Toll charges to go up with GPS-based system: Truckers
GPS-based user fee collection would reduce traffic congestion at toll plaza and motorists would be charged for the exact distance travelled on the highways. But truckers and activists warn that this would mean additional expense.
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CHENNAI: If you are one of those complaining about toll plazas fleecing the public, get ready to fret more. For, if the proposal mooted by the Union Road Transport and Highways to introduce a GPS-based toll collection system on National Highways goes through, it could result in motorists paying even more as toll charge than before.
On the face of it, the idea is simple: GPS-based user fee collection would reduce traffic congestion at toll plaza and motorists would be charged for the exact distance travelled on the highways. But truckers and activists warn that this would mean additional expense.
According to C Dhanaraj, president of the State Lorry Owners Federation (SLOF), under the proposed system, all vehicles (except two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws) entering a toll road will have to pay user fee.
“At present, if a vehicle crosses the toll plaza, it would be charged the user fee. But, in the GPS-based system, entering a toll road itself would lead to the payment of a user fee. It will be a huge burden on the public and truckers,” he said.
Citing a hypothetical example, Tamil Nadu Road Transport Workers Federation (TNRTWF) president K Arumughanainar said that if a person drives an LCV from Maduravoyal to Ambattur or Ambattur to Porur on Chennai Bypass, they need not pay any toll charges now. But if the Centre introduces the GPS-based toll collection, they will have to pay user fees for entering the NH stretch.
“There is no transparency in the operation of the toll plazas. We don’t know what the project cost is or the toll collected. Instead of improving transparency in toll operation, the government is proposing to come out with the new system to only increase the collection and not to provide any relief to the road users,” he said, asking the NHAI to put display boards at the toll plazas with information of the total project cost and toll collection.
When asked, sources in NHAI said that the GPS-based collection system has not yet been implemented.
Last month, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha that the Union government has appointed a consultant to provide advisory services on the implementation of new technologies like Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based barrier-less free-flow tolling.
“It has been decided to Initially implement the GNSS-based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System at selected sections of National Highways on a pilot basis as an added facility along with the FASTag,” he said.
FASTag, an electronic toll collection system, uses ‘Radio Frequency Identification’ (RFID) technology to collect toll payments. The passive RFID tag on the vehicles is used for making payments directly from the prepaid, savings or current accounts linked to the customer.
The minister also told the Parliament that the waiting time, which was eight minutes during 2018-19, decreased to a remarkable 47 seconds after the implementation of FASTag.
