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Old 8th August 2016, 22:20   #496
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
Worked perfectly for me a short while back. This time I drove in at only 20 km/hr - don't know if that did the trick or have they repaired the automatic boom.

Funnily enough, a large group of NHAI / Navayuga officials were staring at me from the exit side; I think they were waiting for a FASTag vehicle for quite some time :-) to see actual operation of the boom.

One of them even tried to stop me probably because my tag is on the right side, and he maybe thought I had somehow conned the reader and making my escape.....

Needless to say I have not been charged!
My experience is different. The boom barrier does not open automatically.

Please see video below of my transit through the toll this evening. The audio from the toll staff at the end of the video is probably explains why each of us have a different experience.

The speed in the video appears to be faster than actual speed. Refer the speed readout at the bottom of the video for the actual values.


Last edited by adnaps : 8th August 2016 at 22:22. Reason: Correction
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Old 9th August 2016, 09:16   #497
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

Sorry if I sound stupid.
How does the Toll Plaza know whether I want one way (Single Journey) pass or Two way (Return Journey) pass?
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Old 9th August 2016, 09:33   #498
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Originally Posted by adnaps View Post
My experience is different. The boom barrier does not open automatically.

The speed in the video appears to be faster than actual speed.
Thanks, my experience is the same as yours. It works randomly for me on different days and it is VERY irritating.

From the IHMCL website:

It is clear that the tag authenticating and validating action takes place at the arch at the very entrance to the FASTag lane, i.e. Transceiver 1. The RFID is read once it is charged up by the radios located here.

Success at this point will activate Traffic Light 1 (TL1) followed by sequential greens at TL2 & TL3. If TL1 does not light up then the rest will certainly not. In my experience, the erratic behaviour tends to happen at T1 where the tag is simply not identified at all.

Transceiver 2 located at the toll booth itself actually does the ETC transaction. At Devanahalli, T2 is obviously not working as I have not been charged even after 13+ trips!

Will try my luck later today or tomorrow and re-post. On a side note, they should remove the irritating speed-breakers inside the FASTag lane, i.e. the 2 adjacent to the toll booth. They are meaningless now.
Attached Thumbnails
Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection-demo_plan.png  

Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection-demo_plan_1.png  

Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection-abt_3.png  


Last edited by itwasntme : 9th August 2016 at 09:35. Reason: Typo
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Old 9th August 2016, 21:09   #499
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

Folks, finally got my FasTag today. The processing time was just four working days. I gave the forms to Mr. Mohan (+91 97383 86180) on last Tuesday - 2nd Aug. By Monday itself I was informed by Mohan that the tag is ready. I can pick it up in person, or they would courier it. Some other work came up all of a sudden this morning, so had to skip office. Used the extra time to pick up the RFID tag from the ICICI branch near Oxford College, Bommanahalli.

The trial run of the RFID was conducted at the Elevated Highway exit at Veerasandra. Few points:-
1. The FasTag lane is the 2nd one from the left, and this time the staff out there had not blocked it. There were a few chaps loitering around the entrance to this lane, and guess they were having a quick check.
2. This lane also did NOT have the boom barrier. So once a vehicle is in this lane, it can pretty much charge forward. So in this run, I could not see the barrier getting lifted up.
3. Ahead of me was an Audi and so I decided to slow down a little bit till I see him clearing the toll booth on this lane. And then I moved forward a bit slowly. As soon as I crossed the first sensor, I could see the signal light placed after the toll booth (which would be around 10mts away from me), turning green and some kind of message appearing on the LED display. I like a train driver mumbled to myself - "Main line.. clear!!!" and moved forward. And in next 3 seconds the light turned back to red, but I just sped on.
4. After around 20mins, I got an SMS indicating that the toll has been deducted at the Elevated Highway toll booth. Being an RFID (passive) tag, one thing which I missed was any kind of audio alert when the tag was detected by the sensors.

Came back to say: I used cello tape to fix the RFID tag, right behind the IRVM. Would make a couple of more runs using this before firmly fixing the RFID tag.
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Old 9th August 2016, 21:13   #500
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi View Post
How does the Toll Plaza know whether I want one way (Single Journey) pass or Two way (Return Journey) pass?
That calculation seems to be done at a later point of time, and the money credited back to the account. May be it does a reconciliation every six hours, or once every day. Reconciliation is possible, as vehicle numbers are recorded during each pass, and it can then figure out how many times a vehicle crossed the booth.
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Old 10th August 2016, 11:58   #501
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

I made one day trip to my home town near Namakkal. FASTag worked in all except the one after Namakkal (Rasampalayam Toll Plaza) on NH7. I missed Attibelle FASTag lane.

I did not get an SMS for the Krishnagiri toll plaza and I do not see any amount deducted from my FASTag account for both onward and return. TAG was scanned manullay at Krishnagiri. I guess it was a free ride as reported multiple times in this thread.

As reported earlier in this thread, there is no discount applied at Thoppur toll plaza. They charged full INR 86 for both onward and return though it was within 24 Hrs period. I raised a complaint through my FASTag account.

Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection-trip-activity.jpg
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Old 10th August 2016, 16:09   #502
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
At Devanahalli, T2 is obviously not working as I have not been charged even after 13+ trips!
Was charged today for the first time - they must be tracking this thread
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Old 10th August 2016, 18:21   #503
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi View Post
How does the Toll Plaza know whether I want one way (Single Journey) pass or Two way (Return Journey) pass?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sachinpk View Post
That calculation seems to be done at a later point of time, and the money credited back to the account. May be it does a reconciliation every six hours, or once every day. Reconciliation is possible, as vehicle numbers are recorded during each pass, and it can then figure out how many times a vehicle crossed the booth.
While crossing a toll, you get debited one way toll fee. If you do a return run and cross that same toll within 24 hours, the toll detects the same and debits you the difference only, that is, return toll fee less one way toll fee.
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Old 10th August 2016, 21:41   #504
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

Checked with customer support towards multiple journey made through Thoppur toll.
They clarified saying pan india for L&T managed toll they are not getting concession for multiple journey made on same day.
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Old 11th August 2016, 15:55   #505
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Originally Posted by itwasntme View Post
Success at this point will activate Traffic Light 1 (TL1) followed by sequential greens at TL2 & TL3. If TL1 does not light up then the rest will certainly not. In my experience, the erratic behaviour tends to happen at T1 where the tag is simply not identified at all.
Proved myself comprehensively wrong. Today TL1 & TL2 lit up green but TL3 stayed red and the automatic boom stayed stubbornly down .

Had to move to the next lane for a manual scan. When I complained about erratic behaviour the staff washed their hands off saying they are only the booth personnel and today no IHMCL staff were present. They also looked frustrated and were muttering about the boom not working half the time!
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Old 12th August 2016, 12:12   #506
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

After experiencing FASTag in BETL and ATTIBELE for so many days, I was in the assumption that FASTag lanes across country will be on the second lane from left side :(. Yesterday went to Madurai and there was no consistent behavior on the FASTag lane layout. This will be trouble for new people who goes through toll gate and especially which has long queues. This has happened at krishnagiri yesterday evening and i was not able to shift to FASTag lane in the last minute as it was very crowded already. Also noticed, they were allowing non tag users also in FASTag lane. I'm not sure why NHAI cannot follow some standard layout for the FASTag entries, like extreme left or right!

In Omalur toll plaza, there was no security at the entrance of FASTag lane and one non tag user went and i followed him. But they didnt allow him to cross by saying, there is no manual operation at all in this lane and boom cannot be opened manually. So asked him to reverse and take adjacent lane, that means even i've to take reverse so that he can come back. But the overall experience in that tollplaza was good as i felt, they were not very happy to make me wait because of some other non-tag user. They told me, usually there will be security guy at the entrance, just that particular moment he went some where(pee ) and apologized.

In two more places(Rasampalayam and Kodai road), i was asked to take non FASTag lanes as they were doing some work and taken manual scan.
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Old 12th August 2016, 13:52   #507
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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Yesterday went to Madurai and there was no consistent behavior on the FASTag lane layout.
I agree that there is no standard lane number and especially when there is long queues, it may be difficult to get into the lane, if found at the last moment.

But I found that before every toll booth, there are clear signage of where the Fastag/ETC lane is. Atleast 500m before the booth there would be a big sign board on the median with red reflective paint that mentions the lane number (or left/right).
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Old 12th August 2016, 14:43   #508
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

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But I found that before every toll booth, there are clear signage of where the Fastag/ETC lane is. Atleast 500m before the booth there would be a big sign board on the median with red reflective paint that mentions the lane number (or left/right).
May be i missed it in Krishnagiri, but yeah, i did see in some places where it was mentioned on top of the existing signboard saying "Toll both ahead 500m..."
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Old 12th August 2016, 17:30   #509
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Originally Posted by smnrock View Post
I'm not sure why NHAI cannot follow some standard layout for the FASTag entries, like extreme left or right
From whatever little I know, when FasTag was conceptualised with Mr. Nitin Gadkari, it was proposed that the right most lane at each toll will be dedicated for FasTag. The lane will be demarcated and the FasTag RFID reader and boom barrier for the lane will be installed 100m before the other booths.
Alas, someone somewhere down the line un the bureaucracy seems to have bungled big time.
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Old 15th August 2016, 14:25   #510
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Re: Government launches 'FASTag' - Electronic Toll Collection

FasTag update from Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore trip:
-Worked (or assumed to have worked!) at all tolls so it was a completely cashless trip end to end

-Manual scan with hand held scanner at Krishnagiri toll during onward journey

-At Chennasamudram toll during return journey, I drove in the middle of the lane and the boom barrier did not open. Had to back up a bit and drive closer to the right side for the scanner to recognize the tag and then the boom barrier did open

-At Krishnagiri toll during return journey, there was an attendant sitting on a wall, the top of the toll booth I guess and waved me on and he had something like a credit card machine. I stopped to ask him if it scanned and he nodded in the affirmative

-At Attibele toll, there was a container truck in front who got the green signal to pass. I let him completely clear the toll lane before I moved the car forward but did not see a green light so was a bit hesitant. The security guy asked me to proceed as he'd noted down the number (they were taking down numbers of all vehicles that was using the lane)

-Received SMS messages for some tolls, but not in order and some after few hours! Did not receive SMS for Krishnagiri on both journeys and Attibele on return

Few things I noted were:
-Lane numbering is not consistent at toll plazas, some start with 1 on the left and some on the right

-Some tolls have a FasTag signboard on the median about 500m before the plaza saying "FasTag, Lane <x> Keep Left" but turns out the lane is actually on the right!

-At some tolls, the FasTag lane is filled with trucks and cars who do not have FasTag (slows down genuine FasTag holders)

-At some tolls, security guys block the lane with a barricade and let you in only after verifying you have the tag which is fine on days with low traffic but too slow when there is heavy traffic, they make you wait for the vehicle in front to exit the lane completely before they let you approach the toll booth. Probably if they didn't do this, non-FasTag vehicles would enter the lane and cause a pile up behind if they have to back up. This is going to be a difficult one to fix, me thinks

Hopefully we will have a better FasTag experience overall in a few months time.

Last edited by NPV : 15th August 2016 at 14:27.
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