[headbanger]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

A sincere appeal to the Govt - GPS, Fastag, NFC, Chip in my head, whatever it is, just look ahead and plan for a minimum of 15-20 years. Improve the system incrementally. Please do not go experimenting with all the latest tech you can get your hands on. It's not a play school where you are trying to join the blocks and building something. Starting over ever so often. All your actions have real impact on people on the ground. You cannot keep ignoring the realities.

How true!!! There is something called as "roadmap" of a solution ecosystem.

I feel like we are being handled as "subjects" in an ongoing series of experiments. The same set of folks are getting HSRP, fastag, the color coded stickers and will also end up getting this new tech as well because they believe the effort will help in easing the hassle. The other side of the folks have neither of these and they don't care a dime about it. Sometimes out of sheer frustration I just feel it's better to be on this other side of the fence.

Merely a concept or fancy tech cannot give results on its own. A framework with execution as well as control points with tech usage is what will lead to the desired results.

[gkveda]

Till now, we had only mortal banks, service providers, toll operators, deactivated fastags, etc on earth to blame if extra money is deducted, tag doesn't work, or gate does not open and other tag related issues.

Now we have one more divine variable added to the blame game. All the mortals start pointing their hands towards sky(GPS, Satellites) and put the blame on divine entity.

Long live our fastag thread

[jkrishnakj]

I like the news of toll booths becoming defunct. Honestly, that was sheer wastage of time and fuel - Fastag or not, it was a resource drainer.

What I don’t like is ‘GPS’. I get a bad feeling that this may turn out to be yet another experiment on the roads. Hopefully, there is a clear detailed Project Report (DPR) that’s foreard looking atleast a decade ahead.

[EightSix]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

The central government is planning to roll out complete GPS-based toll collection within a year. If this plan follows through then toll booths will be defunct in the country. The announcement was made by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday in Lok Sabha.

The main point = Government can easily track us and our cars! Why should we give anyone unnecessary details about our location?

What happened to privacy in this nation? And what if there is a security flaw? Privacy (rather, the lack of it) is the biggest disadvantage of this system.

And in one year - where are you going to get all cars in the country fitted with GPS?

Edit - So I came to know how the system works from a TOI article

How it will work —

All vehicles will have to buy a VTS (Vehicle Tracking System) device.

Every vehicle owner would be required to create a separate wallet or the existing wallet of FAStag can be linked to the unique ID of the VTS device. This wallet can be linked to the bank account, UPI or any other account. Using the VTS, the system will exactly locate the vehicle using the latitude and longitude GPS coordinates. “It can compute the kilometres travelled on any tolled road and since the VTS has details of the class of the vehicle and axle configuration, the exact toll amount can be deducted from the wallet,” said an official.

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

Yet another impulsive decision from the government. Why push for the FasTag if you're going to do away with it in a year ?
Hope they have a roadmap in consideration. Who will bear the cost to implement the GPS devices. Why the need to track vehicles all the time ? Isn't registration details and toll receipts enough already !
He had stated earlier that GPS based toll collection will be implemented with the help of Russian government. I would be wary to link my bank account to this thing. So the question remains, if it ain't broke, why fix it ?

They won’t do away with the FasTag. The FasTag wallet will be used to deduct exact toll amount.

Originally Posted by saikarthik

GPS of what? Many cars on the road doesn't have a GPS device in-built. Are we going to be forced to buy some device to retrofit? if not, then there will be 2 systems in place, FASTag for old vehicles, GPS based toll for new till the transition is complete. And even then it will be the user who will need to pay additional amount for this device.

This is a nightmare scenario for users. Government is perfecting the "fickle is fun" attitude(sadly)! Who is paying for all the impulsive and short time implementations on infrastructure? I now know where all the tax money is going!

A Vehicle Tracking System device needs to be purchased by us. If they are not letting us drive on an expressway if we don’t have a stupid app right now, they would easily force this down our throat too. And voices like ours will never be heard.

Like we are paying double toll today for our FasTag less car, we would likely have to do the same.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Would this mean the car's GPS will be accessible to some authority to collect the toll? That would be a privacy nightmare.

That’s exactly what it will be. Your car can be tracked down by them anytime. Reportedly, the government is LIKELY to take a legal opinion on the privacy issues considering that all such vehicles will need to get the Vehicle Tracking System which can be used for real time location, but let’s face it — our government doesn’t care about privacy.

[Akshay6988]

Yet another impulsive decision from the government. Why push for the FasTag if you're going to do away with it in a year ?
Hope they have a roadmap in consideration. Who will bear the cost to implement the GPS devices. Why the need to track vehicles all the time ? Isn't registration details and toll receipts enough already !
He had stated earlier that GPS based toll collection will be implemented with the help of Russian government. I would be wary to link my bank account to this thing. So the question remains, if it ain't broke, why fix it ?

[StarrySky]

I will be surprised if this turns out to be some GPS-based system. Would this mean the car's GPS will be accessible to some authority to collect the toll? That would be a privacy nightmare.

I guess this will be some ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) based system.

[Jaggu]

Really amazed at the way in which this country operates!

Fast tag implementation itself is not really smoothened out or has reached 100%, they are thinking of moving to GPS based system?? And who is going to pay for the GPS equipment that is supposed to be fitted in the vehicle? When the whole world has a perfectly normal working tag system what is the used case to move to a relative infant and not fully tested system like GPS?

Either they will use a thump to drive the nail in OR they will get a 2-ton piler! Such are the dumbos who recommend stuff to our beloved govt LOL

[Doo_Dev]

There are several issue and loopholes if they go for a GPS based setup.

1. Privacy : As mentioned in previous posts, why should we give our location info to bank/organization/govt. (It is another matter that we allow Google / Facebook etc to track where we go , what we do. But atleast we gain some convenience on sharing data)

2. If all the toll booths are removed , in a retrofitted car with tracking device , it shouldn't be difficult to disconnect the power to GPS device . If done , can we go around India without paying any tolls?

3. if the toll booths are going to maintained , then what advantage does this offer over fastag?

[Cyborg]

Please remember, whatever medium (bank account/payment gateway) is connected for this payment purpose has a small amount/minimum balance as there will be wrong debits (system error, wrong positioning etc). Imagine the headache to rectify such mistakes, better to be safe than sorry.

Cheers

[stallmaster]

Yet another textbook Tughlaqi idea from the regime. I believed the current MoRTH minister was one of the most capable ones of this decade, but one after another hare-brained ideas from his ministry make it seems like:

1. There's a sanctimonious 'Big Brother' attitude from his ministry, with absolutely no regards for public forum generated ideas and opinions. I am sure none of the secretaries in his ministry reached out to the public for views regarding betterment of the current system that's in place, especially since it affects each and every one of the highway users.

2. This seems like a surveillance system in all honesty. Absolutely nothing stops the tech firms from refining the FASTAG system which would deduct the requisite toll amount from your account faster than it does now, albeit simpler to implement.

3. They don't even want to consider the possibility that some members of the public might want to pay in cash. This is an extreme illiberal dispensation in place at the moment.

In similar vein, Mr Gadkari said in Parliament that the re-registration fees of 15yr old private vehicles are about to go up substantially. This is simply an assault on private choice. I do not want to part with my old car which is maintained in top condition, even if it is 20yrs old. I do not find any economic sense in scrapping it and buying a new vehicle for the same task. My pollution levels are lower than a newer Creta or Harrier.

Nothing is stopping the government from constituting stricter fitness and pollution checks on older vehicles. Instead that, to placate the automobile lobby they make the cost of ownership of even basic vehicles sky high. I am really frustrated that we have such 'public servants' at the center which has absolutely no respect for public opinion in most matters, even though it is milking everyone to the last penny for taxes.

[msdivy]

What about the FASTag infrastructure already deployed? Who will bear the obsolescence cost?

Originally Posted by stallmaster

My pollution levels are lower than a newer Creta or Harrier.

That is true and begs the question of what is the focus - reducing pollution or increasing car sales?

[mac187]

https://www.news18.com/news/india/al...i-3547784.html

Govt is planning to do away with all physical booths within a year, toll collection will happen via GPS. The money will be collected based on GPS imaging (on vehicles).

I am not sure if such a tech exists. Wishful thinking maybe?

Interesting stat: 7 per cent of vehicle owners still do not use FASTags despite paying a double toll.

[urbanzameendar]

I have always wondered why is the RFID sensor placed near the booth and not at the entrance of the lane. When the fastag is mandatory now, what is the point in having a collection booth in all the lanes? Just have 1 cash lane on either sides and the rest of the lanes can be fastag only.

I have seen in some videos, in other countries, cars just need to slow down in toll plaza and not come to a complete halt. But here in India, during the last 16 months of my fastag usage, I have always felt the cash transactions were faster than fastags. The tag never gets scanned precisely except in a few toll plazas. Surajbari & Samakhiali toll plazas in Kutch are notorious in this matter, they often have to scan it with a handheld device.

In my opinion, fastag never saved time for me. The only positive thing about it is that I don't have to roll down my window and inhale diesel soot.

Instead of experimenting with entirely new concepts, I think the Govt. should work on making the fastag implementation a seamless one where vehicles are not required to come to a dead stop, toll plazas should be made barricade-free by efficient implementation of fastag scanners.

[Nissan1180]

The goal seems to be to charge consumers only for the distance they traveled. This can be good if you're taking an exit out of the toll road. But then again, how many new GPS receivers can they install? Millions would be needed to serve every exit across the country.

A side effect would be the loss of jobs. Every toll plaza has at least 10 employees and with approximately 600 plazas, more 10,0000 jobs can be lost.

[Desi Dybuk]

In my previous life, I was involved in the process to setup Ez Tag system for HCTRA (Harris County Toll Road Authority) in Houston, TX. Evem 15-16 years ago, they had implemented the NFC tag system like our Fastag. The tag readers were mounted on masts on freeways as well as toll booths. After a bit of calibration, there were not much issues with the tags being read. And to this day, it works flawlessly. What we learnt that there was an art to calibration of the reader & the placement.

Heck, if you go to Dubai, their Salek system is also an NFC tag & it works flawlessly!

This preposterous idea is a solution looking for a problem. The reason there are lines & issues at our toll booths are because they are mounted haphazardly & they use the cheapest transmitter from China which has a very narrow & weak attack angle. And it's a simple matter of IT backend systems being intelligent enough to detect double billing (if the same tag is read in a span of 1-2 minutes, charge only once). AI & ML can solve these things easily

I guarantee it that this GPS based system would also come with it's own set of problems if they are installed in the same 'Desi' way the Fastags are done.

And in addition, where would these tracking systems plug into? OBD port? Or they need their own power supply? Has it been implemented ANYWHERE in the world?? I work in this domain & I know of no such system being implemented in any country on such a large scale.