New toll plaza rules: No toll tax to be paid if wait time exceeds 10 seconds

This piece of news is surely going to bring joy for many travellers who are apprehensive about the long queues at toll plazas in spite of having a FASTag. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued guidelines to ensure no more than 10 seconds of service time per vehicle even during the peak hours at toll plazas to ensure minimal waiting time.

The new guidelines will also ensure seamless flow of traffic at the toll plazas by not allowing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres.

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For this purpose, a yellow line at a distance of 100 meters from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane, the NHAI said, adding that this is to inculcate a further sense of accountability in toll plaza operators.

Let's take a look at the new toll plaza rules

1)Waiting time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours at the toll plazas on the National Highways.

2) Seamless flow of traffic at the toll plazas by preventing vehicles to queue up more than 100 metres.

3) If there is a queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 metres, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying a toll.

4) A yellow line at a distance of 100 metres from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane.

According to the Ministry, waiting time at toll plazas has reduced drastically after the implementation of the FASTag. Noting that although at most of the toll plazas, there is no waiting time after the mandatory 100 per cent FASTag, the NHAI said, "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".

The NHAI said as social distancing has become the new norm, commuters are increasingly looking at FASTag as a toll payment option as it nullifies the chances of any human contact between the drivers and the toll operators.

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