FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!

[TorqueyTechie]

I have a IDFC fast tag and have not received cashback. When I contacted their customer care they mentioned that there is some issue with NHAI not confirming about cashback for their bank (and few other banks) and it is pending from the month of July. They informed that once it gets resolved they will inform us. So if anyone of you are a customer of IDFC for fasttag than only solution is to wait.

[mpksuhas]

Issue with delayed cash back was present earlier. That time ICICI had send a SMS which specifically mentioned that cashbacks were delayed since NPCI is yet to share them the cashback amount.

Just one hour back, received cashback of my transactions for month of September on my ICICI account.

So other Banks also may receive soon.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Issue with delayed cash back was present earlier. That time ICICI had send a SMS which specifically mentioned that cashbacks were delayed since NPCI is yet to share them the cashback amount.

Just one hour back, received cashback of my transactions for month of September on my ICICI account.

So other Banks also may receive soon.

I think they don't have any scheduled system for this cash back. Last week I received the cash back for August and yesterday for September.

[Aiel]

I did a trip finally, where money was deducted from my Fastag wallet. My previous trips to/from Bangalore airport, did not involve any deduction in money.

Did a Bangalore - Yercaud trip on the weekend. While going, there were jams at the Attibele and Krishnagiri toll booths. At Attibele, there was just a mass of vehicles. I took the left hand side and decided to follow a TN transport bus. There were of course other vehicles trying to squeeze in. Luckily, the bus was also a Fastag user and we ended up in the right lane. We were able to quickly move through, with others (non-Fastag vehicles) being denied access to the lane. This did lead to lots of disagreements.

At the next toll booth, there were a few trucks which seemed to have no money in their account. They spend around 3-4 minutes at the booth and finally paid the toll in cash. This delayed us a bit.

During the return trip, things were quick at the toll booths. We were able to breeze through the booths quickly, without any hassles.

My Fastag was taken from HDFC and we received the respective SMSs, about 15-30 minutes after passing the respective booth.

[m8002?]

With just one lane dedicated to Fastag, the Fastag queues have suddenly gotten longer than the non-Fastag ones. Experienced this in 2 places during my trip yesterday. Most trucks seem to be Fastag enabled.

Also, when the lines become longer, it becomes difficult to access the Fastag lane due to the crowding ahead of the toll. The Fastag lane should be the first/last in all the tolls. Then you atleast know which lane to remain in.

[bhuvan_prasad]

I do highway travel probably once in 6 months, but despite that I applied for a fastag online via HDFC and after uploading the scanned form, KYC etc., the fastag got delivered to my house within 10 days.

I had an upcoming Gurgaon-Jaipur roundtrip so I added Rs. 200 to the fastag, bringing the balance to Rs. 300. I was quite keen to see if I could save time with this.


Gurgaon - Jaipur:

The dedicated fast tag lane at the Kherki Daula plaza was free and empty, and I sailed through. Was quite impressed. Little did I know what was to follow.
The other 2 tolls on the way to Jaipur were very crowded, no clear demarcation for fastag lanes, I ended up in the non-fastag lane both times and paid by cash. Trying to find the fastag lane would have definitely taken more time.

This leg was sort of a neutral experience for me, time saved in one plaza, and no difference in the other two, which I am fine with, as long as there wasn't any penalty.

After I reached Jaipur, I saw my phone and I had 2 SMS's within 30seconds of each other both saying 60Rs was deducted at kherki Daula and balance was down to 180(300-60-60). This is obviously some error and I have to figure out what to do now.

Jaipur - Gurgaon:

Jams for the toll on the return leg started 500m before the toll itself, so finding the fast tag lane was impossible. In one toll I somehow ended up in a lane which had fastag enabled and the fast tag worked well.

Now for the worst part:
Reached Kherki Daula toll around 7PM. Huge jam. A board earlier informs cars to stay on the left side for Fastag. I did the same. After 15 minutes of inching through the traffic saw the dedicated fast tag lane 4 cars ahead of me. There was a barrier and a guy operating it. Non-fastag cars were in the lane and obviously arguing/threatening the guy to open it. This caused a lot of delay, and it took another 15 minutes for me to finally enter. Drove below the camera 2-3 times, but it just would not register and the boom-barrier would not open. Had to reverse, enter into another lane, wait, pay and leave.

Total time taken - 35 minutes
Total time taken by non-fastag users - 15 minutes.

To summarize : Got charged twice for one toll, could not manage to find my way to fast tag enabled lanes in other toll booths amidst the confusion, took twice the time at one toll due to people and machine issues.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Had a satisfactory experience with Equitas. Ordered on 9th Nov and got the tag delivered on 11th Nov
Only down side is the local courier they used. Maruti courier don't serve to my address and I collected from their office in person

I placed an order online via Equitas for a friend's vehicle we need to drive to Mumbai this weekend only after failing to get in touch with the 3 numbers of Equitas tag that I myself had posted here and the ICICI personnel at Bangalore Airport toll saying they no more sell tags.

I hope they deliver at least by Friday. Fingers crossed.

[Altocumulus]

I had a bitter experience with Fastag over the weekend. Bangalore - Pondicherry - Bangalore. It took more time on the Fastag lane while cars in the other lanes were going faster. Too many trucks and commercial vehicles have fastag now and are very slow to get a move on.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

I had a bitter experience with Fastag over the weekend. Bangalore - Pondicherry - Bangalore. It took more time on the Fastag lane while cars in the other lanes were going faster. Too many trucks and commercial vehicles have fastag now and are very slow to get a move on.

It is really a pain indeed. This makes driving at night with FASTag the slowest because it is exactly then you see even commercial passenger buses with FASTags queued up at these lanes.

Last March when I was returning from Aurangabad, at 0300am I noticed at least 3 trailers waiting at the FASTag lane while the cash lanes had just 2-3 trucks.

Although we heard a lot of news on NHAI making at least 2 lanes equipped with FASTag, it will be wait and watch before things actually get better.

On Saturday a Toll plaza after Anantpur had shut down FASTag with a banner apologizing for inconvenience and we paid in cash and when I asked the operator he said from Dec 1 it will be operational.

Overall, FASTag is becoming a major flop show across the country with none sharing consistently good or bad experience from their drives on the same route/sector.

Tweeting, emailing hasn't really helped at all.

The only good thing about using it - At times you get lucky and then even if slow, there is no hassle to open that wallet and take out cash and handle the change and the receipts. The Cashless experience makes it good for rest of the negatives.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

I had a bitter experience with Fastag over the weekend. Bangalore - Pondicherry - Bangalore. It took more time on the Fastag lane while cars in the other lanes were going faster.

At some tolls, the leftmost lane (usually for Buses, local/exempted traffic & VIPs) also has the handheld scanner, so you can take a chance there and pay cash if they don't have it. But yes, it is a pain when these things happen. So far, in my planned drives and regular routes mostly, I haven't really faced these problems at multiple tolls especially during onward journey (also possibly due to very early start times).

On few trips, the return journey has been miserable since the Fastag lanes are not dedicated lanes during long weekends/holidays.

[bj96]

Originally Posted by bhuvan_prasad

To summarize : Got charged twice for one toll...

you can raise a dispute with the bank with proof e.g. if you get debited and still paid cash, send cash receipt. Go to transaction history on your Fastag bank account and you could see details and probably raise a dispute from there.

Hth,
-BJ

[AshiqueS]

Originally Posted by glenmz

Great news for users for Paliyekkera / Thrissur toll. I drove from Bangalore to Kochi on Saturday. The dedicated toll lane for FASTAG is now exclusive for FASTAG users!!! They have barricaded this lane now and a person has been posted there making sure that no other vehicles enter. There are some souls who still try to pry in; but they were not entertained. So, one pain point regarding tolls taken care of. The only bastion left is the LnT by-pass, Coimbatore.

Got the below response from NHAI
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post4313538

[Secretariat]

After a long time, I got charged for the Devanahalli toll on FASTAG, coming back from the airport. We've been going scot free for some months now and I must have saved at least Rs 2000 or so !! But on Monday, I got charged. Come Tuesday, it was back to normal service though. The scanner was non operational, I got diverted to the adjacent lane, the operator entered my number in his system, the gate opened, and I haven't been charged !

I'm not complaining though !

[mjumrani]

Devanahalli toll plaza is there so that Fastag users in Bangalore can get their investment back. It has a mind of its own, a friend was charged on last Thursday night and I wasn't charged on Friday morning.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

Devanahalli toll plaza is there so that Fastag users in Bangalore can get their investment back. It has a mind of its own, a friend was charged on last Thursday night and I wasn't charged on Friday morning.

Haha, true. I was charged the one way toll of 85 bucks even though I came out of KIAL. The automatic boom also worked smoothly.

Going again tomorrow so will update.