Motorists travelling to and from Mumbai can now hope for a smoother commute with the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) planning to introduce an electronic toll collection (ETC) system at the five entry points to the city.

The ETC system, which is based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, was inaugurated on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) on Thursday. Motorists can opt for pre-paid, non-tamperable RFID tags which they can buy from the toll plazas. These need to be stuck on the front windscreens of cars for the RFID antennae to read them. These will have two dedicated lanes that will allow them to pass without stopping.

“People took time to stop and pay the toll which led to traffic,” said minister for public works (public undertakings) Jaydutt Kshirsagar.

The facility will be integrated with the toll collection system at Mumbai’s five entry points in three months.

MSRDC is trying to ensure that it gets a share of the profits if the number of vehicles using tolled roads rises above a certain level and has also floated tenders to set up electronic boards at 27 toll plazas where details of toll collections and balance left to be collected will be displayed. This will be made operative in two months and will ensure transparency in their collections.The MSRDC has also ordered for two vehicle scanners to detect explosives on the BWSL.