Electronic toll collection: The day is not far when the crowd, chaos and all kinds of fights at toll plazas will become a thing of the past in India. The Government of India is soon going to introduce a system through which you will not need to stop on any national highway of the country and your vehicle will reach its destination at a fast pace without any interruption. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited tenders and expressions of interest (EOI) from all over the world to implement the satellite-based electronic toll collection system.
freedom from worry
According to a TOI report, the NHAI has also ordered a major change in the deployment of IT systems and hardware at toll plazas to make tax transactions through FASTag hassle-free for commuters.
The agency will give opportunity to only those companies who have extensive experience in this work. The company that gets the tender for this work will have to compulsorily buy its equipment only from the manufacturers certified by the Directorate of Standardization Testing and Quality Certification of the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
‘No room for error’
As per the directives issued by IHMCL, the NHAI unit responsible for toll management, to work with it, the company will be required to have STQC certification for all its equipment, including RFID reader with antenna, automatic number plate reader, toll lane controller and toll plaza server.
As per the new specifications, system integrators will have to give an undertaking to IHMCL that if any malfunction is found at the toll plaza assigned to them due to the equipment, the agency will have the right to immediately suspend the panel and forfeit its bank guarantee.
Now toll will be deducted from satellite
NHAI has said in its official statement that this system based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will provide a unique and wonderful experience to the people traveling on national highways by paying toll without stopping.
The day is not far when the toll booth system will end
This initiative of NHAI aims to eliminate the existing toll booth system on highways. According to an official statement from the agency, ‘To provide a hassle-free toll collection experience to users of all national highways in the country and to enhance the efficiency and transparency of toll operations, Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), a NHAI company, has invited EOI from qualified companies for development and implementation of GNSS-based electronic toll collection system in India.’
The statement said that NHAI is planning to implement GNSS based electronic toll collection (ETC) system within the existing Fastag system. Initially, there is a plan to adopt a mixed model under the pilot project in which both RFID based ETC and GNSS based ETC will work together.