[carboy]

Originally Posted by carboy

Anyone who has traveled on the Mumbai Pune Expressway recently, is fast tag required for the toll booths or can we pay cash at all the toll booths on the way?

So I went on the Expressway. A friend who was accompanying me said that that you are charged double if you don't have a FastTag (I dislike this policy!).

Anyway, right after crossing the Vashi Toll both, on the left of the street there are several guys on the street selling new Fast tags stickers. They charge 400 Rs for it& it includes 100 Rs deposit & 150 Rs of charge. I got one right there & recharged it will more money before going through the expressway toll booth.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by carboy

So I went on the Expressway. A friend who was accompanying me said that that you are charged double if you don't have a FastTag (I dislike this policy!).

What’s wrong in permanently having FASTag in your car ? It is quite convenient and the money is going to the Government though official channels.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

What’s wrong in permanently having FASTag in your car ? It is quite convenient and the money is going to the Government though official channels.

Nothing wrong in having a Fastag in your car. What is wrong is forcing you to have it & charging double for paying cash. Cash is legal tender issued by the Govt & should be treated as such. Govt themselves cannot penalize someone for using something they have issued. Cash is not a lower grade of payment & shouldn't be given step motherly treatment.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by carboy

Nothing wrong in having a Fastag in your car. What is wrong is forcing you to have it & charging double for paying cash. Cash is legal tender issued by the Govt & should be treated as such. Govt themselves cannot penalize someone for using something they have issued. Cash is not a lower grade of payment & shouldn't be given step motherly treatment.

Nobody is degrading cash or giving step motherly treatment. There are two major reasons for FASTag:
1. Saving time at toll booths (although this may not be the case always)
2. The amount that you pay will go to the Government through right channels and cash fraud can be prevented to a certain extent.

And the reason for penalising the non FASTag car owners is to actually indirectly force them to buy and install a FASTag like how you did.

Since this thread is not about FASTag. I suggest you go though the FASTag thread: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ing-using.html (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

All in all, FASTag will soon be replaced with GPS based toll collection.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

1. Saving time at toll booths (although this may not be the case always)

Indeed.
Travelled to Mumbai some days ago. Got stuck in a queue at the 1st toll naka on Pune side. Apparently one dude was arguing with the booth keeper over the double amount. Due to traffic, there was no way I could switch queues. After almost 15 minutes I got down and went to the offender's car. Others did as well. The only thing which stopped things from getting out of hand was the presence of a lady in his car.

After much chaos and arguments, the cops finally arrived.
Total time lost = 20 minutes.

My appeal to everyone using the Expressway.
Please use FasTag.
If you don't for whatever reason, please don't use the Expressway. You can always take the old highway.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Nobody is degrading cash or giving step motherly treatment.

Charging more if you pay by cash is degrading cash & giving it step motherly treatment.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

There are two major reasons for FASTag:
1. Saving time at toll booths (although this may not be the case always)

Well, it didn't really. The line was similar to before Fastag. That aside, I am willing to pay in time (if at all) - there are so many lanes in the tollboths - keep aside 1 lane for cash payments so no one else is inconvenienced.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

2. The amount that you pay will go to the Government through right channels and cash fraud can be prevented to a certain extent.

All frauds happen in conjunction with the Govt. Nobody defrauds the Govt without the Govt knowing.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

And the reason for penalising the non FASTag car owners is to actually indirectly force them to buy and install a FASTag like how you did.

That's exactly what I am saying - Cash is being given step motherly treatment.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Apparently one dude was arguing with the booth keeper over the double amount. Due to traffic, there was no way I could switch queues. After almost 15 minutes I got down and went to the offender's car. Others did as well. The only thing which stopped things from getting out of hand was the presence of a lady in his car.

Could have been easily avoided with keeping one lane for cash & charging the same amount for cash.

Inside Bombay toll booths are remarkably fast for cash also. My experience isthat cash toll booths in Bombay are usually faster than Fastag booths outside Bombay

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

If you don't for whatever reason, please don't use the Expressway. You can always take the old highway.

Cash is legal tender issued by the Govt.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by carboy

Cash is legal tender issued by the Govt.

Sure.
But the same Govt also says, no cash (legal tender) transactions above 20,000 in certain cases.

https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Bookle...ransaction.pdf

As you can see, there are rules and there is some reasoning behind it, which you might or might not agree.
Don't like it? You are absolutely free to take it up with your local MLA/MLC/MP and get it fixed to your liking on an official level.

In every civilised society, there are rules/laws, which might not be to everyone's liking. (My personal peeve is high taxation on tobacco products.)
But like it or not, one either abides them, or in a democracy gets them modified.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

In every civilised society, there are rules/laws, which might not be to everyone's liking. (My personal peeve is high taxation on tobacco products.)
But like it or not, one either abides them, or in a democracy gets them modified.

+1

Originally Posted by carboy

All frauds happen in conjunction with the Govt. Nobody defrauds the Govt without the Govt knowing.

The tolls in Mumbai and on MPEW are under MSTRC who in-turn gives it to another company to manage and maintain the toll plazas. When cash was being used, there was lot of irregularities. With FASTag most of the process is regularised with the money being routed through regular channels and fraud is negligible.

Inside Bombay toll booths are remarkably fast for cash also. My experience isthat cash toll booths in Bombay are usually faster than Fastag booths outside Bombay

Don’t agree with this. I stay in Bombay and regularly pass through Vashi and Airoli toll plazas. Previous to FASTag being made mandatory, there use to be a long long line although the cash payments were very fast. FASTag has moderately improved the situation and the best part is no interaction with the toll booth operator, a boon in Covid times. And previous to FASTag, there was a MEP pass which was used by persons passing almost everyday from the Mumbai toll plazas.


Three more things I want to add:-
1. FASTag has been made mandatory by the Government, yet many prefer to pay cash. To avoid inconvenience to others, many toll booths still have cash lines because the Government knows that there are going to be many odd people still wanting to pay cash and save tax. Similar example is when the Government was literally crying to link Aadhar with PAN but still many people decided otherwise.
2. They can’t have dedicated FASTag lanes as these would be practically empty when compared to other FASTag lanes and hence cause inconvenience to FASTag abiding citizens.
3. We ought to follow the Law of the Land where we reside. And the Law says FASTag is mandatory, although a loop hole exists where you can pay cash. If you buy a new car today, it will come with a FASTag from the dealer.

Above all this discussion is pointless now, as you have already bought a FASTag and I’m sure you will enjoy using it and realise how useful it is.

[carboy]

I am not arguing on the other points because this is not the right thread for it. However,

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

as you have already bought a FASTag and I’m sure you will enjoy using it and realise how useful it is.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post5497824 (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)


So I am going to apply for a refund a couple of weeks later & remove the Fastag sticker from my car.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

1. Saving time at toll booths (although this may not be the case always)
2. The amount that you pay will go to the Government through right channels and cash fraud can be prevented to a certain extent.

And the reason for penalising the non FASTag car owners is to actually indirectly force them to buy and install a FASTag like how you did.

This is the wrong way to implement the 'desired' mechanism. FastTag should save time, but it hardly does now as almost everyone has the FAstTag and hence we still have queues that may move a bit faster than usual.

However, this is not the way to incentivize FastTag ideally. Simply because there is corruption at toll booths or collection points and many Govt. babus themselves misuse(d) the system, it is the common man who is getting forced to adopt the FastTag.

Most of the tag readers at Mumbai toll booths need a few seconds to read the tag and hence are not really saving any time. Sometimes they don't read it correct either.

Moreover, linking FasTag with the car is also wrong I believe. FastTag should ideally have been like a pre-paid card that can be carried by the car driver in any car.

Nonetheless, we all have taken the FastTag hoping it will make our life easier but it hasn't really.

[raksrules]

I have a route question. For the first time, I will be travelling in my own car on Mumbai Pune Expressway from Mumbai (Borivali) to Pune (Wakad) and back the next day. We want to make a pitstop while returning at the Dinosaur Park in/near Lonavala. I checked the directions on google maps and here is what it suggested...


https://goo.gl/maps/6Eh6F2D6PHjdH6ZG7

You will see that 90% of the road is fine as it tells me to take the expressway but when getting off, it is telling me to take some sort of side road beside the expressway and not a proper road where there would be a toll booth. I am confused by this and feel it is wrong.

I was of the opinion that exit should probably be near center point hotel and not what it shows above.

Additionally, when putting the directions from the Dinosaur park to Borivali(west) I get below..

https://goo.gl/maps/VPNarSNtHQaZoRHv5

This one makes me connect back to expressway after so much more time and I am not comfortable with it. I am sure there is a shorter way to connect to expressway faster, can anyone suggest?

[abhi_tjet]

Originally Posted by raksrules

We want to make a pitstop while returning at the Dinosaur Park in/near Lonavala...

https://goo.gl/maps/6Eh6F2D6PHjdH6ZG7
I was of the opinion that exit should probably be near center point hotel and not what it shows above.

As we generally discuss here, never blindly trust Google . The cutting shown here looks like for the under construction ‘missing link’ project.

You are right about taking exit near Center Point hotel. Take the 1st proper exit to Lonavala which is just after what the your current route suggests. Rest looks ok. You will have to go towards Lonavala- take left from Ramakrishna Hotel and further towards Lonavala city instead of view points route/Amby valley route to reach Dinosaur park.

Additionally, when putting the directions from the Dinosaur park to Borivali(west) I get below..

https://goo.gl/maps/VPNarSNtHQaZoRHv5
. I am sure there is a shorter way to connect to expressway faster, can anyone suggest?

The shortest route to merge in Expressway is come back till Hotel Ramakrishna and take right towards Pune. Take left after crossing the Mapro food park somewhere near Neeta hotel and take the appropriate lane to proceeds towards Mumbai. Hope this helps.

[rakesh_r]

18% eway toll hike to push up fares, from INR 270 to INR 320, one way.
https://epaper.timesgroup.com/articl...010_toipuc_TOI

[RM Motorsports]

18 % hike is a way too much. The expressway is in a mess right now. On many portions of the expressway, there is still work going on. The Lonavala ghat is most of the time chocked up. There is a delay of at least 10-15 minutes at toll plazas, most of the days.

No clue when the "missing link" will be open. Once the "missing link" is open and commuting time is reduced, then I would say that any more toll hike is justified.

[denzdm]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

No clue when the "missing link" will be open. Once the "missing link" is open and commuting time is reduced, then I would say that any more toll hike is justified.

As per the last news I read, its expected to be completed by Dec 2023. The road will connect Khalapur Toll point with Kusgaon, bypassing the entire ghat section of the Expressway.

News source - https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumba...hinde-23254972