NHAI: Service time at toll plazas to not exceed 10 seconds per vehicle

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National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued guidelines to ensure that a service time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours at the toll plazas along national highways.

"The new guidelines will also ensure seamless traffic flow at the toll plazas by not allowing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres," NHAI said in a statement.

"Although in most of the toll plazas, there is no waiting time after mandatory 100% FASTag, even then 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 meters from the toll booth. For this purpose, a yellow line at a distance of 100 meters from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane. This is to inculcate further sense of accountability in toll plaza operators," the statement added.

NHAI also said that from mid February 2021, it has transitioned into 100 percent cashless tolling and the overall FASTag usage at toll plazas as reached 96 percent.

"Keeping in view the growing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) penetration in the country, it has been emphasized to have a new design and construct the upcoming toll plazas as per traffic projections for the next ten years to have an efficient toll collection system," NHAI said.

It also said that social distancing has become a new norm wherein commuters are looking at opting for FASTag as it nullifies the effect of direct contact between the toll operators and the commuters.

The constant growth and adoption of FASTag by the highway users is encouraging and has helped in bringing more efficiency in toll operations, it added.