Explained | Barrier-less toll plaza in Delhi; how does it work?

Barrier-less toll system not only improves the road travel experience of the vehicle owners, but it also helps toll collection companies to reduce operating costs by up to three-four per cent.

Union Ministry of Transport earlier this month launched the first-ever barrier-less multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling system at the Chorayasi Toll Plaza on the Surat-Bharuch section of National Highway-48 in Gujarat.

On Monday (May 11), it opened another MLFF barrier-less tolling system at the Mundka-Bakkarwala Toll Plaza on Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II) in Delhi.

More such tolling systems are expected to be introduced in the coming months this year.

What is a barrier-less multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) tolling system?

Conventional toll booths on national and state highways make the passage narrow and this makes the car owners to slow down and at the booth, they have to spend around 10 seconds if not more (if the vehicle in front of them have low balance) to capture the NFC chip-based FastTag barcode on the windshield screen to deduct the toll fee.

Whereas the new barrier-less MLFF is a modern tolling system that allows a faster process. It uses advanced camera technologies such as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), FASTag integration and satellite-backed GPS-based vehicle tracking, to reduce congestion, lower the fuel consumption and improve travel time efficiency on the road.

The new barrier-less MLFF system eliminates the toll plazas on the national and state highways.

It not only improves the road travel experience of the vehicle owners, it also helps toll collection companies to reduce operating costs by up to three-four per cent.

Toll operating companies have to just set up the overhead gantries fitted with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, GPS-backed vehicle tracking sensors, and a FasTag reader. They do all the heavy lifting of recognising the vehicle's number and instantly deducting the toll fees, and here, the vehicle doesn't have to slow down at all. It can continue as per the lane's speed limit.

What if the car owner has a low balance in the FasTag account?

The National Highway Authority of India will send an e-notice to the vehicle owner to pay the remaining amount within 72 hours. If he/she doesn't comply before the deadline, they will be penalised with double the toll amount.

Also, Vehicle owners are advised to upgrade their number plate to High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) so that the sensors can read the vehicle's number plate clearly. Or else, risk penalties.

For cars without HSRP, they will be fined Rs 1,000 (Rs 500 in select states) for the first offence, and can escalate to Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for repeat violations.

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