From I-Day, you can buy FASTag-based Rs 3k annual toll pass for private cars

NEW DELHI: In a big relief to middle class and private car owners who frequently use national highways and expressways, govt on Wednesday announced rollout of a FASTag-based annual toll pass from Aug 15 for Rs 3,000.

The pass will be activated on the existing FASTag and will be valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips, whichever comes first.Announcing the decision, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said the decision was expected to bring relief to users of national highways and expressways under the central govt. Apart from the cost saving, it is expected to reduce congestion at plazas across the country.The move to introduce a FASTag-based annual toll pass "will substantially eliminate toll-related difficulties that people faced and complained about for a long time," road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. "Till now, for 200 such trips, car users were paying around Rs 10,000 a year. With the new pass system, they will save around Rs 7,000 in a year."Gadkari said the pass would be valid only on NHs and central govt's expressways, and not on tolled state highways and expressways such as Ganga Expressway and Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

In a gazette notification amending the NH Fee Rules published on Wednesday, the road transport ministry said the amount for obtaining the pass may be "revised" in April every year. The NHAI will start accepting applications for the annual passes from mid July.It said that owners of private vehicles having a valid and functional FASTtag would be eligible to obtain the pass after paying the fee and it would be "valid for one year or for 200 crossings (read trips) through any fee plaza on a NH, whichever is earlier, irrespective of the fee leviable at each fee plaza."

It added that in a closed user fee collection system such as Delhi-Mumbai, Bangalore-Mysuru and Lucknow-Kanpur expressways & other new greenfield highways, entry and exit of a vehicle at a fee plaza would be considered a single crossing or trip.Ministry officials said the much awaited intervention is aimed to simplify toll payments & reduce congestion at plazas across the country. The ministry said the policy was designed to address long-standing concerns regarding toll plazas located within a 60 km range & to provide a seamless travel experience for private vehicle owners.

There have been several instances of altercations turning violent between locals & toll operators.Sources said the decision to launch annual passes for private cars was taken based on a detailed study of the toll collection data. As per the analysis, while private cars constitute about 60% of the traffic on NHs, the share of toll revenue from these vehicles is barely in the range of 20-26%. It also found that in 2023-24, around 53% of the electronic transactions for paying toll were cars, they contributed to barely 21% of the total revenue.