India / When will vehicles be exempted from paying toll as per new NHAI rules?

New Delhi: With an aim to offer ease of travel and quick passage of vehicles at the toll plazas, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come up with guidelines from a reduction in service time to toll-free passage.

The NHAI has noted since social distancing has become the new norm, more commuters are opting for FASTag as a toll payment option because it nullifies the chances of any human contact between the drivers and the toll operators. Also Read: 'Dominica Agrees To Directly Repatriate Fugitive Diamantaire Mehul Choksi To India', Says Antigua PM

Here are new guidelines to offer ease for commuters

1) One of the most important rules is aimed at minimising waiting time at toll plazas and ensure service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours at the toll plazas on the National Highways.

2) The new guidelines will also aid the seamless flow of traffic at the toll plazas by preventing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres.

3) Since Fastags have been made mandatory, there is hardly any waiting time at the toll plazas. However, if there is a queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 metres due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying toll till the queue comes within 100 metres from the toll booth.

4) In order to implement this, a yellow line at a distance of 100 metres from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane. It means if the queue of vehicles waiting would be up to this yellow stripe, then you would be exempted from paying the toll tax.

5) This is also aimed to inculcate a further sense of accountability in toll plaza operators.

Since NHAI has successfully transitioned to 100 per cent cashless tolling from the middle of February 2021, the overall FASTag penetration at NHAI Toll Plazas has reached 96 per cent and stands at 99 per cent at many toll plazas.

With the growing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) penetration in the country, there is an attempt for a new design and construct the upcoming toll plazas as per traffic projections for the next 10 years to create an efficient toll collection system.