Keypoints:
- NHAI has issued guidelines ensuring service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even at peak hours at toll plazas along national highways.
- Since mid February 2021, NHAI had transitioned 100% cashless tolling. After that, overall FASTag usage in NHAI Toll Plazas has reached 96%.
On Wednesday, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said that it has issued guidelines in order to ensure service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even at peak hours at toll plazas along national highways.
In a statement, NHAI has said that,”The new set of guidelines will also ensure seamless flow of traffic at the toll plazas by not allowing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres. Although in most of the toll plazas, there is no waiting time after mandatory 100% FASTag, even then if there is a queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 metres due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying toll till the queue comes within 100 meters from the toll booth. For this purpose, a yellow line at a distance of 100 meters from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane. This is to inculcate further sense of accountability in toll plaza operators.”
“Keeping in view the growing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) penetration in the country, it has been emphasized to have a new design and construct the upcoming toll plazas as per traffic projections for next 10 years to have an efficient toll collection system,” it said.
NHAI has also said that since it transitioned to 100% cashless tolling from mid February, overall FASTag usage in NHAI Toll Plazas has reached 96%.
New guidelines, explained:
- New guidelines aims to minimise waiting time at toll plazas thus ensuring service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours at the toll plazas on the National Highways.
- It also ensures seamless traffic flow at toll plazas by not allowing vehicles to queue up to 100 metres.
- Most toll plazas do not have waiting time after mandatory 100% FASTag, despite the queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 metres due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying toll till the queue comes within 100 metres from the toll booth.
- At each toll lane, a yellow line at a distance of 100 metres from the toll booth will be marked.
- This will be done to inculcate a further sense of accountability in toll plaza operators.
There has been constant growth and adoption of FASTag by the highway users and it has helped to bring more efficiency in toll operations.
