The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under the leadership of Union Ministry Nitin Gadkari has taken several revolutionary steps to make the travel experience on Indian roads easy and hassle free. Under the same, the government is developing many world-class expressways and highways which have sharply reduced the travel time. However, a serious congestion problem still persists at toll plazas on highways and to eliminate it, the government is working on a pilot project for an automatic number plate identification system. The government is working on GPS based toll collection to reduce travel time and replace FASTag.
While GPS-based toll collection will completely eliminate vehicular plying at toll plazas and collect tolls according to the distance traveled, Nitin Gadkari says that FASTag has helped decongest Indian roads Like never before. According to the minister, during 2018-19, the average waiting time of vehicles at toll plazas was 8 minutes. With the introduction of FASTags during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the average waiting time for vehicles has now come down to 47 seconds.
The GPS-based toll will further reduce the waiting time as Gadkari says, “With this new technology, we want to achieve two objectives – free flow of traffic at toll booths and pay as you use it.” To reduce traffic congestion at toll plazas and charge vehicle owners for the exact distance of cars plying on toll highways, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government will conduct a pilot project for an automatic number plate identification system. Still working.
“Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is conducting a pilot project of Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (Automatic Number Plate Reader Camera) to enable automatic toll collection without stopping vehicles. While this is a considerable improvement in waiting times, some At places, especially near cities, and in densely populated cities, there are still some delays at toll plazas during peak hours.
In order to provide seamless and safe traffic operation, Gadkari said that Advanced Traffic Management System (ATM) is being installed on all newly constructed National Highways and existing 4 plus-lane National Highways to provide seamless and safe traffic operation. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways said, “The Ministry aims to implement Intelligence Traffic System (ITS) on 15,000 km of National Highways by 2024 to strengthen road safety.”
Last month, Gadkari had said that the government is now looking at two options – a satellite-based toll system where a car will have GPS and toll will be deducted directly from the passenger’s bank account and the other option is through number plates. , “We are in the process of introducing GPS instead of FASTag while using satellites and on the basis of which we want to take tolls. The technology is also available on number plates and good technology is available in India,” he said.
“We will choose the technology. Though we have not taken an official decision, but in my view there will be no toll plazas on number plate technology and there will be a sophisticated computerized digital system by which we can give relief. There will be no queues and people There will be a big relief,” the minister had said.
(with inputs from PTI)