[vharihar]

Originally Posted by n_ramesh99

I am FASTag user from 2016 and pretty happy with that. Some of the issues that I faced

1) People getting into FASTag lanes without a valid tag and arguing with staff
2) The SMS for deduction is not prompt and sometimes it would not arrive at all. So far the deductions all seems to be fine

In my opinion the key issue for people to use this would be the difficulty to recharge the tag. It should have been possible to recharge it at some petrol pumps or even at the toll gate itself. I don't understand why such a simple mechanism is not worked out. Is that already available and I am not aware of it?

Valid point. The govt should have had 10 second clips on every TV channel in *all* languages every 6 hours starting from about Oct 1st, where they'd elucidate a different aspect on different clips (to sustain attention span of viewer), such as:

- Display how a FASTag enabled lane looks on the toll plaza.
- Reiterate that only FASTag enabled vehicles should enter FASTag lane.
- Make people aware about the double toll in case a cash-paying vehicle enters a FASTag lane.
- Describe how to recharge online as well as offline.
- Describe how to apply online as well as offline and where to install it in the vehicle.
etc

And the govt needs to do adequate work to make sure offline modes (for applying as well as periodic recharging) are also available (walk-in in banks, post offices, kiosks, etc), that scanners are installed in all (but one) lanes, network connectivity at toll plazas is great, etc. Amongst the traveling public on NH hwys, very many are such that they aren't tech savvy. And expecting them to overnight switch to use an app or netbanking to recharge their Tag Account, is a sure-fire way to invite the masses' wrath with some unfavorable comparisons to demonetization, and would be set up to fail even before it gets off the ground.

[ashis89]

After using the PayTM Fastag for the past 12 days, I find it to be a PITA than a boon. I have used it on the Hyderabad ORR and on a recent trip from Hyd - Blr.

From wrong toll booth detection, no round trip discounts and getting double charged (even triple charged) for each toll plaza - I have seen everything. Raise a ticket and they are issuing a refund after a few days. But I have to track each toll payment diligently through their app. SMSes are few and sent after a few days. Overall, I would prefer waiting in the queue and pay cash rather than using this headache called Fastag!

PS: Due to double and triple charging, I was overcharged by 500+ bucks and they ran my account to negative. I was forced to recharge again for another upcoming trip.

[Miyata]

Looks like I will have to place order for my fastags now!

When I had earlier heard/read about the toll gate barriers crashing onto (and subsequently damaging few) windshields, I delayed the fastag purchase in the hope that most of the glitches would get ironed out before I eventually get around to getting it!

At first I considered Paytm, but abandoned that thought - what if 6-months or so down the road life gets miserable for Paytm and it closes down many operations?

Will look to source the fastags from one from one of the longer standing, stable considered establishments.

I guess it will now become one of the features to also look for on the rental cars when renting one of those self-drive ones.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by ashis89

After using the PayTM Fastag for the past 12 days, I find it to be a PITA than a boon. I have used it on the Hyderabad ORR and on a recent trip from Hyd - Blr.

That's pretty strange. I've been using PayTM FasTag since last 2 years and haven't faced any difficulty. I did a 2500kms round trip to Gurgaon in June and I had to pay cash only on Agra ring road, Yamuna Expressway and KMP Expressway. On all NH, there was no issue with FasTag. It was a very pleasant experience.

From wrong toll booth detection, no round trip discounts and getting double charged (even triple charged) for each toll plaza - I have seen everything. Raise a ticket and they are issuing a refund after a few days. But I have to track each toll payment diligently through their app. SMSes are few and sent after a few days. Overall, I would prefer waiting in the queue and pay cash rather than using this headache called Fastag!

This double charging and wrong booth is all the handywork of the toll operators. I believe all toll operators are goons until proven otherwise. The toll operators can punch in your number randomly and raise a transaction. This didn't exactly happen with me but the most frequented toll plaza by me had some issue with its reader so they asked me my car number and punched it in and transaction was done! As far as round trip discounts are concerned, it depends on the toll operator and it's agreement with government. Quoting my earlier post -

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Not exactly. It can happen only if you cross a lane which has a reader but it doesn't show and you end up paying. The message always comes after some time to actually know if money has been deducted. Thus you have paid even by cash as well as FasTag.

The 2 routes frequented by me have different toll system. On one route, charges are Rs.45-/ for one way and Rs.65/- for both ways if you return within 24 hours. On the other route, its Rs.55/- both ways whether you return within 24 hours or after 24 days.

This is with FasTag. And its the same with cash lane too.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

This double charging and wrong booth is all the handywork of the toll operators. I believe all toll operators are goons until proven otherwise. The toll operators can punch in your number randomly and raise a transaction. This didn't exactly happen with me but the most frequented toll plaza by me had some issue with its reader so they asked me my car number and punched it in and transaction was done!

Hmm interesting! Thanks for sharing this.
This means I will have to keep monitoring the Fastag transactions closely to look out for such bogus deductions.

One point makes me curious. I got the Fastag with my new car. As per PayTM app, the fastag seems registered to the VIN number and doesn't mention my registration number anywhere. What happens in this case? Do I mention my VIN number to the operator? If so then the operators can't make bogus claims just looking at my regn. no.

As far as round trip discounts are concerned, it depends on the toll operator and it's agreement with government. Quoting my earlier post -

Hyderabad ORR supports round trip discounts. I am a frequent user and used to get cash discounts for round trips. After getting the Fastag, I did 3 trips out of which 1 didn't have the round trip discount until I raised a complaint for it. As I have realized, I will have to monitor this closely to avoid being overcharged. It becomes difficult to track in long trips where I am crossing 5-10 toll plazas.

[uditsharma01]

My experience with Fastags has been average. No problem with the detection of RFID and the transactions have been slick. But there are still age-old tolls that simply refuse to enable fastag lanes. Is govt. aware of this fact before making it compulsory?

I got my fastag during delivery from Axis bank and their service is horrible. It took me an hour to find the recharge option on their website. Adding onto this their website is extremely badly maintained. I am looking to get fastag from some other bank now.

Also, can someone put light on why they are taking 200 rs as refundable security? The chip doesn't cost this much.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

To all those who are trying to get a FasTag, try your nearest PayTM KYC center. Apparently they've got FasTags. Someone known bought it from them and it's linked to their PayTM.

The said person has 2 vehicles, both on his father's name. He purchased one FasTag from PayTM and another from the KYC franchisee. The tag bought from franchise is with him and active, the one bought on app is still under processing and yet to be received by him. Now this clears 2 doubts -

1. The PayTM app need not belong to the owner of the vehicle.

2. Separate tags can be linked to a single PayTM app.

3. The tag balance maintained will be in multiples of Rs.150 per car.

Originally Posted by ashis89

One point makes me curious. I got the Fastag with my new car. As per PayTM app, the fastag seems registered to the VIN number and doesn't mention my registration number anywhere. What happens in this case? Do I mention my VIN number to the operator? If so then the operators can't make bogus claims just looking at my regn. no.

That's a valid point. It's impossible to get a VIN no. from a moving car. I feel that somehow, it'll get linked to your car's registration number. Not sure how.

[Repsol]

One quick query, since fastag is mandatory now, what is the status of L&T bypass (Coimbatore). Would that also get fastag enabled?

[rdst_1]

The Fast Tag system is going to be tested to it's full extent now and again we are going to bear the brunt of an ill designed, ill managed system.
One of my friends, decided to drive down to Delhi on the night of 30th November. At least from my use of PayTM fast tag, I know the you mostly never receive the SMS at the moment you cross the Toll Plaza, which should be the norm, just like ATM transactions or any other banking transaction. In my experience, I have even received messages and even amount deducted several days later after the actual journey. So, my friend was bewildered and not at all bemused when he finds out that charges have been deducted for each Toll Plaza thrice and since his balance has been exhausted they are still showing pending charges againat his Fast Tag account. He has to return to Chandigarh and is now afraid to put in more money into his PayTM wallet because who knows how many times is money gonna be deducted falsely. Also, he is a working class person and many people like him don't have credit cards or enough money in their savings account to keep recharging the wallet if such a thing was to happen.
I think we are going to see many consumer cases or at least a lot of disgruntled users now that the user base is going to increase exponentially and we all know how tedious it usually is to deal with customer service representatives and to get back your own money in case of such issues.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by ashis89

One point makes me curious. I got the Fastag with my new car. As per PayTM app, the fastag seems registered to the VIN number and doesn't mention my registration number anywhere. What happens in this case? Do I mention my VIN number to the operator? If so then the operators can't make bogus claims just looking at my regn. no.

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

That's a valid point. It's impossible to get a VIN no. from a moving car. I feel that somehow, it'll get linked to your car's registration number. Not sure how.

My guess is that they won't be able to link it to the registration number. At least, that system isn't in place right now. As i mentioned in this (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!) post, I have few trips where i wasn't charged because they didn't actually scan but instead only took a manual note of the registration for later reconciliation (either manually noted or CC footage). For any kind of reverse-lookup of identifying VIN-linked tag from the registration number, one would need access to VAHAN database.

This actually got me thinking on the underlying implementation. Is there a single database of ALL FASTags across all vendors or each of them is maintain their own tag database? I guess each vendor is maintaining their own database and simply report whether a tag is valid or not when a tag is scanned. I think it's a mistake to allow getting the tags with just the VIN number.

For what it's worth, i am not going to bother updating my HDFC tag with the registration number. HDFC bank's Fastag portal is already a big mess to deal with for recharging. Will probably go with PayTM tag after dust settles down.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Repsol

One quick query, since fastag is mandatory now, what is the status of L&T bypass (Coimbatore). Would that also get fastag enabled?

Unlikely. Or, they're confident of the deadline getting extended further. Happy to be proven wrong, but I'd rather they maintain status quo instead of burdening the road users with an increased toll for this hogwash. I'd passed that sham of a tolled bypass on 30th November, and asked if they'd be taking FASTag, but the toll collectors were clueless, and it was business as usual.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by silversteed

I'd passed that sham of a tolled bypass on 30th November, and asked if they'd be taking FASTag, but the toll collectors were clueless, and it was business as usual.

True, highly unlikely that they will implement Fastag. Heck, these guys keep one (of two for each direction of travel) booths closed during peak traffic times, care a hoot for the users (most users travel end to end and they still expect every one to stop and hand them the toll receipt to scan at all intermediate toll booths, just showing it isn't enough!) and will extract every pound of flesh till their toll lease expires in 2021/2022.

[paragsachania]

So Nov 30 was the initial deadline which got extended to 15th Dec.

I drove to Chikmagalur on the weekend and realised that absolutely nothing has changed when it comes to improvement with the Fastag infrastructure!!

It is a darn RFID technology and not rocket science and yet I noticed few cars reversing quite a few times so their tags got scanned properly. At one of the toll plazas on return, the barricade closed in front of me after displaying my vehicle number and "Valid tag" status. While I moved little ahead, it displayed vehicle number of car behind me. So the guard had to let me pass after he pushed the barrier and held it for a while. At another toll plaza, the Fastag lane was closed for whatsoever reason. At one more toll, we reversed to get into next lane as the truck's tag ahead couldn't get scanned for a while.

I am less hopeful that this implementation is going to fly at all. There will be vehicles with tags and no balance who would still enter and then argue with the staff (I am 100% sure they will) while the rest will have to wait.

The need of the hour is to have a robust system - That works flawlessly for every category of vehicle (still possible) along with stringent implementation (not a reality).

Heck, by Nov 30 deadline, I expected all lanes to display FASTAG ONLY with one lane with CASH ONLY signs but none of the booths had this. This is very important if you want to let people know that cash only lane is also there if you want to pay by cash.

Presently, many are mislead that if they pay by cash they need to pay double by default and hence they must have a tag (correct me if I am wrong).

Now eagerly waiting for the D-day!!

[nairrk]

How to check Tag despatch status in the ICICI Fastag app or website.?

I have applied on 14th November and ICICI web is updated with a customer ID and vehicle number, etc. Only Tag has to be received for which I have already raised 3 complaints which also showing on the website but no action/reply to that from ICICI.

Tried several times to call their customer care number (toll free as well as paid number), but always not reachable.??

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

...and realised that absolutely nothing has changed when it comes to improvement with the Fastag infrastructure!!

What else did you expect? I may sound pessimistic here but I am not surprised at all.

Heck, by Nov 30 deadline, I expected all lanes to display FASTAG ONLY with one lane with CASH ONLY signs but none of the booths had this. This is very important if you want to let people know that cash only lane is also there if you want to pay by cash.

Presently, many are mislead that if they pay by cash they need to pay double by default and hence they must have a tag (correct me if I am wrong).

I've lost count of how many people I've explained this to. And none of them were ready to believe at first.

Now eagerly waiting for the D-day!!

My sixth sense is telling me that it'll be pushed again to the first day of the next year