New Delhi: Earlier this week, the Narendra Modi government made FASTag mandatory for toll collection at national highways. In a statement Sunday, the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said that any vehicle not fitted with the tag will have to pay double toll fee to access the highways.
A FASTag is affixed to a vehicle and the fee is automatically deducted once the car passes through the toll plaza, eliminating the need to stop in queues.
A senior official in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways told ThePrint that all 631 national highway toll plazas were operational with FASTags, along with 109 state-run toll plazas and 39 toll plazas that come under the MoRTH.
However, the official added, it will still take some time before all plazas on national highways will be able to collect fees only through FASTag.
At present, toll collection through FASTag makes up 85 per cent of the total collection, the official added.
The official also noted that states like West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Kerala are yet to shift completely to FASTag.
The national highways in Punjab and Haryana are also not operational currently because of the ongoing farmers’ agitation at Delhi borders.
ThePrint takes a look at what FASTags are, how they are being implemented across the country and their benefits.
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What are FASTags?
FASTags, which aid electronic payment of fees at toll plazas, were introduced in 2016. Each tag has a unique code for a vehicle and when one drives through the toll plazas, the fee is automatically deducted after the system scans the code.
They can be purchased and recharged on PayTM and Amazon, as well as websites of a few banks such as HDFC, Kotak Bank, ICICI and Axis Bank
According to the senior government official, as of 17 February, there were 60 lakh transactions made through FASTags worth Rs 95 crore, which is 16 per cent higher than the transactions made last week.
Once FASTags become 100 per cent operational in the country, the government expects an inflow of revenue worth more than Rs 100 crore.
In the fiscal year, 2019-2020, electronic toll collection was worth Rs 11,294 crore, while in the fiscal year 2020-21 (up till 17 February) the total electronic toll collection was Rs 18,556 crores — an increase of over Rs 7,000 crores.
India will also become the only country in the world to have one uniform e-toll collection facility once FASTags become the sole mode of toll collection.
After these became mandatory Tuesday, more than 9.2 lakh (9,29,725) vehicles had signed up for FASTags as of Friday. Officials noted they expect the number of toll collections through FASTags to increase in the coming days.
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Benefits of FASTags
FASTags have been a part of toll collection for years now, however, prior to this a hybrid model of collection was followed. One lane on the toll plaza was reserved for both cash payments and the tags. But this was counterproductive as it would lead to long queues, big traffic jams and more fuel emissions.
According to Vivek Chattopadhyay, air pollution programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment, once FASTags are installed in all vehicles and toll plazas, it will be easier to pass through them and it will result in lower fuel emissions that are harmful for the environment.
“Due to the toll fee collection there were longer queues and more traffic jams, which resulted in an increase in fuel emissions,” Chattopadhyay said.
He explained that when the engine of a vehicle is at the optimal speed (40 km/hour) it releases less fuel compared to a vehicle moving at an idle speed. “The same engine when idle is emitting twice as many pollutants and burns more fuel. It is a waste of fuel. FASTags are a much better alternative.”
The central government is offering FASTags free of cost till 1 March to encourage their use.
According to government sources, to ensure more efficient FASTag roll out on state roads, outreach programmes for states are in the pipeline.
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More BS
More surveillance of vehicles
another way to extend the surveillance net on citizens …Bravo…..I d rather pay double the fare
now transport ministry get ur act together n do u mind clearing up all the discarded vehicle dumpyards in the city first …or will that take u a decade to clear the vehicle garbage piling up all over the city
another way to extend the surveillance net on citizens …Bravo…..I d rather pay double the fare
now transport ministry get ur act together n do u mind clearing up all the discarded vehicle dumpyards in the city first …or will that take u a decade to clear the vehicle garbage piling up all over the city
the FAST tag should be called SLOW tag as i face more delays especially in MUMBAI five tolls they are accepting cash even today
the dedicated lane for FAST Tag is a SHAM the toll operators dont charge double from the guys paying cash and we have many VIP vehciles which delay the traffic.The Gates just done open my time at the tolls have increased
In mumbai we have a system of pass for the five tolls which is cheaper than Fast tag
the author is unaware of the situation and the paper is irresponsible to let such article publish
Indeed the best thing to have happened to the Indian Highways Sector. Some teething problems exist. But they will get solved once the system evolves.
Revathy this you call journalism? Pet ?
1. Infrastructure to support the fast tag is not in place. Readers dont work half the time.
2. There was a provision of a return fare or a day pass earlier, thia dismissing in the fast tag, leaving the commuters to pay more even in case of a return trip.
3. On the NH4 the return toll for pune Mumbai was 175 rupees, with fast tag, the return toll facility is not present.
4. It should be super efficient like the salik system in UAE, where the vehicles can zip through the unmanned toll booths saving time.
4.
I have travelled 100s of times through fastag lanes since i Got A fastag in 2018. Very rarely did I have issues. One time I was billed twice. There is. A mechanism to solve such issues, but I didn’t care to do that.
Never have I been charged wrongly for return travel within 24 hours. First crossing has actual Toll and second crossing the rest of the amount of return Toll.
Everyone wants to have development and the prosperity of the west. But nobody wants to go through the pains it takes to reach that level. This is a massive system that controls how many 10000s of till transactions per second. Some issues are bound to be there until they are solved.
I would live to have more fastag lanes definitely. Once the system is in place and working flawlessly, they should increase no: of toll lanes at every toll.
Making fastag as mandatory is a welcome move. Hopefully in a month or so, all the teething issues will be sorted out. All governments to ensure that no toll booth in the country continues to charge cash manually. Also, wherever the toll collection has already crossed the building cost of the road, the toll collection should stop and No VIP should be allowed to pass through tolls without paying the toll tax
I recently travelled thrice (in three months) between Pune and Bangalore. Compared to the earlier journeys (pre-Covid days) – these were a far better experience at toll gates. If your fastag has balance, then after your vehicle is at the actual reader – it’s about 15-20 seconds for the green signal. I agree that the sms is not immediate, but I have not seen any discrepancy. Within Bangalore where the toll rate is different for return journey within 24 hours, I have seen deduction happening correctly. Twice I have got benefit of no charge – I do not know why! The system mostly works and what we see are teething problems..
I think the writer visited only where he has been invited.
There are many toll plaza which is creating the ques by diverting the vehicle to other lanes where allready big que formed.
The toll collection itself is looting the owner’s money, if a person has to go to his district headquarters which is 2 km only from the toll plaza has to pay full price which he is not using.
Atleast the roads should have been better and drive worthy, that is also missing, except Grand Southern Trunk road (from Chengalpattu to Villupuram) only place it is good, the road between Nagari to Thirupathi is the one of the worst road, with lots of patches, bumpers, sign board where there is no speed breaker, incontory where there is a breaker no sign board.
This is the status of our national highway.
Reporter is not aware of ground reality at toll plaza.
1. If you have fast tag. Its Useless because you hv to wait in the same que as without fast tag. Undue delay.
2. Not transparent. Deduction amount is not displayed. Tendency to overcharge.
3. Waiting period has increased because the gate dont open automatically instantly.It takes time.
4. Rude operators at toll plaza.
Ms. Revathi Krishnan, Im afraid you got paid for this article. U are pretending like you had never been to a toll plaza. your article is far behind ground reality.
It is creating more traffic at toll booths, people getting charged twice for one way, taking same time as paying cash. Not against the fast tag but it should be fast and reliable.
Please check the facts and improve the article.
Revathi Krishnan seems to have not much experience of the actual working of toll plazas and the problems they create. Let me tell you of my latest journey that involved crossing five toll plazas. In each there was a queue of vehicles waiting to get across. In two toll plazas the camera refused to read data from the fastags. The girls manning the toll booth gave suggestions on how to ensure that the camera succeeded in reading tag information. Wiper chalao. Paani maaro. Kapde se windshield chamkao. These were the suggestions that were implemented without much success. In one plaza this held us up for over three minutes while traffic was building up behind. In another the hold up was about five minutes after which the exasperated toll operator merely deducted the amount manually. No doubt toll plazas are slightly quicker than the manual system.
I agree it’s an easy way to collect toll charges but not the fastest. People have to wait in long queues . On an average it takes 5 min to cross a toll gate. Only when there is no vehicle you can cross within few seconds. But always tolls are crowded and it even takes 20 mins to pass through. FASTAG reader doesn’t read at times and a person has to read with hand held device. There is no point in speaking about reducing emission. With increase in fuel prices and also toll charges. It is the public who suffer a lot.
Useless article. The writer of the article never visited Toll gates it seems.
People who are writing the article about Fastag does not even know the ground reality. The tolls are just a waste for common people placing additional burden.
I have been traveling and driving but when @ toll 20 mins are wasted some times there is no toll attedent at all. Government is not checking the ground reality. Also now a days accidents have increased due NHAI plan and execution there are no service road at all on the high way and another reason is barricades being placed improper way
Oh won’t we sit on dharna , stop railways , go to qutub minar agaisnt this draconian move by the government? Waiting for RG to come out with some stupidity , CPI, CPIM ,LALU supporing him…we are waiting