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India to Introduce Annual & Lifetime Toll Passes For National highways and Expressways

Jyoti — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:05:50 +0000

Soon, recharging your vehicle’s FASTag repeatedly may be a thing of the past. The Government of India has proposed a scheme of annual and lifetime toll pass for private vehicles to ease toll payment on national highways and expressways. This scheme will be beneficial for those who frequently travel on highways and expressways. This will not only make paying toll cheaper, but will also make it easier to travel without stopping at the toll plaza.

How much will the annual and lifetime toll pass cost?

According to a TOI report, the government has offered an annual toll pass, which can be purchased for a one-time payment of Rs 3,000. This pass will be valid for unlimited travel on all national highways and expressways for a full year.

Apart from this, the government has also planned a lifetime toll pass for 15 years, which will cost Rs 30,000. This new system will be integrated with the existing FASTag so that toll can be paid without any additional hassle.

What is the government’s intention?

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said last month that the government is considering introducing monthly and annual passes for private vehicles. He said that only 26 percent of the total toll collection comes from private cars. Gadkari said, “While 74 percent of the revenue comes from commercial vehicles. Therefore, the government is working on making toll payment easier for private cars.”

How will annual and lifetime toll pass work?

Annual toll pass

Cost: ₹3,000 per year
Fastag will be linked to the account
Unlimited travel facility for one year

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) aims to provide annual toll passes for private cars, which will cost users Rs 3,000 per year. The pass will be integrated into the vehicle’s existing FASTag account, giving the user unlimited access to national highways and expressways. After purchasing this pass, the user will not need to recharge his FASTag account repeatedly for the next one year. Once the validity of the pass expires, he can purchase or recharge another pass as per requirement.

Lifetime Toll Pass

Cost: ₹30,000 (for 15 years)
Fastag will be linked to the account
Once purchased, you don’t have to worry about paying toll for 15 years

The lifetime toll pass also works in a similar way. The only difference in this case is that the validity of this pass is for 15 years and its price is Rs 30,000. Like the annual pass, it will also be integrated into the user’s FASTag account.

Currently, a monthly pass is available for private cars for Rs 340 per month (total Rs 4,080 for 12 months). But it is valid only at one toll plaza. Whereas for Rs 3,000, you will get the facility of unlimited travel on highways and expressways across the country for a year. Which will make it much cheaper than the monthly pass.

What does the government want to achieve with this step?

There will be less traffic congestion at toll plazas.
The process of toll payment will be made easier.
The government will not suffer any loss of revenue as the main income comes from commercial vehicles.
Next plan to make toll payment easier
The government is in the next phase of making toll collection completely digital and easy. FASTag was launched as a pilot project in 2014 and made mandatory for all vehicles from 2017. This reduced the need to stop at toll plazas and made the journey faster and convenient.

Now the government is working on a plan to introduce satellite-based toll collection system (Global Navigation Satellite System – GNSS). Under this technology:

Toll will be charged based on the distance covered by the vehicle.
Instead of FASTag, automatic toll will be deducted using GNSS technology.
Facility of free travel on highway up to 20 kilometers daily can be availed.
For journeys more than 20 kilometres, toll will be calculated by tracking the movement of the vehicle.
With this new technology, toll plazas can be eliminated and toll payment will become completely digital and automatic.

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Toll Passes: Annual And Lifetime Toll Passes For Use On National Highways – Check Cost & benefits

Jyoti — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 10:29:42 +0000

New Delhi: If you often travel on national highways, then there is some useful news for you. The government may soon give another gift to middle class families and car owners. The government is going to introduce an annual toll pass.

You will have to pay only Rs 3,000 for this pass. Then you will be able to travel on national highways without any interruption for the whole year. Not only this, you will also have the option of a lifetime pass. For this, you will have to pay Rs 30,000 in one go and you will be able to drive on national highways without paying toll for 15 years.

According to sources, the Road Transport Ministry is seriously considering this proposal. The ministry is also considering changing the toll rate per kilometer for private cars. This may provide some relief to highway users. You will not need to buy a new pass. This pass will be added to your FASTag.

Benefit of annual pass

Currently, only monthly passes are available. This pass is for those who pass through the same toll plaza daily. For this pass, you have to provide your address and some other information. The price of this pass is Rs 340 per month. This means the cost for the whole year is Rs 4,080. A source said that the offer of Rs 3,000 for traveling on the entire NH network for a year is much less than the amount currently paid for free travel at a toll plaza. This will be an optional facility. Detailed analysis has shown that this can become people’s choice.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently said that his ministry is working on a plan to issue passes for car owners. Sources say the ministry is looking at this as a solution to a number of problems, including growing resentment over toll plazas within city limits, toll gates at distances less than 60 km and violence at toll plazas.

What will be the benefit

According to the data, the share of private cars in the total toll revenue of Rs 55,000 crore in 2023-24 was only Rs 8,000 crore. The toll transaction and collection data clearly shows that 53% of the transactions were for private cars but their share in toll collection was only 21%. Apart from this, between 6 am and 10 pm, about 60% of the traffic at the toll plaza is of private vehicles while the movement of commercial vehicles remains almost equal day and night.

Sources said that there will be no loss of income in a few years due to these passes. However, initially NHAI may have to suffer some revenue loss. This scheme can prove to be very beneficial for the general public. Especially for those who often travel on the highway. This will not only save time, but will also end the hassle of paying toll repeatedly. It remains to be seen when this scheme is implemented and how much benefit people get from it.

Monthly Toll Pass: Govt is considering introducing monthly and annual toll passes for private vehicles: Nitin Gadkari

Jyoti — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 10:27:24 +0000

Monthly Toll Pass: Let us tell you that adopting transparency and convenient method in toll collection through monthly and annual passes will not only save time but passengers will also be able to save fuel.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday announced that the government is considering introducing monthly and annual passes in lieu of toll collection for private vehicles on national highways. The government will not suffer any loss from this move, as currently the share of private vehicles in the total toll collection is only 26%, while 74% of the revenue comes from commercial vehicles.

Relief for the general public

With the system of monthly and annual passes, private vehicles will not need to stop repeatedly at the toll booth, which will save both time and money. This step can prove to be a relief for the general public, making the process of toll payment easy and convenient.

Toll booths will be set up outside villages

Nitin Gadkari said that under this new proposal, toll booths will now be set up outside the villages so that the villagers do not face any kind of trouble. Along with this, government officials have also proposed a new system based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for toll collection, which will make the toll collection process more transparent and smooth.

Further, the Union Minister said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to implement a barrier-free Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based toll collection system as an additional facility along with FASTag on national highways initially. He said, “The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based toll collection system will be better than the current toll collection system.”

In July last year, Nitin Gadkari had said that a pilot study has been carried out on Bengaluru-Mysuru section of National Highway (NH)-275 in Karnataka and Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Haryana regarding GNSS-based user fee collection system. The move is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and charging based on the exact distance travelled on highways.

Average waiting time for vehicles at toll plazas reduced to 47 seconds

The average waiting time for vehicles at toll plazas during FY 2018-19 was eight minutes. With the introduction of FASTag, the average waiting time of vehicles has come down to 47 seconds during FY 2020-21 and 2021-22. Although there may still be slight delays at some places, especially at toll plazas located near busy cities, but in general the smoothness of traffic has improved significantly.

Let us tell you that adopting a transparent and convenient method in toll collection through monthly and annual passes will not only save time, but passengers will also be able to save fuel. With the implementation of this new system, it is expected that the inconveniences faced during road travel will be reduced.