[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

I got a fastag from hdfc when I purchased my crysta in 2017 end. Now I have never used it in all these years but want to use it now. Any idea how to get it activated?

Either point of contact will do. Check with your dealer who would have tagged it with your VIN & mobile number when it was fitted. Even better, directly call or visit HDFC and quote your FT number.

[vinodvayyat]

Updates on my encounter with FasTag so far.

I have been a FasTag user since 2015. Till 2017, I used FasTag in my old Punto - the fastag is still active (the person I sold the car to is a friend of mine). The only issue we ever faced was the faulty devices at the toll booths. After I bought a Tata Hexa in 2017, I started using its new HDFC tag and worked without much issues till 2019. By late 2017, had been facing issues of "Invalid Tag" display in most of the toll booths I enter. Had to end up paying money, though some booths deducted money from my account after a day etc.

At every toll both I enter following will be the sequence/drama:

• Vehicle enters the area, boom doesn't get lifted.
• The booth personnel will ask me to reverse the car a little and again come back.
• They start with manual device. The RFID gun won't work. They will recommend Barcode (behind the tag) scanning. I will lower the window glass (mostly I will be handed over the device).
• I will be asked to pay money and go ahead. I did this for 1-2 trips since I lacked time to get it rectified.

I had parked about Rs. 1000/- or more in the account. There are no options to take a refund. There is absolutely no provisions in the portal to do anything other than recharge or a few service requests. After the FasTag was made mandatory before even I could rectify the problem, I had to embark on another trip due to some emergency. The same issues started happening and I called up HDFC and will be updated by them that there is no issue with the tag. I will be further asked to contact NHAI who will also say the same thing. But NHAI folks reminded me of the rule that I don't need to pay the money if such a thing happens. The toll booth folks wont ever listen even if I connect them directly to NHAI folks and they will demand money.

I decided to analyze the problem further and here is the outcome.

• The RFID as well as the Barcode always worked. The Tag ID always flashed in their device. But it won't be able to display/retreive the vehicle details.
• The booth personnel doesn't give a damn about it. According to them "Your fastag is invalid". Some even told me that it is "blacklisted".
• I took a photo of their device display which is attached here.
• So the issue is that the device is not able to communicate to server and retreive the details, even though Tag is intact and account is active.
• The same Tag ID is seen in the customer portal as well.

The display screen of their RFID device:


The customer portal screenshot:


After many phone calls, I was finally successful to get one of their seniors to talk to me who acknowledged the issue and updated me that the backend team will be informed to carry out required updates in server.

I was always offered by HDFC, the option of going for a new fastag which involves me depositing Rs. 100/- in their bank account and an update of my new address before them sending a new one. I failed always to understand why a recharge has to be so user-friendly and why such requests are not! They will make customer do all payments and do all hardwork. In my opinion, India isn't prepared for FasTag yet. Every stakeholder involved here - the bank, NHAI, toll booth people - try disowning for any issue we have. Everyone will say that your FastTag is corrupted/tampered - is an easy thing to say and most of the people might oblige. The accountability needs to be much better without which this will be a pain to own going forward.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by vinodvayyat

In my opinion, India isn't prepared for FasTag yet. Every stakeholder involved here - the bank, NHAI, toll booth people - try disowning for any issue we have

Not sounding cynical but; India is NOT prepared for any form modernisation unless it suits/improves the overall corruption in the country 8) . How much ever we talk about all historic culture, Gandhi-giri etc our society (including me) is corrupted to the core. In the case of FasTag the biggest hit would be for the toll operators as it is their revenue which is now being monitored. Banks etc. are enjoying the show because they get some kind of minimum deposit on every FasTag. And for the road users who find that paying tolls is below their dignity or macho mentality; they too will find this inconvenient. If a rumour can be triggered that FasTag has some mechanism which helps people store unaccounted wealth or some thing similar, we would now have even auto rickshaws having FasTags by now.

[ksameer1234]

From my experience of using Fastag over past one year, there has been consistent improvement in tag acceptability and compliance by users. I vividly remember using tag only lanes last year only to be stuck behind cars/buses/trucks with invalid or blacklisted tags haggling with toll operators. During my highway trip last week, I noticed far shorter queues even though it was a long weekend and zero cases of invalid tags.

Needless to say this experience varies from state to state and MH is probably right at the bottom of barrel. In MP, GJ and KA, some Fastag only lanes don't have any person manning the lane. Just drive past the sensors and barrier which is about 10-20 meters away rises up. Even the cash / tag lanes are separated more than 100 meters before toll booth so that tag lanes are never hogged.

With such visible improvement in just a year, I won't be surprised if toll booth jams become exception than norm. Yes, there will be odd cases here and there of tag errors but experience makes me confident that we are in right direction.

[yoscenario2000]

And here my Fastag suffering Saga continues.

This time it is NOT about double debit at exit toll plaza, but double debit for a commercial vehicle behind my car and that too along with my regular valid debit amount for my car.

To be honest, I'm now fed with raising complaints and asking for refunds. What I've observed that all issues I've faced till now are due to Toll plaza mistakes, not due to Fastag provider (ICICI Bank).

[coolmel]

Originally Posted by caffeineAM

So what's the update? I'm following your case to see if the same fate awaits me. I got a new ICICI tag after a horrendous experience with HDFC. As an update to that, they (HDFC) still haven't returned my money that they incorrectly debited. It's about 2000 rupees over multiple transactions. They are "investigating"

Update is ICICI keeps mailing: Your new Fastag will reach you in 8-10 working days. I was promised a resolution by last Monday, nothing so far. I'm seriously contemplating taking them to consumer court/forums.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Feeling happy. One thing I like about the present government is the way it is fighting black money and corruption. For some reason, the NHAI is not keen on giving adequate publicity to how FASTag adoption has affected reported revenues. The details are there, some have trickled out. But nobody wants to admit the institutional achievement because there is huge personal financial loss.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...801317418.html

[longhorn]

There is nothing in the report that has an apples to apples comparison. It only says toll collection via FasTag has tripled. It doesn't mean the actual collection has tripled, only the cash component has now been forcibly shifted to digital collection which is expected when you force everyone to buy a FasTag. Don't be fooled into thinking the government is doing it out of its love for the people. They are only doing it because they have shot themselves in the foot with demo and GST and now have no money left in their coffers. With actual GST collections being much lower than projected, they are trying to squeeze out every penny possible to keep the show running.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Not sounding cynical but; India is NOT prepared for any form modernisation unless it suits/improves the overall corruption in the country 8) .

Agree buddy. My point is that there isn't enough accountability in the system. Every stakeholder in this (in most of the cases, including customer) is disowning their responsibility in the issues. People like you and me will go to the far end to get the issue to the root cause. But even that process is so painful. Even after I point HDFC folks to their issues, they don't give a reference ID to the phone call, no follow up and I'm in need to explain the issue from scratch everytime I call. This is all because the Govt isn't interested in enacting a law that could bind all these together properly. Where will we go to resolve it?!

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

From my experience of using Fastag over past one year, there has been consistent improvement in tag acceptability and compliance by users. I vividly remember using tag only lanes last year only to be stuck behind cars/buses/trucks with invalid or blacklisted tags haggling with toll operators. During my highway trip last week, I noticed far shorter queues even though it was a long weekend and zero cases of invalid tags.

It is completely normal for the FasTag lanes experiencing less traffic when there are 7-8 lanes dedicated for it. The double cash fee will discourage users in entering the FasTag lanes. But this is due long ago since the government inherited earlier Govt's implementation - there was hardly any improvement post that. While it will work this way at most of the big toll booths, it is creating chaos in small ones - The L&T toll plaza in Coimbatore was recently FasTag enabled and it is a complete chaos since there is only one FasTag lane and one cash lane. Anyway, who are we to complain?! After all we are just tax paying citizens!

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by longhorn

There is nothing in the report that has an apples to apples comparison. It only says toll collection via FasTag has tripled. It doesn't mean the actual collection has ..

Please see this link from January, 2020 which I believe was posted here. It says ₹ 50 crore through ETC, ₹ 86 crore total on a single day. It means nothing till we are told at least the average daily collection for previous years. And that is precisely my point - even the NHAI is reluctant to discuss full details of impact of ETC in terms of transparency in cash flows brought about by FASTag.

https://m.economictimes.com/industry...w/73265252.cms

[CowlFlap]

Originally Posted by CowlFlap

A quick question for forum members, has anyone bought a tag from a toll plaza? What has the experience been like? Has it worked/failed?

Originally Posted by sidpunjabi

Just got mine from the Bandra-Worli Sea link toll plaza last week.

Experience was pretty good. All in all, it takes about 20 mins (if there isn't a queue).
3-4 mins to fill up the form.
5-10 mins for the official to verify and input your details into the system.
Another 5 mins for the system to activate the tag , send a confirmation sms.

The forms are available at the counter. Just ensure to carry all the requisite docs (usually PAN/Aadhar/RC) and you'll be good to go.

Tag is working perfectly till date.

So we got the Tag from the Bandra-Worli sea link toll plaza couple days ago and the process is pretty straight forward and along the lines mentioned by @sidpunjabi. A few add-on notes:

1. You need to fill the form and get the Tag from the office which is next to the toll plaza. Ideally, you should pick up the Tag on your way from Worli, since the said office is to your left just after the toll plaza. Be safe and remember to use your indicators as you cut across three odd lanes to the office after the toll boom lifts.

2. The office operates between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. They are helpful folks and fairly well clued. Good for noobs like me.

3. It's an IDFC bank tag, it gets activated instantly with a confirmation sms, and accessing the tag details online is a breeze. Recharges can be made right there via cash or online via any bank credit cards, netbanking etc.

4. In addition to your vehicle RC and Aadhar/Driving licence/Passport (PAN only for ID proof), remember to carry a PP-size photo.

5. Works flawlessly.

[Eddy]

Note from Support: No political discussions please. Thank You.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Tried my SBI Fastag on Tiago for the first time over weekend to go to Mantralayam from Bangalore. It gave a very smooth and nice experience at all toll gates. Amazingly near Mantralayam the toll was Rs. 40/- one way and Rs. 55/- for return trip on same day. It deducted Rs. 40/- during onward journey. We returned after a few hours and it deducted Rs. 15/- at the time of return. Nice to see the return toll system is indeed working as expected.
Only downside is the delay in SMS after money deduction from your account. I got the SMS' well after a couple of hours.

This is an update on my travel in previous post about something I missed and observed today only. While going to Mantralayam I passed a toll gate at Marur on NH-7 where the charges are Rs. 110/-. Somehow I had felt that time that I was not charged any money while crossing the gate based on the body language of people there, however the bar was lifted when car arrived and nothing unusual about that. Today while having a look on transaction history and all SMS' I am not indeed able to see any deduction for that gate. There is an entry of Rs. 110/- on return journey as expected. This confirms a "free journey" facility in case there is a technical snag from toll gate's side. Good going again

[binand]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Today while having a look on transaction history and all SMS' I am not indeed able to see any deduction for that gate. [...] This confirms a "free journey" facility in case there is a technical snag from toll gate's side.

Happened to me too during a recent trip from Chennai to Calicut - there is no deduction for passing through the Athur toll booth.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by vinodvayyat

It is completely normal for the FasTag lanes experiencing less traffic when there are 7-8 lanes dedicated for it.

This wasn't the case last year. Tag lanes had much longer queue than cash lanes, reason being lack of experience on part of toll operators and users which led to issues.

The double cash fee will discourage users in entering the FasTag lanes.

This double cash is certainly not enforced in MH where I have seen normal fee in cash being collected in Fastag only lanes. I did spot it in GJ where couple of cars were turning back from Fastag lanes and going all the way back to join cash lane, possibly due to double cash demand.

While it will work this way at most of the big toll booths, it is creating chaos in small ones - The L&T toll plaza in Coimbatore was recently FasTag enabled and it is a complete chaos since there is only one FasTag lane and one cash lane.

From my experience, these teething problems get resolved pretty fast. In many cases, either toll operators are not experienced enough or users don't know how to use Fastag correctly. Good thing is people are positive in resolving issues on their end and adopting Fastag since it is inherently better option than cash.