FASTag Fatigue? GPS Toll System Waits In The Wings, To Begin Tests Soon

The proposed pilots for global positioning system-based toll collections are likely to be tested on selected stretches of 5-10 National Highways.

“Highway developer National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working on satellite or GPS-based tolling that would introduce a more equitable way of collecting tolls on highways. The new system will be piloted on limited highway stretches before it is rolled out nationwide,” Anurag Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said at a recent media interaction.

Though government officials said the GPS tolling system, said to be smarter and more efficient, will eventually replace the current FASTag system, there is no consensus on this yet. Millions of motorists now use FASTag to travel across the country.

With a gateless toll system high on the government agenda, it needs to address some complexities. The government is not sure if the Location-Based Positioning System (LBPS) is better or if the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system can be utilised for the GPS project. Jain had indicated the government would want to go with the LBPS technology for now.

How GPS Will Work

For this, vehicles will need to have a GPS microcontroller with 3G and GPS connectivity. New vehicles come with GPS; older vehicles will need to get them installed, but more on that later. By tracking the GPS coordinates of the vehicles from entry to exit from virtual toll booths, the government can track the toll roads they take and charge the user for the distance covered.

The toll would be calculated on the size and weight of vehicles and not on the number of axles they have as the provision is now. This is to ensure the toll is levied according to the weight of the vehicle on the road rather than the number of axles/wheels.

Instead of toll gates, this system will need towers or similar devices to be installed along highways to track vehicles by satellite. By eliminating toll plazas and the resultant queues, traffic can move without impediment and congestion. The government has already done test runs on two highway stretches in the country.

The government is studying the modalities of installing GPS devices in vehicles that don't have it. Like the installation of High-Security Registration Plates in older vehicles, would it require a similar fitment process? And what would be the per-unit cost? There is no clarity on it, yet.

GPS Advantages And Disadvantages

With physical toll plazas not required, toll can be collected faster and motorists will pay only for the stretch of toll road they drive on. But if the GPS device is tampered with, it may not show accurate readings.

The biggest challenge before the GPS toll system is the potential for a data privacy breach as the vehicle will be tracked during the entire journey.

"There are a few concerns on the new system that would be addressed and the learnings from initial projects would make way for devising a foolproof system of tolling that would later be available on more and more highway stretches," Jain had said.

The possibility of personal data breaches is real, experts said, since the GPS project will be connected to details of vehicle owners.

"The government's plan to use GPS-based tolling will require logistical changes and hence data privacy challenges would occur. Tracking vehicles would need personal data and that would be like an assault on data privacy. It is possible that this kind of implementation could see various legal challenges which may land up in courts and ultimately the courts will decide whether GPS-based tolling would and does any impact or infringe the fundamental right of privacy including personal privacy and data privacy of individuals in India,” said data privacy lawyer Pavan Duggal who is also a Supreme Court lawyer.

“In the name of implementation of the project, the government is trying to intrude on the personal space of customers who would be using the toll highway. My personal opinion is that the government should address all concerns before implementing this," Duggal said.

FASTag And Its Challenges

Most highways across the country use FASTtag for toll collection currently. Under the existing system, a toll gate is situated at the end of one stretch of a toll road, or one project. One stretch refers to that section of the toll road that falls under a particular contractor for construction and maintenance. The distance between two toll gates should at least be 60 km, it may differ by a few kilometres here and there.

The NHAI has set rates for different types of vehicles for 60 km. If the stretch is less than 60 km, then the toll is collected accordingly. But sometimes that results in paying more for the distance travelled.

FASTag has other challenges. For example, glitches happen when the RFID scanner doesn't work properly, resulting in inconvenience to motorists. And if a motorist fails to maintain adequate balance in the FASTag wallet, the account gets blacklisted. In such cases, the motorist with a blacklisted tag has to pay in cash, leading to queues at toll plazas and honking.

The government had introduced the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system from 2016-17. Since then, total tax collections via ETC have grown to Rs 50,800 crore in 2023-24 from Rs 661 crore in 2016-17, a growth of more than 800 per cent in 8 years.

More than 6.5 crore vehicles were using FASTag at the end of FY 2022-23. The waiting time at toll plazas has also gone down from 8 minutes in 2018-19 to 47 seconds, on average, after the government made FASTag mandatory for seamless travelling.

Is It Bye-Bye FASTag?

Integrating the existing FASTag system with the GPS-based toll will be challenging. Though the government has not reached a conclusive decision yet, the new system is likely to be followed on select new greenfield highways including the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. For other highways, the FASTag toll system will be in use for now. Therefore, both GPS and FASTtag will be in use on different routes for some time.

Some 80 per cent of the toll is being collected from commercial vehicles by FASTag, which may face teething trouble when the new system comes in. Even if the pilot GPS-based toll collection system begins soon, it will take months, or more, for it to be implemented fully and seamlessly.