NHs see around 60L toll transactions a day

NEW DELHI: Toll collection through FASTags has surpassed payments made through cash across the national highway network. While average daily toll collection through FASTags increased by nearly 66% in a month — from Rs 26.4 crore in the third week of November (17-23) to Rs 44 crore in the third week of December (15-21), daily cash collection dipped by 30% during this period — from Rs 51 crore to Rs 35.5 crore.As more vehicles install FASTags, highway ministry officials are hopeful the collection will go up further. Close to 1.04 crore tags have been sold till now with an average one lakh added daily. Official data showed there was a substantial rise in the number of vehicles paying toll through FASTag — from 19.5 lakh a day on December 16 to 24.78 lakh on Tuesday — seen as an indication that people have accepted the new mode of paying user fee.While there are no exact figures on how many vehicles pass through toll plazas and pay the user fee, sources said there could be 60 lakh toll transactions across the NH network in a day. There are about 20 crore registered vehicles across the country and barely 6 crore could be four-wheelers and transport vehicles since nearly 70% of all vehicles are two-wheelers. “Out of this 6 crore, 1.04 crore have got smart tags. A sizeable number of vehicles operates within cities and they may not require a FASTag. Once another 40-50 lakh vehicles get the tag, almost 80-90% of vehicles that come on to NHs will have this facility,” said a source.However, the officials admitted that many glitches remained to be addressed, particularly to ensure that topping up the balance for the tag becomes easy and all new users recharge them for regular use rather than just once.The PMO, which has been monitoring the progress of toll transaction through FASTags, has asked the road transport ministry to carry out a detailed analysis of the impact of this intervention on waiting time at toll plazas. NHAI is currently monitoring the status of nearly 100 toll plazas and has also been receiving video feed from around 200 plazas.