New system to provide huge relief for short distance motorists

By Bapu Lingaraj Urs

Mysore/Mysuru: Paying a hefty toll on Access-Controlled 10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway (Highway) may become a thing of the past with the Central Government deciding over implementing Geographical Positioning System (GPS)-based toll deduction system for the distance travelled on the Highway. The new system will be introduced on a pilot basis on Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway (NH-275) in the State and Delhi-Jaipur National Highway-48 and depending on the response, it will be gradually expanded across the country, as decided by the Central Government.

It is also a first-of-its-kind in India, with the technology driven automatic toll deduction system already in use in foreign nations like USA, Japan, China and other developed countries.

Before extending the technology enabled system, the experts will study the lacunae in the system on those two Highways selected for experiment and will fix them to ensure their technical feasibilities further.

In the existing system, toll is levied on the vehicles soon after they hit the Expressway and pass through the Toll Plaza. Even if the destination is Mandya, those travelling on the Expressway had to pay full toll depending on the category of vehicles. Irked vehicle drivers were picking up an argument with the Toll Booth employees for charging the toll fixed for those travelling till Bengaluru.

Once the new system is introduced, it is expected to bring a huge relief for such vehicle drivers who travel for a shorter distance on the Highway.

Geo-fencing

If the GPS-based toll system should be effective, having FASTag for vehicles will be a must for the automatic deduction of the toll amount. To facilitate the operation of the system, works on geo-fencing of the Highway are on, while the decision has already been made on the toll to be charged per km of travel on the Highway. The Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras will be installed at the entry and exit points of the Highway to record the movement of the vehicles, according to Anurag Jain, Secretary, Union Road Transport and Highways Department.

Central Government is introducing GPS-based toll charging system to get rid of lengthy lines at Toll Plazas. With the toll charged only for the distance travelled, the amount will be deducted from the driver’s account through FASTag. Now, if a person is travelling till Mandya only on Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway, they are ending up paying the toll charged till Bengaluru. The new system is expected to get rid of the burden of the journey they were experiencing due to the toll.

—Pratap Simmha,  Mysuru-Kodagu MP