[sarathlal]

The road transport ministry is planning to implement annual toll charge for private vehicle owners. This would mean, by paying an annual charge of Rs.2500 - 3000, private vehicle owners can zip through toll plazas on all national highways.

Under the scheme, called "shadow tolling", the discount will be available only for those who install a smart tag named "Fastag" in their vehicles. The government would pay the differential amount to the developers, which could be about Rs 1,500 crore from its total kitty of toll revenue.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/47888462.cms

[girishv]

I just hope its optional and does not turn into one of the compulsory devils like the service charge.

[sudev]

Zip through??!! Are you or the policy makers high on some thing?

No one follows TAG lanes, VIP Lanes are out of bound. Do you imagine the queues would disappear just because minuscule number of highway vehicles have FastTag??

ONE If they want it successful it has to be applicable to all vehicles.

TWO More important is federal legal structure. Law and order including traffic is state subject. The problems in punishing or creating deterrence for those violating queue discipline cannot be done by center. AND without this unruly queue's will not disappear.

[Figopian]

Implementation issues apart, this is a great initiative. If they manage to keep a lane free on each toll plaza to "zip thru", this will be fantastic. It is difficult, but not impossible. At least govt is thinking innovatively and thats a good start! Must appreciate this.

Even if this is successful to say around 40%, we will end up saving around 50% delays on toll plaza, thats like an hour a month for me, not bad!!!

[MSC]

This definitely sounds good.
But one query. The article says that we don't have to pay the toll. Fine. We have to get our vehicles tagged. Fine.
But if the Government will pay the deficit to private operating agencies, I definitely expect the Govt to go arm twisting and start extraction from other sources.
It is very well known that the Govt will give you 1 rupee and take away 2 from your pocket via other routes.
The only saved thing will be time. Financially it will be more or less same.

[pannags]

This has been on the cards for sometime now. I remember that one of the proposals touted was to have pre paid RFID tags (Fastag) that private vehicles could buy from ICICI and charge as and when needed.

Now, considering that a Bangalore Chennai Bangalore trip costs upwards of 1000 bucks, 2500 a year is definitely reasonable.

I hope that the Fastag lanes are promptly setup and that we are not forced to take the manned ones in spite of paying in advance

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by girishv

I just hope its optional and do not turn into one of the compulsory devils like the service charge.

It is optional, according to the report.

Originally Posted by sudev

Do you imagine the queues would disappear just because minuscule number of highway vehicles have FastTag??

Yes, if they do have lanes marked as only for Pass applicable vehicles, those who have this tag in their vehicles will definitely benefit.

Originally Posted by sudev

ONE If they want it successful it has to be applicable to all vehicles.

I donot think so. Those who want the convenience can opt for it. No harm in everyone getting one either. Even with all conditions still the same as of today, taking away all the time involved in noting number, tendering change, printing receipt etc will be a huge time saver.

Originally Posted by MSC

The only saved thing will be time. Financially it will be more or less same.

It depends on the usage.
For eg, on a single Trivandrum - Bangalore round trip, we end up paying close to 1400Rs. So, just two trips in an year itself will get this even for such travelers.

[itwasntme]

I for one will definitely take it up. In the last 12 months I have done Goa, Madurai (twice) and Hyderabad from Bangalore. I would have already spent around 5k in tolls!

On my recent Goa drive, I noticed that all toll plazas had a FastTag lane which was clearly marked with orange signposts. If I recollect, they were unused but did seem to have a reader machine on the side of the unmanned booths.

[sgiitk]

Is it going to be like the Motorway charge in Switzerland. For me two return trips to Delhi add up to ₹3000+!

[narayanang76]

This seems like a good initiative. And it will work better if majority follows it and there is smoother transit ensured for these vehicles in toll plazas. Then more vehicles will follow. Key is that the vehicles will tend to spend less time in toll booths clearing off the traffic when RFID based solution are in place.

While travelling through Tamil Nadu toll plazas last month, I have noticed a separate lane for FastTag vehicles, and even saw some sign boards where it says 'vehicles without FastTag will be heavily fined' using that lane for crossing toll booth. That makes some sense now.

[itwasntme]

http://www.icicibank.com/Personal-Ba...tag/index.page

The ICICI Bank microsite for FASTag. Read through the entire FAQs and charges/fees section. Looks a winner for everyone involved.

[gsurya]

This is a good move, but wont it be easier for the Govt to implement their stated objective of removing all toll booths altogether?

[libranof1987]

Interesting move; given the toll charges across most highways, Rs. 3k annually is pocket change for someone who makes even just 2-3 outstation trips.

I only hope that EVERY toll (irrespective of the governance model, operator, sector etc.) is covered in the annual charge.

I don't even expect the "tag-only" lane to stand true to its name. Time is a virtue we don't value at all so even if this move makes sense financially, I'm all for it.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by sudev

Zip through??!! Are you or the policy makers high on some thing?

No one follows TAG lanes, VIP Lanes are out of bound. Do you imagine the queues would disappear just because minuscule number of highway vehicles have FastTag??

ONE If they want it successful it has to be applicable to all vehicles.

TWO More important is federal legal structure. Law and order including traffic is state subject. The problems in punishing or creating deterrence for those violating queue discipline cannot be done by center. AND without this unruly queue's will not disappear.

Very aptly said. Nothing zips through in this country. Everything crawls through. Sorry, decision to raise fuel prices always zips through. Our toll gates are in total chaos most part of the day. People cut across the approach looking for faster-clearing gates, some pay 1000 rupee note for 30 rupee toll taking forever for the toll guy to return change, others asking for directions or talking over mobile etc. etc. It is totally frustrating. I don't think anything will improve.

[tilt]

I have a feeling they might somehow put in a limit of x trips per month or per year or something like that.

For example, even in the regular toll plazas where one can get a monthly pass, it is limited to 60 round-trips per month.

If such is the case, then it may not make much sense financially, though it makes sense when it comes to convenience.

Rs. 2,500 per year seems to be too low an amount for unlimited trips across India.

Cheers

Edited to add: I have not gone through the attached links yet, but what I am guessing is that the Fastag transponder may be the one that costs 2500 per year, and that toll charges will be accrued based on the plazas one passes through.