[blorebuddy]

I am sure yesterday many TBHPians would have spent 1 hour time in the Krishnagiri toll plaze yesterday (2nd Jan 2011) evening. I am one of them.
This is not the first time I am seeing this huge vehicle queue (it was approx. 750 mtrs long if it was not more) every long weekend, festival weekends there is a huge queue in Krishnagiri toll plaza.

It is difficult to spend so much time to buy a ticket with infants, children, elderly people or people who are sick.

In my opinion on the process followed which is one of the reason for delay. There is one person to look at the number and collects cash and hand over it to the cashier, he enters the vehicle number and gives the receipt. If this is done by one person probably it will be faster. This is followed in all other toll plazas except NHAI set up (such as Reliance, L&T etc) on NH-7 and NH-4 towards Chennai from Kgiri

This is also followed in Attibele toll which is between Hosur and Bangalore which also handles equal number of vehicles however does not require 1 hour to cross this toll.

Following could be solutions to this
1. Why can't they divert traffic to opposite counters which are free (may be with 10% of the traffic compared to this side)
2. Why can't they have hand held devices and issue tickets by multiple folks
3. Why can't they introduce more counters /kiosks before the toll plaza - may be at Reliance -Kamat locations, A2B Thoppur, A2B Chinnar, COCO of HP etc?

Creating this thread to share TBHPians experience and possible solutions.

How to take this up to NHAI? BTW I have raised an complaint in NHAI website however we need more larger number people raising this issue to get this addressed at the earliest.

[RemingtonSteele]

I see similar problem at the 1st Toll Plaza on NH4 from Pune-Bangalore (beyond Khedshivapur).
The best and most efficient Toll Plaza I have ever seen is at Creek bridge (Khadi Pool) when entering Mumbai from Vashi.

[kj302]

Boy, I think I escaped it. Yesterday I was passing K'giri at 1 PM.

I would really loved to see a RFID tag with prepaid option for toll collection. Commuters could either buy the card for Rs. x, or buy it for a specific journey.

The fastest conventional toll collection I saw is at Gurgaon toll plaza. Man, those guys are fast.

[camchennai]

@blorebuddy - Sorry to hear you got stuck in toll plaza for hours.

Your solutions are completely acceptable apart from traffic diversion, as this seems to create some chaos and we should also understand that we are in a National Highway and we cannot afford for any risks.
Handheld device seems to be an excellent suggestion, however it would cost the toll company more as they would need to increase manpower and procure handheld device, and I am not sure how far they would take this up. Setting up kiosk will once again increase their operating cost.

[prince_pervez]

Problems waiting at toll plazas can be greatly reduced if they have dedicated lanes for commercial trucks buses and frequent visitors. With something like an EZ-PASS here or an electonic/magnetic device enabling the frequent vehicles to pass through their lanes faster and the rest available to the general public. Having more number of lanes helps a lot. One more then one occasion I have seen a couple of counters closed. May be because of lack of staff.

[khoj]

Originally Posted by blorebuddy

Creating this thread to share TBHPians experience and possible solutions.

How to take this up to NHAI? BTW I have raised an complaint in NHAI website however we need more larger number people raising this issue to get this addressed at the earliest.

Commendable start to try and bring this nationwide malice to the attention of the authorities. Provide the link to the NHAI web page and rest assured several hundred if not thousands of genuine complaints will go in from the forum.

EDIT

Originally Posted by kj302

The fastest conventional toll collection I saw is at Gurgaon toll plaza. Man, those guys are fast.

Hey kj302,
Wait till you see the guys at the Vashi toll plaza in New Bombay, their speed makes the Gurgaon guys appear as if standing still. I read somewhere that on an average they handle 200 vehicles every minute. The helpers hanging outside every booth have the ability or maybe are trained to identify the denomination of the note in your hand by colour or size or both and have the exact change and ticket in their hands by the time you open your window. You will notice regular drivers holding up their notes to help these guys along. First time drivers through the plaza of course are another story.

[kj302]

Originally Posted by khoj

Commendable start to try and bring this nationwide malice to the attention of the authorities. Provide the link to the NHAI web page and rest assured several hundred if not thousands of genuine complaints will go in from the forum.

I have raised one complaint with NHAI on the sunken road over bridges on Salem-Kanyakumari section. Discussed in this thread

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by RemingtonSteele

I see similar problem at the 1st Toll Plaza on NH4 from Pune-Bangalore (beyond Khedshivapur).
The best and most efficient Toll Plaza I have ever seen is at Creek bridge (Khadi Pool) when entering Mumbai from Vashi.

+1 to what Remingtonsteele said. Recently it took me around 30 mins to pay and pass the toll. Equally difficult were the next two toll plaza's on NH4. I guess it was Saturday hence the heavy rush. But the worst part was the chaos created by some trucks/state buses who were trying haphazardly to enter some lanes. Also I could see some toll guys starting to collect the toll amount way before the counter. Nice idea for some con operation. Real horrified to see a 4 lane toll plaza trying to accomodate a 7 lane traffic.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by kj302

Boy, I think I escaped it. Yesterday I was passing K'giri at 1 PM.

I would really loved to see a RFID tag with prepaid option for toll collection. Commuters could either buy the card for Rs. x, or buy it for a specific journey.

The fastest conventional toll collection I saw is at Gurgaon toll plaza. Man, those guys are fast.

The RFID concept has been implemented at the Gurgaon toll plaza. Trust me, it makes very less difference.

Firstly, more often than not, drivers without the tags get into that lane when the rush is huge. And in NCR, you can actually get away with it very easily.

From the concept of RFID, the vehicle driver can just flash the card from a considerable distance and by the time he comes at the gate, the gate would have opened and during this process the vehicle should not lose its speed considerably. However, at Gurgaon, you will find even the tag guys at the same speed as the ones in cash lanes!

This said and done, the counters at Gurgaon do process it quickly. It's like the guys at the counter is a robot who has 3 functions: check the vehicle no., take in the cash and give out change and the receipt.

One thing that I have noticed over the many toll plazas I have seen; the height at which the guys also makes a huge difference.

At Gurgaon, the guy is only slightly elevated that a car driver making spotting the car no., taking money and handing the receipt quick. If you look at the toll plazas on NICE rd, they sit way too high so it is quite an effort for them to bend and drivers to stretch out to give money.

[nandans2005]

I am sure yesterday many TBHPians would have spent 1 hour time in the Krishnagiri toll plaze yesterday (2nd Jan 2011) evening.

The long queue was due to the Holiday season & there was a heavy flow of vehicles on 2nd and the 3rd of Jan.My family was travelling and they spent about 20 mins at the krishnagiri toll both on 2nd and 3rd jan 2011.

The scenario was the same at e-city toll and the NICE road too on these 2 days.

Otherwise, i see that these guys on NH7 are efficient enough as per my experience, since i use this highway very often and havent got delayed on regular working days.

[hvkumar]

I think on NH7 the problem is that they issue the toll tickets with car numbers in them, it is a better procedure to have preprinted tickets that can be handed out immediately. Further, the toll charges should be round figures so that it is easier to hand back change. Having toll charges like Rs 43 and Rs 23 makes it all the more difficult.

RemingtonSteele has mentioned the relative efficiency at the Navi Mumbai toll gate, I agree. They have preprinted tickets, have change ready (since toll charges are Rs 30), they have either RS 20 or Rs 70 in the hands of the toll attendant who gives you the ticket. The person punching the ticket is helped by an attendant who actually takes the cash from you and hands you the ticket. These techniques work, and the discharge of cars at this toll gate is very quick.

In MH on NH4, 2 particularly inefficient toll gates (going south from Pune) are the ones after Katraj Tunnel and the one before Satara. Apart from the inefficient processes followed, since there is no lane segregation, uncivilised drivers cut lanes and disrupt lane discipline, this is also something which has to be curbed by segregating lanes for a longer distance (say, 100 metres).

On many occasions, despite there being many toll counters, some are not manned.
It is time to expand the number of toll gates in most places, since the quantum of traffic is multiplying several times, and not just on weekends or holidays.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I think on NH7 the problem is that they issue the toll tickets with car numbers in them, it is a better procedure to have preprinted tickets that can be handed out immediately.

Not sure of the exact reason why they have the vehicle number on the receipt, but i would assume it is to prevent it from being reused by another vehicle in the case of a return pass.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Further, the toll charges should be round figures so that it is easier to hand back change. Having toll charges like Rs 43 and Rs 23 makes it all the more difficult.

I totally agree with this! Sometimes, fishing change is a pain, and in the cases where you are unable to furnish the exact denomination, you would be provided with chocolates in return. :(

[Newpunter]

I had this problem on the 24th Dec near the Nelamangala Toll way entry from Nice Road. There was only one counter open and there were lots and lots of vehicles. I think we would have reached Nelamangala faster if we had just taken the side roads without paying the toll.

With the number of tollways being built, I think it would be a good idea to implement some RFID system that would be applicable across all tollways in india and have dedicated lanes for the guys with these tags ( would save a lot on the manpower too ).

[mmxylorider]

As pointed out, having round number toll charges should be the norm. On the old NH4, quite a few times I have been given chocolates in lieu of change. I used it promptly at the next toll gate.
I also tend to get behind trucks if there is no vehicle segregation - they do not argue and try to find out means of escaping paying toll. I've experienced one car in front of me try out everything from DL, Votercard, PAN card with no luck - but ate up 5 mins of everybody's time.

Akin to Sodexo/Mumbai rail, there should be a facility to purchase a packet of toll coupons which can be used across any toll station at a dedicated lane. Just hand over the appropriate coupon(s). These can be sold at authorized stations with your vehicle # preprinted. Advantage for toll companies is upfront cash.

P.S. Is there any reason for keeping toll stations on both sides at the same place? Keep some distance between them and use the additional space for setting up more gates on both sides

[BulZire]

Originally Posted by blorebuddy

I am sure yesterday many TBHPians would have spent 1 hour time in the Krishnagiri toll plaze yesterday (2nd Jan 2011) evening. I am one of them.
This is not the first time I am seeing this huge vehicle queue (it was approx. 750 mtrs long if it was not more) every long weekend, festival weekends there is a huge queue in Krishnagiri toll plaza.

It is difficult to spend so much time to buy a ticket with infants, children, elderly people or people who are sick.

In my opinion on the process followed which is one of the reason for delay. There is one person to look at the number and collects cash and hand over it to the cashier, he enters the vehicle number and gives the receipt. If this is done by one person probably it will be faster. This is followed in all other toll plazas except NHAI set up (such as Reliance, L&T etc) on NH-7 and NH-4 towards Chennai from Kgiri

This is also followed in Attibele toll which is between Hosur and Bangalore which also handles equal number of vehicles however does not require 1 hour to cross this toll.

Following could be solutions to this
1. Why can't they divert traffic to opposite counters which are free (may be with 10% of the traffic compared to this side)
2. Why can't they have hand held devices and issue tickets by multiple folks
3. Why can't they introduce more counters /kiosks before the toll plaza - may be at Reliance -Kamat locations, A2B Thoppur, A2B Chinnar, COCO of HP etc?

Creating this thread to share TBHPians experience and possible solutions.

How to take this up to NHAI? BTW I have raised an complaint in NHAI website however we need more larger number people raising this issue to get this addressed at the earliest.

I was also in the same toll plaza on 2nd waiting between 8 PM and 9 PM. The huge delay was not only due to the increase in number of vehicles at that time, it was also due to a accident and road block just after the toll. We were directed through some rural roads just before entering the toll and joined back in NH7 after few kilometers, we did not pay the toll charge. I also saw a ambulance rushing but could not see the accident spot.