

I can't express how much grief this is causing me being a frequent Pune traveller. Within less than 30 km we are going to have to pay tolls twice. Vashi and Kharghar. When this new one is indeed termed Panvel Sion expressway then why have toll at the decades old Vashi bridge? This bridge should be transferred to the people now as per the BOT norms? I have no data to support this but my hunch tells me this bridge is fully paid for by now!

Ain't this flouting one more norm of not having two toll booths within 70km?

Hey who cares for the commuters, let those moolah flow in.

Totally agree with you man!!! I have mentioned this in another post too ... we as residents of Navi Mumbai have to pay toll if we have to get into Mumbai (Vashi Toll) or if we have to get out of Mumbai (Kamothe Toll).
The Vashi toll has been there for decades ... there is no justification for it to be kept running. You can go to any other state and you will find so many bridges, roads etc. without any tolls or the toll iteself is not too high.
Here in Maharashtra, it is really a big pain paying so high tolls. Problem is that there is no clear alternatives!!

[amit]

I understand MH-46 & MH-06 registration cars are exempt from the Kharghar toll. Why can't MH-43 cars be exempt from the Vashi toll then?

Regarding the Kharghar toll, let's not forget that apart from toll there is also a flat 1 rupee mark up on petrol & diesel for toll collection from what I know. India is the only country where roads are widened to speed up vehicular traffic and then the government puts up a toll plaza to slow down the traffic! Considering the havoc being caused by this new toll plaza I shudder to think what would happen once the new airport gets operational. The new government came announcing closure of many toll's and revamp of toll collection policy. Nothing of that sort happened, in fact new toll plaza's started. I know it's the court order but surely govt can revise the toll policy to make it simpler and faster to collect tolls.

[Dodge_Viper]

This entire toll thing is a big scam 101%. And what I heard from news, the company which constructed this toll is closer to 'certain' political party. Hence I highly doubt if this toll is stopped unless there is a mass agitation by people. There is absolutely no transparency in toll collection amount. Where does all this money go? Imagine a person who needs to go to Borivli from Vashi. He has to pay Airoli toll+Mulund toll+Ghodbunder toll+Dahisar toll. 4 tolls just to roam around in this city?

[mahesh_sn]

Originally Posted by amit

I understand MH-46 & MH-06 registration cars are exempt from the Kharghar toll. Why can't MH-43 cars be exempt from the Vashi toll then?

MH-06 (Pen, Raigad) is out of question. Even from MH-46, only five villages surrounding the toll plaza are exempt from toll, that too after paying a one time charge of Rs 150. These villages include Kalamboli, Panvel, Kamothe, Kopra and Kharghar. These are supposedly within a 5 km radius of toll plaza. This logic should also be applied to other Mumbai tolls.

I know it's the court order

Government has promptly acted on this particular court order. There are many other court orders (on other general matters) that are falling on deaf ears in the Government machinery. Court has been reprimanding State Government from time to time on failure to act on its orders.

[Aston Singh]

Another toll !! The last thing we needed was another toll causing massive traffic jams right after entering Mumbai. Drove down yesterday from Pune, usually I prefer to drive down Sat early morning only to avoid Friday evening madness.

Good 15 mins wasted on this new toll, not to forget 35 bucks that no one knows where it's going! Can someone please explain as to why there are 2 toll plazas to enter Mumbai.

What is Mumbai providing us that requires us to pay tolls - is it the 1-1.5 hours traffic jam at western expressway everyday or is it the superb condition of Mumbai's roads where every 10 meters are paved differently.!

A journey that is done in usually 2 hours took me 4 hours last evening. And by the end of it my knees were killing me thanks to the standstill traffic where I had to drive in 1st gear for at least 45 mins!

At times, I really wonder how people travel to work everyday in such conditions. More than anything else, it's mental torture to an extreme level.

[djpeesh]

The toll is legal, however much we hate it. The problem begins when the state government outsources it's own responsibility to a selected private company. Almost all the toll booths in Maharashtra belong to this one company, figure out why. That company bids for the projects and is usually the only bidder as a number of road builders don't want to or are disqualified from building the project. The contractor names his price and then he gets the contract, part of which gets kickbacked to the sarkaar.
Toll road gets built slowly, missing deadlines along the way, and then toll begins to be collected. And it doesn't stop being collected ever, even after the concession period

If you want change, get into politics and clean up the system. Us complaining on forums won't go anywhere.

[Alvord12]

Originally Posted by Aston Singh

Another toll !! The last thing we needed was another toll causing massive traffic jams right after entering Mumbai. Drove down yesterday from Pune, usually I prefer to drive down Sat early morning only to avoid Friday evening madness.
.
.
.
At times, I really wonder how people travel to work everyday in such conditions. More than anything else, it's mental torture to an extreme level.

I drive bi-weekly from Balewadi to Borivali and last Friday (9th Jan), I left Balewadi at about 8:30 PM, kept a constant 70 Kmph to purposely reach home late. Reached Kharghar by 10:30 and there was a long queue... at 10:30 in the night!

I wasted about 20 minutes in toll traffic before reaching the Western Express Highway at 11:50, and guess what, even more traffic from Goregaon to Kandivali!

With the way things are going, I'm guessing that the only way to avoid traffic on the Mumbai-Pune route is if you leave late from Pune, like at 10:00 PM or later.

[Octane_Power]

Hello fellow Bombay'ites.. Was headed to town early this morning from Malad where I came across this utter stupid move by officials (I don't know whom to blame for this complete bull **** move, is it the traffic cops, road works, I don't know).

Just as the W-Exp Aarey flyover ends(south bound) the have placed these delineators to demarcate the right most from other lanes. I just don't get the purpose of placing these delineators here. They serve purpose at places like Kherwadi junction where they want you to be in the right most lane if you want to take a right from the signal. But in this case, there is no signal/junction ahead which calls for such lane demarcation...

My main worry regarding this is motorists who might be unaware of these dumb delineators might bang into them while changing lanes, because come on, no one expects such a lane demarcation right in the middle of the highway. It might even claim the life of an unaware biker, who would try to switch lanes but would be in for a surprise because the delieantors would be out of his sight because of the vehicle in front.

Or is there some other purpose for which they have been installed?

-Bhargav

[ghodlur]

People approaching Powai from Easter Express highway, kindly take extra precaution while driving on the Kanjurmarg flyover coz the road is being re carpeted and there are no signs to tell that. One has to suddenly slow down to cross the excavated road which has lots of small potholes and chances of small stones flying around is expected. Be careful when one drives this stretch.

[ghodlur]

Some good news for Mumbaikars in the comings days/years esp for people commuting regularly on the Eastern Express highway.

The notorious Chedda nagar signal is up for decongestion. MMRDA has taken up the traffic jam prone signal for decongestion and plans to build two flyovers and an elevated road at the cost of 200+ cr. The flyovers include the one coming from Sion to Thane adjacent to the existing 3 lane flyover and one coming from Navi Mumbai side towards Thane. Also there is a plan to connect the Chedda nagar junction flyover to amar Mahal junction through an elevated road.

There is a serious requirement of a similar adjacent 3 lane flyover at the Powai junction signal which authorities have been ignoring for quite some time now.

Details in the link as below:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45860366.cms