BENGALURU: Officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have said that the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based electronic toll collection system will not be implemented anytime soon.
The officials, who were part of a pilot study in this regard, said that absence of On-Board Units (OBU) in many vehicles and privacy concerns regarding their exact location being shared are some of the reasons for this decision. It may take a few years for the launch of the satellite-based toll collection system.
An NHAI official said they selected Bengaluru-Mysuru access-controlled highway and Panipat-Hisar highway in Haryana last year for the pilot study along with the FASTag facility. “Compared to the existing toll collection facility, GNSS-based system will only collect the fee based on the distance travelled. OBUs will send signals when the vehicles enter and exit the geo-fence of the highway.
Based on the distance travelled, the toll will be deducted/collected. A stretch of Bengaluru-Mysuru highway was selected and geo-fenced for the study. A report was submitted to NHAI officials after conducting the study last year,” the official said. He said the project could not be implemented anytime soon because only a few vehicles have OBUs.
All vehicles should have OBUs. Privacy concerns regarding vehicle’s exact location being shared should be addressed. “So FASTag-based toll collection will continue,” he said.
He said NHAI will soon introduce Automatic Number Plate Recognition-based barrier-less tolling system in select toll booths.
‘ANPR- based barrier-less tolling system soon’
“So the FASTag-based toll collection will continue,” the official said. He said NHAI will soon introduce Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)- based barrier-less tolling system in select toll booths across the country.
“Under this system, there will be cameras to track the vehicle’s entry and exit. Here, the vehicle’s number plate will be scanned by high-resolution ANPR cameras and FASTag readers. This will avoid stopping of vehicles at toll plazas,” he said.