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

Traveled by bus last week from Bangalore to Hubli. The bus had a Fastag, but the toll booth operators were using the cones to block entry to the Fastag lane. The booth operator did remove the cone on seeing the bus coming to the lane ..

Is this practice being followed for cars too ? Or, Are the car owners having to go through manual toll lanes ?

Btw, Between Bangalore & Bombay, except for 3 booths all are reported to be active.

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 4083739)

The same practice is followed for cars too at Hirebagewadi toll between Dharwad and Belgaum. Between Belgaum and Bombay, the ETC lanes are not blocked but all the vehicles are let in, this includes both the tolls on Pune-Mumbai Expressway.

Surprisingly enough, I don't get to read Fastag updates of NH4 Bangalore-Poona-Bombay sector regularly on this thread and not even some other popular routes like Bombay--Ahmedabad, Delhi--Chandigarh etc. As far I know Fastags are very much active on these routes too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 4083739)

Is this practice being followed for cars too ? Or, Are the car owners having to go through manual toll lanes ?

It's a mixed bag really, but most toll plazas have the hand-held scanner now for manual scans, very few of them work in the automated mode.
Also, most plazas keep the dedicated FasTag lane manned by a security guy who either has a scanner with him, scans and sends you into the lane after opening the barricade or he is just a gate keeper to check if you really have the FasTag before he moves the barricade to let you in, followed by someone at the booth using the scanner. Sometimes, the security guy lets you in and then the automated sensors do their job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivek95 (Post 4083750)

Surprisingly enough, I don't get to read Fastag updates of NH4 Bangalore-Poona-Bombay sector regularly on this thread

Not too many updates, see my recent updates on this thread - for the Bangalore-Anewadi stretch (turned off towards Wai from there) and the return journey. In fact, on the return journey, FasTag worked at most tolls.

Travelled with FASTag on the diwali weekend, 28th oct.
Krishnagiri - They opened up the lanes towards Bangalore for the traffic going out. Crowded, but didnt take much time. Didnt pay in cash even though I was not using the tag lane.
Thoppur - The queue started 750m before the toll plaza. I was mis directed (or maybe I understood the directions wrong) to the wrong lane. in a while I realized that and saw the tag lane completely empty. Missus sprung into action, requested the other vehicles to give way to the FASTag lane. They obliged. Managed to enter the tag lane and continued the journey!

Rest of the tolls, there weren't much rush as the previous ones. Could enter the reserved lane without much fuss. Is FASTag activated at Thrissur Toll? I used the smartcard lane, the gate did not open up. I couldn't go back as vehicles piled up behind me. Not sure what happened, the toll gate opened up; could be manually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sansvk (Post 4083687)

Used Fasttag today on the strech from Bangalore to Palakkad. It worked well. At a couple of toll plaza I was just let through, not sure if the RFID was even read. At BETL and Attibele, I had to wait next to the barrier to open despite driving very slowly. Can someone let me know where are the scanner located at the above mentioned tolls?/or what's the best practice?

I have seen similar at Thoppur. You need to get really close to the barrier for it to open.

Today I was trying to recharge my account with Rs.500 (as I'd done successfully about 10 days ago) and got a failure message saying the CUG recharge amount must be more than Rs.1000 :Shockked:

I then realized this is because the default option that comes up selected is "Pay to CUG wallet" and the other option is "Pay to Tag Accounts" which was the only option earlier, so chose that one and was able to recharge for Rs.500.

Any idea what the "CUG Wallet" is ? Never heard of this one before :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenmz (Post 4084275)

I too traveled on 28th evening and had the same experience. I had a general idea of the ETC lanes, so kept left at most booths. When in doubt, follow a TN govt bus.

There were long queues and the good part was there were many vehicles with FastTag, atleast 3-4 cars ahead of me. This made the lane move faster.

Trissur toll also have it enabled, but it has never worked for me till now. On Friday, I was let go after noting the car number. No SMS till now. Last time I had wasted too much time here as they wanted me to go backwards and try again and finally paid cash. This time I was determined to make a complaint if they insisted on paying cash.

So far, the Attibelle and Walayar tolls worked flawlessly for me, both automatic. The Thoppur one also does scan after moving a little forward of the booth window. The Omalur toll gives much trouble, mostly the lane towards Banglore. It never scans my tag after many trials and they don't have a manual scanner also.

PS: I have the tag on the passenger side of the car. I had the Mahindra tag also near to it and I have removed it now, the manual scans are done with one attempt now, used to take 2-3 attempts earlier.

Just adding the FasTag related bits (from a post which I made on the PY related thread). Overall, I felt very happy this time to use FasTag.
----
I could not start really early in the morning and it was only at around 0700Hrs when we reached Attibele toll gate. The queue of vehicles out there was mind boggling, and it was only then I realised that though I was planning for a two day vacation, 99% of the crowd was going out for a 4 day holiday!! The FasTag line was pretty much non functional, as there were other vehicles were also occupying the lane. The staff how ever was trying their best to move away non-FasTag vehicles. I showed the tag on my wind shield and the security staff apologetically told that, they had to work this way as there were fights/arguments right in the morning. Many vehicle owners insisted that they should be allowed to use this lane because of the large number of vehicles involved. How ever I felt that, I saved at least 3-4 mins here
.....
Soon we reached Krishnagiri toll, and that is where I found the benefit of FasTag. It was fully functional, and the sentry made a quick check on the RFID. We saved at least 12-15 mins of waiting time there. Like an engine driver of the railways I said "FasTag! line clear...", to my wife and just sped on. Wifey is a bit cyinical on every thing new, but this time she too understood the benefit.
.....
Soon we continued our journey, and all the toll booths along the way accepted FasTag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aks_karthik (Post 4084517)

Hi Guys,
How come we differentiate single & return trip using Fastag. Is their any option to choose as it's fully automated?
Sorry for this question. I could have missed
to read this reply in the very thread ��

The toll booth deducts the one-way toll amount for the onward trip, and the difference amount for a 2-way toll (or multiple trip/daily pass), during the return trip within the validity period.

Say, the one-way toll is Rs.85 and 2-way toll multiple trips toll or day-pass is Rs.100, an amount of Rs.85 will be deducted when you pass the toll booth for the first time. For the next trip, it'll deduct only Rs.15. Subsequent trips could involve only reading the tag and no deductions if the toll booth has the option of a daily-pass/multiple trips.

PS: Not every toll booth has this intelligence, so it's always a good idea to find out from fora like this and from NHAI websites if the one in question has the feature.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoy (Post 4084359)

I have the tag on the passenger side of the car. I had the Mahindra tag also near to it and I have removed it now, the manual scans are done with one attempt now, used to take 2-3 attempts earlier.

Better not to have RFID tags in the vicinity of the FASTag device, not just the vehicle manufacturer's tag, but others as well, such as similar tags used in certain parking lots.

I have procured Fastag.

I have Hardware film on my windscreen. It is almost transparent with 85%+ visibility. When the icici person came to fix the tag, he was not sure whether it will work through film. (I trust, being RFID it should not be an issue)

Anybody has fixed it on film? Does it pose any issue?

Further, if I fix it temporarily with sellotape without removing the paper that is covering glue part, will it work?

Else, may be I will have to get done a small cut window in the film to fix the tag. I am not sure whether making such window will damage the film and it will begin peeling off.

Please advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CANPUSH (Post 4084564)

You don't have to do any of those Surgical Strikes on your film. The tag will work fine. Check this post