[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

The 100% cashless FasTag transaction deadline has been extended to 15th February 2021 from earlier date of 1st January 2021.

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The MoRTH has clarified that the deadline has not been extended in general but only for hybrid lanes where toll can be collected by FasTag as well as cash till 15th February. FasTag lanes will be 100% cashless.

Link

This is confusing to say the least and will definitely lead to chaos at toll plazas.

[Sebring]

I was okay with paying cash, but the other day (28th Dec) as i was entering bangalore from the TN side they stopped me and demanded Rs 100 (one-way) if I did not have Fasttag (Rs 70 two-way). I took the freeway, but was on the lookout for an easy adoption. I entered NICE road (Electronic City Side), and Airtel have set up a booth at the tntrance. Called out to them, and they're charging Rs 450 (nobody was in Airtel uniform). So I beckon to this boy Ranjith and he get me on the way, and setting it up by asking personal details. Suddenly I notice in the rear view mirror that there was a second boy hiding and typing in my personal details on his phone too. When I questioned the boys, the other guy just ran away. Leading me to believe something is amiss. Paid the boy Rs 450 + loaded Rs 500 into the wallet. Later I informed the NICE authorities that this was happening. They assured me the boys are 100% from Airtel. Within seconds I was getting Jamtara type of scam calls. Don't know if these two incidents are related, but do keep your eyes and ears open. Masks are making identification difficult. I have everything on my camera. Watch out guys!

[Turbolove]

The government seems to be going all out on getting people to buy Fastags. Was going from Indore to Bombay yesterday, didn't have fastag on the new car so had to enter the cash/non fastag lane, before I reached the toll three sales people one after the other kept informing and telling people to buy fastags. Also saw the fastag sales stall at each and every toll I passed.

[francisvellara]

Originally Posted by ChargedGarage

From what I can tell Govt can never shut down that single cash lane at each of the Toll booths thanks to that small statement that is written on legal tender in our country. "I promise to pay the bearer the sum of xxxx rupees".

It is essentially makes it a crime to not accept cash as a form of payment. It is a legal form of payment and has to be accepted at any place when offered for payment, otherwise the cash loses it's value as form of exchange of value if it is not accepted everywhere in the country.

So they can use all the scare tactics they want, but they legally can't close that last cash lane.

I think cash will still be accepted, except that the rate will be doubled when you don't have a FasTag and are paying with cash.

I wonder if, with each extension in the deadline, it would be a good idea to increase the toll fee when paid in cash. Wouldn't that be a good incentive for people to switch over?

[invincii]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

I don’t understand the need of making Fastag mandatory. On the face of it, majority of the cars in India do not cross tolls even on a monthly basis.
As an example: We have two cars in family and father’s car is only used for city duties. I just see no point in getting a Fastag for that car.

Instead of mandating it for everyone, the government should discount tolls for Fastag holders so that frequent users are incentivised to get it. Combine that with strict compliance on Fastag lanes NOT entertaining cash at all and that should be a much better way to implement things.

But that will put the onus on government so let’s take the easy path of making everyone buy it even if everyone doesn’t need it

If I'm not wrong. the FASTag is owned and operated by NHAI, all the toll payments collected will be recorded and accounted by the Government rather than the toll operators, this will help to reduce the money leakage (or corruption) in the system. The benefits would be reduced tolls or toll-free highways in the future; the contractors won't be able to extend the collection period for long; marginal decrease in fuel consumption and therefore reduced emissions due to reduced waiting time.

Certainly, all vehicles would be required to be equipped with FASTag as making optional won't be helpful for achieving the above-mentioned goals. I agree that there should be an incentive for FASTag users for increasing the adoption at a faster pace. And after paying such hefty road tax, Private Vehicles or LMVs should be excluded completely from paying tolls.

[susheel_kainat]

After going through this thread, there are a few pointers I noticed in common:

1. There is a group of early adopters of fastag who got this services at a much lesser premium and even free in some cases. I got ICICI tag for 99rs more than an year back.

2. There are late adopters of fastag who had to shell out more now owing to the pressure from the government with respect to deadlines.

3. Some fret about spending 500 or more now, when they had an opportunity of getting this much cheaper before, even though they were sure about travelling in toll ways.

4. Many persons have got fastag already as part of current norms while buying a new car. But among them there is still a lot of people, who have not properly linked the account to a bank whereby they have a non-functioning tag. Partly this issue is also due to bad infra provided by those vendors who provide a product but doesn't give a good customer care support or make things cumbersome to maintain.

5. There are a group of people who really doesn't need this since they feel they will never take that vehicle out of the city or even to any toll ways in their lifetime. For them definitely going for fastag doesn't make sense, but since in cities now certain parking lots are also getting RFID installed the usage of fastag is not restricted to just highway burners.

6. A handful of toll booths have got a non-functioning RFID scanner which indirectly is causing lot of time wastage and not getting that extra advantage of a fast moving queue. Personally I have seen many times the cash counter ones moving faster.

7. There are a bunch of people who fret about any new implementation by any govt, but talk high about other countries having these kind of approach. Yes other countries have a better working scanner and miles better with respect to infra, but like every product or technology there is an evolution cycle and the first product might not be the complete product and you cannot keep waiting to launch something hoping that the nth version will be the best. Enhancement is naturally part of any product. The peculiar group has a long history where they fret about from early hand signals to current ditching of usage of indicators, safety belts, helmets, speed regulators anything which talks about doing something better and yes they talk high about countries and forbid any such stuffs in their own country. They love following rules in other countries but are happy breaking them in their own country.

8. Especially during these covid times its always better to have cashless transaction where you don't need to open the window and then interact with a person who is being contracted with 1000's of vehicles & people during his/her shift. Those personnel's also feel happy if they don't have to interact directly with the customer.

9. In the commercial vehicles sector a group fret about fastag, even though they might be the highest usage of toll ways. Since these transactions are having proper bill they can always share the details to the customer asking them reimburse the amount, but definitely this has hurt a group of people who used to charge the customer, more than the actual amount to be paid in the name of tolls. The other excuse they say is they don't have time or knowledge to understand this online process but every tom and dick have a FB, Insta, Whatsapp or whatever social networking account for their business. So all this boils down about one's interest.

10. Some group of people fret about online transaction and safety surrounding fastag and question why should I go for it etc; while during de-monetization times were ready to embrace with multiple Apps like Phone, Paytm, Google-Pay, Bhim-UPI App etc and never bothered about sharing personal ID cards, bank account details or KYC proof docs, since its about sustaining their business during those times. These new payment apps was adopted not just by street vendors but also by the taxi sector.

11. There is a small group of sadistic people who will not buy fastag or drive knowingly with non-functioning tag but will make sure they get into fastag lane and then fight with personals when they need to pay fine and then instead of doing that they start moving back the lane and cause trouble to those who are following the rules. Yes such people are not extinct and they are not myth.

12. With respect to implementation, the govt should have made this free of cost, then for sure this would have been a complete different picture and they wouldn't have to make a mockery of themselves by implementing multiple deadlines. They are already making a huge money by collecting tolls and bringing in new infra they should have taken from the profit rather than squeezing the customer.

14. There is still a group of people who believe that one day govt (be it any govt), will make toll ways free after certain years of toll collection and so its wastage to buy fastag now. To them I have only one thing to say - Keep dreaming until its time to leave this world!!!

Disclaimer: Some of the points mentioned above might resemble to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events and is purely coincidental.

[ChargedGarage]

Originally Posted by francisvellara

I think cash will still be accepted, except that the rate will be doubled when you don't have a FasTag and are paying with cash.

I wonder if, with each extension in the deadline, it would be a good idea to increase the toll fee when paid in cash. Wouldn't that be a good incentive for people to switch over?

Additional rate for cash would also not be allowed as that would be discrimination against cash as a method of payment and would again devalue cash as a method of payment. They can do penalty right now as long as they have that single cash lane open but they cannot ask for more payment on cash lane alone.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ChargedGarage

From what I can tell Govt can never shut down that single cash lane at each of the Toll booths thanks to that small statement that is written on legal tender in our country. "I promise to pay the bearer the sum of xxxx rupees".

I don't think this is correct. If you notice, that promise is being made by the Governor of RBI; it is they who are promising to pay the bearer. That by itself is not binding on me as service provider to accept a currency note as payment. I accept bank notes because of the gurantee made by the RBI governor and because I need your business, not because of any other legal compulsion.

The government itself has been shutting down cash payment options for many of the services it renders to citizens.

Originally Posted by ChargedGarage

It is essentially makes it a crime to not accept cash as a form of payment.

There is a point that any legal tender offered to settle a debt must be accepted (even here there are reasonable and statutory limits/constraints). But for that the existence of debt must be established. Since toll payments are made before crossing the toll booth, the payment is not settling a debt; it is just an offer. And the toll operator is fully within rights to refuse that offer.

Having said that, an argument under article 19(d) of the constitution ("All citizens shall have the right to move freely throughout the territory of India") can be made. Not sure what the outcome of litigation depending on this argument would be, but my view is that it is unlikely this will change anything.

Originally Posted by ChargedGarage

It is a legal form of payment and has to be accepted at any place when offered for payment, otherwise the cash loses it's value as form of exchange of value if it is not accepted everywhere in the country.

This is exactly what happened when Rs. 500/1000 notes were demonetised in 2016. The "legal tender" status of those notes were withdrawn, and those notes lost their value. But for such massive value erosion it has to be done pan-India; not just at a few hundred toll booths.

Originally Posted by susheel_kainat

Yes other countries have a better working scanner and miles better with respect to infra...

In India, toll roads are operated by many different entities. For example from Bangalore to Kochi (~550 km) I see BETL, HKTRL, IVRCL, GIPL, L&T, Reliance and maybe 1-2 more toll road operators (a thumb rule I have derived is 1 operator for every 100 km and 2 toll booths per operator). Similarly Fastags are issued by several entities - 27 banks as per NCPI's website. This is quite different from models elsewhere where the RFID tags are issued by maybe one agency and there are only 1-2 companies running toll roads. That in itself increases the complexity of the problem and requires ingenious solutions. I don't think our system is comparable to the ones that are cited as usual examples of "better run RFID toll collection systems".

[susheel_kainat]

Originally Posted by binand

In India, toll roads are operated by many different entities. For example from Bangalore to Kochi (~550 km) I see BETL, HKTRL, IVRCL, GIPL, L&T, Reliance and maybe 1-2 more toll road operators (a thumb rule I have derived is 1 operator for every 100 km and 2 toll booths per operator). Similarly Fastags are issued by several entities - 27 banks as per NCPI's website. This is quite different from models elsewhere where the RFID tags are issued by maybe one agency and there are only 1-2 companies running toll roads. That in itself increases the complexity of the problem and requires ingenious solutions. I don't think our system is comparable to the ones that are cited as usual examples of "better run RFID toll collection systems".

Isn't it good that there is no Monopoly and there are many vendors in the market? Also when it comes to buying fastag its upto the customer to decide with whom they want to go through. Having multiple vendors shouldn't be considered as a complexity but as flexibility or more options to customer.

Also the current system is not good to the expectation or the hype Govt. had created when this was in the pipeline or when they introduced to the market. That implementation has not reached the level expected for sure, but something is better than nothing.

[binand]

Originally Posted by susheel_kainat

Isn't it good that there is no Monopoly and there are many vendors in the market?

I mentioned it only to point out that ours is a much more complex system than what is seen in say, UAE or USA.

[pawank]

Originally Posted by logicalidiot

The NHAI need to make buying Fastags easier in the first place.

I think the process to purchase a Fastag is already very easy. There are Paytm kiosk at every toll plazas, they will handover Fastag to you in only 15 minutes. One can also order it through online portals of various banks. One can also purchase it from nearest CSS(Common Service Center). Recently my mechanic was also started selling Paytm Fastags. So the process is very easy.

[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I read Nitin Gadkari claimed all toll plazas in NHs will be done away with in a couple of years. Currently we stop at the toll gate briefly for the RFID to be scanned. How will the toll be debited if toll plazas are dismantled and vehicles go at a good speed?

Originally Posted by msdivy

What is the use of FASTag then? Can we just wait out 2 years and enjoy toll free road?

Originally Posted by Gansan

Who said it will be toll free? The question was what method they are going to employ for debit of toll amount from us, in the absence of toll booths.

While toll stations will be removed, the RFID tags will remain. Essentially, you will have drive through tag reading hardware installed in place of toll stations. This does not require any new technology development. UAE has been doing it for more than a decade. It’s a matter of having the right hardware and integration.

[ChargedGarage]

Originally Posted by binand

I don't think this is correct. If you notice, that promise is being made by the Governor of RBI; it is they who are promising to pay the bearer. That by itself is not binding on me as service provider to accept a currency note as payment. I accept bank notes because of the gurantee made by the RBI governor and because I need your business, not because of any other legal compulsion.

The government itself has been shutting down cash payment options for many of the services it renders to citizens.

Quoting from the RBI website here. https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=136

Legal Tender is a coin or a banknote that is legally tenderable for discharge of debt or obligation

Every banknote issued by Reserve Bank of India (₹2, ₹5, ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹200, ₹500 and ₹2000), unless withdrawn from circulation, shall be legal tender at any place in India in payment or on account for the amount expressed therein, and shall be guaranteed by the Central Government, subject to provisions of sub-section (2) Section 26 of RBI Act, 1934.

Quoting from NCERT book here

https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/leec103.pdf

Currency notes and coins are therefore called fiat money. They do not have intrinsic value like a gold or silver coin. They are also called legal tenders as they cannot be refused by any citizen of the country for settlement of any kind of transaction

Even as a private merchant, you also cannot deny fiat money for a transaction but you can refuse to sell your item altogether for arbitrary reason. The toll booth operator does not have the same freedom and discretion to refuse a transaction as he is merely under contract from government to collect toll on the public road, he most definitely cannot deny you from coming onto the road as long as you are willing to make payment against it. Even more so, if you have already travelled on his toll road and only thing left is for him to collect the payment.

Let's not go too off-topic though

[samy1117]

The main issue people face with Fastag is the lack of offline easy fastag recharge facilities. If government wants everyone to adopt Fastag, they should seriously consider having recharge points in normal grocery stores where fastag users can just inform vehicle number and amount to be added to the fastag account.

Not everyone uses online banking or paytm wallets. Sales commission should be paid to store owners for handling fastag recharge and NHAI and toll operators should share the sales commission costs. Just like mobile easy recharge.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by samy1117

The main issue people face with Fastag is the lack of offline easy fastag recharge facilities.

Seriously ? When people use so many digital and online channels now for payments and banking transactions why would they go offline for recharging what is a digital toll payment instrument ?
It's a general lack of enforcement as well as resistance to change and a 'devil may care' attitude in our people that is the reason for the low adoption. Despite making it mandatory (about 3 years ago) for all new cars to have Fastag at the time of delivery we have a situation like this.
We can have all the laws we need but to follow them is up to us and to enforce them effectively is up to the authorities and we always seem to have a huge gap in this!