It is more than a year since the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) submitted its report on adoption of radio frequency identification tags for electronic toll collection on National Highways.

It is now said that in two years the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags could possibly remove human intervention at toll plazas – a day that Mohan, a truck driver, is waiting to see. The trucker from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, rues the time wasted at toll plazas.

For instance, from Chennai to Delhi, there are more than a dozen of them. “This means the turnaround time keeps increasing and we are losing business,” he said.

The Union Government set up a committee to carry forward the process of electronic toll collection (ETC). The committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI, to examine all technologies and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The committee submitted its report in July 2010 recommending the adoption of RFID.

The ETC will allow cashless payment of highway tolls of vehicles passing through a toll plaza. Vehicles owners need to buy RFID tags that will hold both value and validity. “Its already a year since the technology was identified. We need to move fast on implementing it,” said Mr Karthick, a Chennai-based truck operator.

Why an ETC

There are 268 toll barriers on National Highways and the revenue collection at these barriers has been increasing steadily in the last three years — from Rs 2,699 crore in 2008-2009 to Rs 4,151.31 crore in 2009-2010 and to Rs 5,516.05 crore in 2010-2011.

Traffic flow across toll barriers is regulated by demarcation of lanes approaching the toll plaza, traffic marshals tagging lanes for rapid clearance of vehicles, and by lower processing time by toll collectors, according to the Ministry of Road Transport.

While increase in revenue collection was heartening for toll collectors, the truck industry has been against higher toll charge and the delays at toll plazas. “It is very frustrating. At times it takes five to six hours at some of the toll plazas,” said Mohan.

Seamless travel

The proposed ETC will facilitate seamless travel across the length and breadth of National Highways. Tags with unique IDs are proposed to be fixed on the vehicle.

Simultaneously, all toll plazas on the NHs will also be equipped with the systems to read these tags.

Road users will be able to buy these tags at wide network on designated locations and will be able to query account details through the Web, e-mail and mobile.

These tag systems can also be used for other application such as vehicle tracking, parking and traffic enforcement.

“While countries such as Singapore implemented ETC long back, we hope to see it in India in a year or two,” said Karthik.

Implementation

An apex committee has been constituted to implement electronic toll collection. This committee will develop a strategy that will include planning, operational methodology, process design, system design, security function and performance requirements. It will also evolve and finalise standards for various components of ETC system; to evolve an institutional framework for implementation and operation of the system and to oversee the implementation of the project by the designated agencies

The committee will also consider the issue of upgrading High Security Registration Plates by using RFID technology, the Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways, Mr Jitin Prasada, recently told the Rajya Sabha.

With no dearth of software vendors in India, the ETC project should not be delayed. Also, with the imminent implementation of the Goods and Service Tax, the project assumes lot of significance for seamless flow of goods across the country, said truck operators.

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