GPS Based Toll Collection System Expected To Be Implemented Soon; How Will It Work

GPS Toll Collection System: Road, Transport & Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari has announced that FASTags are set to be replaced by GPS-based electronic toll collection systems on highways throughout India. This transition could occur as early as April this year and as an initial step towards implementation, the government has hired a consultant for the GPS-based toll collection system on national highways.

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In December 2023, Gadkari announced that the new GPS-based toll collection system would replace FASTags by March. He stated, “The government is looking at new technologies, including GPS-based toll systems to replace toll plazas in the country... we will start a new GPS satellite-based toll collection across the country by March next year.”

GPS-based electronic toll collection systems will result in toll plazas being unnecessary. Presently, FASTags make use of RFID-based toll collection at these plazas. Gadkari mentioned that the government has already conducted trial runs of the new system at two locations. This system will employ an automatic number plate recognition system using cameras when the vehicle is in motion. The number plates will be linked to accounts, from which the toll fee will be deducted based on the distance travelled by the vehicle.

How Does A GPS Based Toll Collection System Work?

At present, the majority of highways across India utilise FASTag for toll fee deduction. At toll plazas, RFID-enabled barriers read the FASTag IDs attached to vehicles and charge fees based on the distance between two toll plazas. However, the system involves vehicles to halt at toll plazas for scanning, resulting in lengthy queues. This defeats the primary purpose for which FASTags were introduced in the first place.

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The implementation of FASTags decreased the average waiting time for vehicles at toll plazas to approximately 47 seconds from 8 minutes in 2018-19. However, issues such as faulty scanners or vehicles lacking sufficient balance on FASTags frequently result in lengthy queues at toll plazas. With the upcoming GPS-based toll collection system, vehicles will no longer need to halt at any point. Instead, cameras installed along the highway will scan number plates and deduct the toll amount accordingly.