Nitin Gadkari, the Road Transport and Highways Minister of India recently reiterated that the government is working to replace the existing toll plazas with GPS based tax collection system. Speaking at a CII event, Gadkari said the govt will introduce new technologies, including GPS-based toll collection systems in the next 6 months to replace existing highway toll plazas in the country. This new technology is expected to reduce the traffic congestion and charging motorists for the exact distance travelled on the highways, Gadkari said.

“The government is looking at new technologies including GPS-based toll systems to replace toll plazas in the country…We will bring new technology in six months,” reported PTI, quoting Nitin Gadkari. The ministry of road transport and highways is conducting a pilot project of automatic number plate recognition system (automatic number plate reader cameras) to enable automated toll collection without stopping the vehicles.

The Union Minister further said that state-owned NHAI toll revenue is currently Rs 40,000 crore and it is going to soar to Rs 1.40 lakh crore 2-3 years. He also said that during 2018-19, the average waiting time for vehicles at toll plaza was 8 minutes, however, with the introduction of FASTags during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the average waiting time of the vehicles has come down to 47 seconds.

Having said that, there’s a need for considerable improvement in waiting time at certain locations, especially near cities, the densely populated towns there are still some delays at toll plazas during peak hours. The road transport and highways minister emphasised on the need of reducing the cost of construction without compromising with the quality.

GPS-Based Toll System

The GPS-based system is a technology already in use in many countries, and works on reading the number plate of the vehicles using the camera, that analyses the position of the vehicle using GPS installed on the camera and deducts the toll accordingly, without the need of the vehicle to stop anywhere. 

In the current FASTags system, a code is installed on the car’s windshield, that is read by a scanner at every toll plaza. After the scanner successfully reads the code, it opens the boom barrier, allowing the vehicle to pass through.