[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by binand

Presumably you haven't seen Paliyekkara. The gold standard for mismanagement of toll collection points.

OH MY GOD! Just hearing the name Paliyekkara triggers me! As someone who crosses this every week, its absolutely frustrating! Everyone entering every lane, most of the readers not working, operators allowing some buses and cars to pass through without tolls (their friends perhaps?), buses using the opposite lane to jump ahead in queues, people misusing the ambulance lanes and so on. Last friday, we were stuck there for around 20 minutes. One of the staff had blocked the entry into the Fastag lane and was allowing private buses to jump the queue. There was a case when accident victims have died as their ambulances were held up at the toll!

Almost every day there is an altercation here. Damn you binand ji, you've got me all worked up! As you've rightly said, the gold standard of mismanagement!

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by iamswift

I think the banks that issued the cards are the culprits here. They are supposed the verify the RC details provided. Penalty should be imposed on those pvt entities to keep them in check.

Exactly. Looks like for the government the single point of failures in all their new grand schemes have been banks. Even when demonetisation happened it was the same banks which tried to help the black money holders to the maximum extent.

My FasTag has been issued by AXIS bank. The first punch I got was from the Car Dealer who arranged the FasTag but did NOT inform me of the pending KYC. So I kept on recharging the same, and then the day before I was to stary my first solo trip on the car I get my second punch. The maximum recharge limit was applicable as I did not complete the KYC. I called up the AXIS Bank customer care, and the chap out there (as an exception) just flicked the KYC completed switch on his computer. So my solo trip went off without a problem.

The third punch came in from the toll booth at Thoppur, Tamil nadu. On a busy day they asked me to proceed via the lane reserved for trucks. FasTag worked there as well and I was happy. Then came a series of SMS alerts. The toll booth had marked my car as a truck and charged the toll for trucks. AXIS Bank's computers immediately marked that transaction and put the toll amount "on hold". They checked my KYC details and I had none. So they asked me to send in the RC Card Copy and a picture of the vehicle. I sent both of them in the e-mail. And within days the dispute was settled with the Toll collector at Thoppur asked to sing a movie song and take a hike! . Here at least AXIS Bank played the game very diligently and within the rules. Other vendors may NOT be doing it the same way.

Originally Posted by sandeep108

Actually now with Vahan, it should have been easy enough for the private banks to check the RC against Vahan before issuing the Fastag.

Even that is not required. Let the dealers also ensure that when they issue a FasTag the KYC norms are also met. The KYC on FasTag was done mainly to prevent misuse, but looks like even banks who issue FasTag are in to make in some illegal money. I now accept the fact; that India & Indians are essentially a very corrupt society. There is a whole group of people who survive by illegal or semi-legal ways of making money. Be it from road contracts all the way to bigger deals, things are never done in black & white. Any attempt to change the status quo is being heavily resisted and every dirty trick in the book is being played out.

Originally Posted by longhorn

Toll in itself is a sham. What happened to the 15 year road tax collected upfront? Toll fare exceeding Re 1 per km is nothing but organised loot legalized by the state machinery.

Your assumptions are wrong my friend. The 15 year road tax (LTT) goes to a state government who would be using it for maintaining the state's roads. The tolled express highways are built to help people who are willing to pay extra for a faster comfortable travel. The state governments do NOT have the funds to maintain such roads free of cost. If you notice there are state/PWD maintained roads which helps people travel from one place to another. No tolls levied, but routes may not be direct and the roads may not be wide. So a driver still has the luxury to decide which route he takes. We can never be a basket case like socialist Russia where every thing is owned and controlled by the state, and every one gets poor quality service in equal measure.

[mukeshgoel]

Intelligent people paste it from outside so that scanners can scan it quickly and easily.

Source: Facebook News Feed

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

Intelligent people paste it from outside so that scanners can scan it quickly and easily.

This is not intelligence. He is giving ideas to People to steal the tag and stick inside their vehicles.

Then, the remaining money in this tag will be utilized by the thief

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by gkveda

This is not intelligence. He is giving ideas to People to steal the tag and stick inside their vehicles.

I think you didn't notice the smiley.Calling such people "intelligent" was sarcasm.

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

The tolled express highways are built to help people who are willing to pay extra for a faster comfortable travel. The state governments do NOT have the funds to maintain such roads free of cost. If you notice there are state/PWD maintained roads which helps people travel from one place to another. No tolls levied, but routes may not be direct and the roads may not be wide. So a driver still has the luxury to decide which route he takes. We can never be a basket case like socialist Russia where every thing is owned and controlled by the state, and every one gets poor quality service in equal measure.

What actually happens in a toll booth :-

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/73670432.cms

The four-laning between Paranur and Tindivanam was constructed in 2005 at a cost of Rs 536 crore. Since then,more than Rs 2,000 crore has been collected as toll at Paranur. But the records on toll collection at the toll plaza for 13.6 years showed that only Rs 1,098 crore was collected at Paranur and Athur toll plazas.

[binand]

Originally Posted by longhorn

What actually happens in a toll booth :-

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/73670432.cms

Not sure how they arrived at 2000 crore, but if it is correct mandatory Fastag should go a long way in plugging the leakage.

But this doesn't take into consideration cost of capital or time value of money. A far better study was undertaken by the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad at the Paliyekkara toll booth which exposed a lot of bad things happening in these tolled roads.

[sridhu]

Amazon has launched a ' Fastag Recharge ' option on Amazon pay. Apparently ANY Fastag can be recharged.

Should be good. UPI is better imo but they do give 50 bucks back!
The option


The process

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

Not sure how they arrived at 2000 crore, but if it is correct mandatory Fastag should go a long way in plugging the leakage.

I tend to agree with you. In India, things have gone bad to such an extent that any cash based transaction sooner or later get into some kind of a cheating scheme. Especially if one party involved is a government or quasi-government entity. So computerisation followed by automation would actually benefit Govt. of India if it is serious of getting its entitled money. There has been very stiff resistance from NHAI contractors when it came to implementing FasTag. Because they knew what was coming .

A far better study was undertaken by the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad at the Paliyekkara toll booth which exposed a lot of bad things happening in these tolled roads.

Paliyekkara also has lots of dubious distinctions, in my humble opinion .
1. The actual understanding in the contract seems to be still a well guarded secret. GoKL, NHAI and the contractor are not very keen on actually exposing the contract document.
2. The road contractor seems to have started collecting the toll, even when the work was not 70% complete. So who gave the approval, no body knows.
3. People in the area still expect a free pass and not keen on paying the toll. Which means that there is always some fight between the toll operator/contractor and the road users.

Do share me if you have a link of the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad report. May be it is a good document to read up.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Amazon has launched a ' Fastag Recharge ' option on Amazon pay. Apparently ANY Fastag can be recharged.

Initially it was offered to few Amazon users but it is available for everyone I believe. There are related posts few pages back in this thread.

I recharged my ICICI Fastag through Amazon app couple of days ago and it worked very well.

[Sherlocked]

I just noticed that the Paytm wallet linked to my Fastag has crossed the monthly withdrawal limit as I didn't complete the full KYC. Hence I am not able to add money for the Fastag in the wallet.
Tomorrow early morning I have to go on a highway drive, so what are my options now?

I think the toll booth will display my Fastag as Blacklisted and I will have to pay in cash.

My concern is will I have to pay double the toll charges as cash as it was in the news that after 15th Jan, if one doesn't have a Fastag they'll have to pay the double toll charges? Technically I have the Fastag, but with insufficient balance.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

so what are my options now?

Some tolls have POS and sell Fastags. You still have to provide documentation, that you'd do if you have got them online.

Originally Posted by longhorn

What actually happens in a toll booth :-

This is more as an exception than norm. Irumbuliyur-Mamandur 4-lane existed right from 1993, at that time the tollbooth existed in Mamandur.

[Raj_RD]

Does anyone know how to change mobile number of Hdfc fastag? It was provided by the dealer when i bought the car.

[sachinpk]

My FasTag is from AXIS bank. When I cross some toll booths, my vehicle # does NOT get displayed on the LED screen. The earlier tag which I had was from ICICI (purchased for my old vehicle) had the number displayed correctly. Can the same done for AXIS bank provided FasTags as well?

[inder]

Team how do I recharge my Amazon procured Fastag via Bhim App. It says handle is vehicle number@issuing bank handle .But in this case who is the issuing bank. I am new to UPI and Amazon Fastag. I have tried searching for recharge method by credit card,but did not find any,hence downloaded the Bhim App.