A commuter pays toll at a toll plaza in Mumbai, Maharashtra (Dipak Hazra/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
A commuter pays toll at a toll plaza in Mumbai, Maharashtra (Dipak Hazra/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) 
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Your Commute Might Improve Soon; New Tolling Policy In The Offing

BySwarajya Staff

Looking to improve commuter experience at toll plazas, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is mulling over a new tolling policy, reports Mint. The NHAI has engaged with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to prepare a blueprint to roll out a new system with newer tolling equipment and more advanced lane systems.

Among NHAI’s current plans include a closed-toll system and it is toying with the idea of a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled toll system that will charge people on the distance traveled.

BCG will suggest what kind of new-age toll booths should be built, what should be the new toll collection mechanism and what kind of infrastructure is required for the new-age toll technology. They will submit the proposed policy document in around six months. However, with the launch of new-age technologies, there was a need to overhaul the complete toll process and that is what NHAI is doing.
A senior government official

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) under Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had introduced electronic toll collection (ETC) under the FASTag brand in late 2014 and mandated that all new cars come prefixed with a FASTag radio frequency identification (RFID) tag starting December 2017.

Also Read: Gadkari’s Ministry Moves A Step Closer Towards Tolling Without Toll Plazas