Indian roads have been witnessing significant expansion over the years, and the national highways (NHs), in particular, have been beneficiaries of this. In 2022-23, the NH network grew by almost 60 per cent to 145,000 km from 91,000 km in 2013-14. Further, the vehicle density per km increased from 989 to 1,862 over this period. This, however, led to an increase in congestion on highways, traffic hazards and carbon emissions. These trends have fostered the adoption of intelligent transportation systems on highways and expressways such as toll management systems, advanced traffic management systems and others. At a recent India Infrastructure conference, Vivek Jaiswal, chief operating officer, Indian Highway Management Company Limited, highlighted the progress of electronic tolling across the country and discussed recent advancements…
Tolling on NHs has come to be of particular significance given the recent advancements. Prior to 2018, toll collection in India predominantly relied on cash transactions. This was revolutionised with the implementation of advanced tolling systems over the years. The country witnessed the roll-out of FASTag, which is currently functional in almost all parts of the county. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)-based tolling has also been introduced in different sections of the Delhi Meerut Expressway. Further, global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based tolling is also getting a head start.
FASTag proliferation
The electronic toll collection programme FASTag was rolled out to facilitate faster movement of traffic on highways. In a big move, FASTag was made mandatory for all vehicles in 2021, significantly enhancing the travel experience, reducing congestion at toll plazas and making the toll collection process efficient and transparent. This toll collection system makes use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
Upon its roll-out, there were around 351 live toll plazas in 2016-17, with 23.6 million FASTag transactions, amounting to a collection of Rs 6.61 billion. Since then, FASTag has witnessed notable growth over the years. As of November 2023, there are over 1,300 toll plazas under the National Electronic Toll Collection programme, and a total of 78 million FASTags have been issued. Further, around 3.2 billion FASTag transactions have been completed with a total collection of over Rs 533 billion in 2023-24 till November 2023.
In addition to tolling, FASTags have also been used for the payment of parking fees, with around 229 parking plazas in operation as of October 2023, totalling 23.1 million transactions amounting to a total collection of Rs 1.9 billion. Moreover, it can also be used to charge electric vehicles.
Recent technology advancements
Since its implementation, the FASTag-based tolling system has been witnessing advancements for the improvement of public convenience. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been exploring the repositioning of existing RFID readers in toll plazas on dedicated lanes, so that free flow lanes can be ensured. This technology is planned to be implemented on 20 highly congested toll plazas.
ANPR-based tolling is also being adopted for multi-lane free flow. Conventional cash collection tolling has the limitation of long traffic queues and waiting times at toll plazas. The use of ANPR provides non-stop movement and has been designed to capture both FASTag and non-FASTag user data.
A pilot study was conducted on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway with vehicle data captured using ANPR cameras and high speed RFID readers installed at the entry and exit ramps. Around 94 per cent accuracy was achieved for automatic vehicle registration number reading. It is likely to be introduced on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. Further, NHAI is adopting automatic generation of e-challans for traffic violators.
In terms of tolling advancements, the introduction of the GNSS-based tolling system is a key development. A pilot was carried out for it in 2019-20 on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor. Approximately 500 commercial trucks were part of the pilot. It made use of a NavIC-enabled on-board unit (OBU) and successfully implemented the “pay-as-you-use” tolling mechanism. The results demonstrated 99 per cent accuracy for trip calculation by OBU software. The pilot also highlighted numerous other advantages stemming from the use of this tolling system, including the ability to coexist with FASTag. The pilot study also made certain recommendations. Given the possibility of rapid scalability, GNSS-based tolling was recommended as suitable. In addition, recommendations were made for the implementation of e-challan systems and the introduction of disincentives. The GNSS-based tolling system is useful for urban or brownfield stretches that have multiple entry and exit points. It is also expected to capture detouring vehicles that don’t cross toll plazas. Further, in the long run, toll collection expenditure is expected to be reduced. However, one of the challenges is the satellite constellation risk. A GNSS-based tolling system requires geofencing, a tolling software, OBU installation management or distribution, and an enforcement mechanism, which can be in the form of an infrastructure gantry or mobile enforcement.
Keeping road safety in mind, the NHAI has launched the 1033 helpline and the Rajmargyatra app. The helpline provides a 24×7 centralised call centre for assistance in case of highway emergencies such as accidents. The app has been developed with the aim of improving the highway experience through a single app.
Conclusion
Tolling systems on NHs have shown significant progress and advancements in terms of both implementation and adoption. As we have seen, the deployment of FASTag has been extensive, and various measures have been taken to improve the flow of traffic at toll booths. In addition, cutting-edge technologies such as ANPR and GNSS are being regarded as promising tolling technology breakthroughs with the potential to be implemented nationwide. These measures aim to enhance the overall satisfaction of passengers and minimise the waiting time at tolling booths. Further, given the recent measures for road safety, commute on NHs has a lot of potential, and is in the process of being turned into a smooth and convenient experience.
