No more physical toll booths across India, GPS-enabled toll system to be released in 3 months
This will ensure ‘non-stop travel’ across the country’s highways said the Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The technology that will use GPS imaging for the collection of toll tax across the country will be finalized in three months and ready to be replaced with physical toll booths for ‘hassle-free’ travel, said the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday.
He added that the technology for the GPS-based tolling system is not available in the country, which is why his ministry has already started working on the same with some Korean and Russian players who have the technology.
“I want to assure the House that within one year all physical toll booths in the country will be removed. It means that toll collection will happen via GPS. The money will be collected based on GPS imaging (on vehicles),” Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.
Earlier in December 2020, Gadkari had said that the new GPS-based system will be introduced for toll collection with Russian expertise where toll amount will be deducted from the commuter’s account or e-wallet on the basis of the distance traversed.
In order to make tolling efficient and to ensure seamless movement of traffic, Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system using passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been implemented on Pan India basis.
All lanes of fee plazas on national highways have been declared as FASTag lanes with effect from midnight of February 15th/16th. The overall FASTag penetration has now reached around 96%, Gadkari said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on August 9.
