This presentation summarizes electronic toll collection (ETC) systems. ETC uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to automatically deduct toll payments from pre-paid accounts as vehicles pass through toll plazas without stopping. The key components of ETC systems are automated vehicle identification using RFID tags, automated vehicle classification using sensors, transaction processing, and violation enforcement. ETC provides advantages like reduced congestion, fuel savings, and transparency compared to manual toll collection systems. While start-up costs of RFID tags can be high, ETC improves traffic flow and is more efficient than traditional toll booths.

1. Presentation on Open Toll & Toll Sytems
Prepared by
K. Shanmugasundaram
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2. Overview
• Fee Structure
• Annual revision of rate of fee
• Location of toll plaza
• Rate of fee for overloading
• Tolling options
• Open Toll System / Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)
• Components of ETC
• How ECT Works?
• Why ETC required?
• ETC System in India
• Advantage & Dis-advantages of Tolling
• Conclusion
• Questions?
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3. Rate of fee as per new fee rules
(a) The rates of fee shall be uniform for both
public funded and private investment
projects.
(b) Fee for use of a section of National
Highways of 4(four) or more lanes for the
base year 2007-2008 shall be the product of
the length of such section multiplied
by the rates specified hereunder:-
Fee Structures
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4. Fee Structures ……. Continued
base year” means the period from 1st April
2007 to 31st March 2008;
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5. Annual revision of rate of fee
• The rates specified shall be increased without compounding, by three per cent
each year with effect from the 1st day of April, 2008 and such increased rate shall
be deemed to be the base rate for the subsequent years.
• The applicable base rates shall be revised annually with effect from April 1 each
year to reflect the increase in wholesale price index between the week ending on
January 6, 2007 (i.e. 208.7) and the week ending on or immediately after January 1
of the year in which such revision is undertaken but such revision shall be
restricted to forty per cent of the increase in wholesale price index.
• The formula for determining the applicable rate of fee shall be as follows:-
Applicable rate of fee = base rate + base rate X WPI A – WPI B X 0.4 WPI B
• WPI A means the wholesale price index of the week ending on or subsequent to
1st January immediately preceding the date of revision under rules; and
• WPI B means the wholesale price index of the week ending on 6th January, 2007
i.e. 208.7.
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6. Annual revision of rate of fee- An illustration
• If the revision is to be made for the year 2008-09 by applying the wholesale price
index of the week ending on 5th January 2008 (i.e. 216.6), then the rate for car,
jeep or van will be 0.6796 as computed below:
• Applicable rate of fee: 0.6695 + 0.6695 X 216.6 – 208.7 X 0.4 = 0.6796
• The applicable rate of fee shall be effective from first of April every year.
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7. Location of toll plaza
• A toll plaza should be establish beyond a distance of ten kilometres from a municipal or
local town area limits.
• Any other toll plaza on the same section of national highway and in the same direction
shall not be established within a distance of sixty kilometres.
Discounts:
A person who owns a mechanical vehicle registered for non-commercial purposes and
uses it as such for commuting on a section of national highway, permanent bridge,
bypass or tunnel, may obtain a pass, on payment of fee at the base rate for the year
2007-2008 of rupees one hundred and fifty per calendar month and revised annually in
accordance with rule , authorising it to cross the toll plaza specified in such pass:
• Provided that such pass shall be issued only if such driver, owner or person in charge of
such mechanical vehicle resides within a distance of twenty kilometres from the toll
plaza specified by such person and the use of such section of national highway,
permanent bridge, bypass or tunnel, as the case may be, does not extend beyond the
toll plaza next to the specified toll plaza.
• Provided further that no such pass shall be issued if a service road or alternative road is
available for use by such driver, owner or person in charge of a mechanical vehicle.
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8. Rate of fee for overloading
• A mechanical vehicle which is loaded in excess of the permissible Review
of Toll Policy for National Highways 21 load specified for its category
under sub-rule (2) of rule 4, shall be liable to pay fee at such rate which is
applicable for the next higher category of mechanical vehicles if no
weighbridge has been installed at the toll plaza .
• In certain cases, the excess loaded vehicle shall be prevented from using
the national highway or crossing the toll plaza until the excess load has
been removed from such mechanical vehicle.
• The weight of a mechanical vehicle, as recorded at a weighbridge installed
at the toll plaza, shall be the basis for levying the fee for overloading under
this rule:
• Provided that where, no fee for overloading shall be levied and collected
under this rule and the driver, owner or person in charge of the
mechanical vehicle shall be liable to pay fee applicable for such vehicle
only.
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9. 9

10. Tolling options
There are two types of toll collection systems available. These are:
• Closed Toll System { Manual Toll Collection (CTS/MTC) }
• Open Toll System { Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)}
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11. Open Toll System / Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)
ETC is the most complex and latest method for collecting tolls. Although it has been in
use for more than 20 years, ETC continues to evolve. ETC lanes improve the speed and
efficiency of traffic flow and save drivers’ time.
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12. Components of ETC
• Electronic toll collection systems rely on four major components:
automated vehicle identification
 automated vehicle classification
 transaction processing
And violation enforcement.
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13. Components of ETC ……. Continued
Automated vehicle identification
1. AVI- Automatic number plate recognition/Automated vehicle
identification
2. RFID tags-Radio frequency Identification Tag
3. A smart phone
• AVI is the process of determining the identity of a vehicle subject to
tolls. The majority of toll facilities record the passage of vehicles
through a limited number of toll gates. At such facilities, the task is
then to identify the vehicle in the gate area.
• Some early AVI systems used barcodes affixed to each vehicle, to
be read optically at the toll booth.
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14. Components of ETC ……. Continued
Automated vehicle identification
1. AVI- Automatic number plate recognition/Automated vehicle
identification
2. RFID tags-Radio frequency Identification Tag
3. A smart phone
• AVI is the process of determining the identity of a vehicle subject to
tolls. The majority of toll facilities record the passage of vehicles
through a limited number of toll gates. At such facilities, the task is
then to identify the vehicle in the gate area.
• Some early AVI systems used barcodes affixed to each vehicle, to
be read optically at the toll booth.
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15. Components of ETC ……. Continued
• Most current AVI systems rely on radio-frequency identification, where an
antenna at the toll gate communicates with a transponder on the vehicle
via Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC).
• RFID tags have proved to have excellent accuracy, and can be read at
highway speeds.
• Here, a system of cameras captures images of vehicles passing through
tolled areas, and the image of the number plate is extracted and used to
identify the vehicle. This allows customers to use the facility without any
advance interaction with the toll agency.
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16. Components of ETC ……. Continued
• As smart phone use becomes more commonplace, some toll road management
companies have turned to mobile phone apps to inexpensively automate and
expedite paying tolls from the lanes.
Automated vehicle classification
• Automated vehicle classification is closely related to automated vehicle
identification (AVI).
• More complex systems use a variety of sensors. Inductive sensors embedded in
the road surface can determine the gaps between vehicles, to provide basic
information on the presence of a vehicle. Treadles permit counting the number of
axles as a vehicle passes over them and, with offset-treadle installations, also
detect dual-tire vehicles. Light-curtain laser profilers record the shape of the
vehicle, which can help distinguish trucks and trailers.
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17. Components of ETC ……. Continued
• Transaction processing deals with maintaining customer accounts, posting toll
transactions and customer payments to the accounts, and handling customer
inquiries.
• The transaction processing component of some systems is referred to as a
"customer service centre".
• In many respects, the transaction processing function resembles banking, and
several toll agencies have contracted out transaction processing to a bank.
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18. How ECT Works?
• The electronic toll collection system, based on radio frequency identification
(RFID), comprises a wireless on-board unit (OBU) fitted into a vehicle and a
stationary roadside unit (RSU) placed at the toll plaza.
• The OBU is, by design, compatible at toll stations across the country.
• The RSU can sense an OBU even as a vehicle moves at very high speed, and
automatically deduct toll from the owner's pre-paid toll account with a central
clearing-house. Electronic Toll Collection is a system enabling collection of toll
payments electronically allowing for near-nonstop toll collection and traffic
monitoring.
• The system is also equipped to detect defaults in toll collection which occur either
due to insufficient funds in a toll account or a faulty OBU by activating an alarm to
inform authorities, without stopping the flow in traffic.
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19. •Many ETC systems use transponders like this one to electronically debit the
accounts of registered cars without their stopping.
RFID tag mounted on the wind screen
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20. How ECT Works? ……. Continued
Reader Uses Radio Waves
to Capture Identification
Number (RSU)
Transponder
Mounted in Vehicle (OBU)
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21. 21

22. How ETC works? ……. Continued
• Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is a fairly mature technology that allows for
electronic payment for motorways and expressways.
• An ETC system is able to determine if a car is registered in a toll payment program,
alerts enforcers of toll payment violations, and debits the participating account.
• The system will require the government to invest in two major system components
to enable collections to flow to toll operators - a central database where the
clearing-house will store account information, and networks that will connect toll
plazas to the database.
• Revenues from tolled stretches will flow directly to the involved operators via the
central clearing-house. The system is likely to come up in a phased manner, with
pilot projects on dense highway stretches.
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23. Why ETC required?
• In conventional toll collection method ,toll leakages occur when a vehicle does not
pay the requisite toll or when booth operators under report collections.
• Based on the current industry estimate of about 10% leakage, annual losses for
road developers are estimated to be approximately Rs 12 billion.
• ETC is fast becoming a globally accepted method of toll collection, a trend greatly
aided by the growth of inter-operable ETC technologies.
• An automated tolling system/ ETC plug leakages in toll collection & can effectively
address this area of grave concern for road developers and lenders with exposure
to road projects.
• In the year 2011, there was close to 525 toll plazas, operating on national and
state highways in India. Over 20,000 vehicles cross these plazas daily, each queuing
up for approximately 5-10 minutes awaiting their turn to pay the toll fare. Each
vehicle consumes almost 0.5-1.0 litre of fuel in an hour. Collectively, these vehicles
spend around 1,800-3,600 hours at toll plazas, which accounts for a daily wastage
of Rs. 30-60 million and annually, Rs. 10 billion," says Ajay D'souza, head, CRISIL
Research. THE TIMES OF INDIA Manjiri Damle, TNN Nov 26,
2011, 02.03PM IST
• CRISIL Research, India's independent and integrated research house, estimated
this changeover of manual toll collection at highway toll plazas with Electronic Toll
Collection ,to eliminate waiting time of vehicles and save fuel worth Rs 10 billion
per year.
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24. ETC System in India
• Union minister for road transport and highways, Dr C P Joshi, launched the first
inter-operable, electronic toll collection system based on radio frequency
identification (RFID) technology at’ Charoti’ Toll Plaza of Mumbai-Vadodara
section, on April 15, 2013.
• With this India joined the ranks of the US, Western Europe, Singapore and
Australia that have implemented this sophisticated form of technology.
• The interoperable RIFD based system would allow vehicles to sail through six toll
plazas, operated by three different road developers – Larsen and Toubro BSE 1.70
%(L&T), IRB Infrastructure BSE 1.14 % and NHAI.
• These include IRB toll plazas at Charoti, Bhagwada, Boriach and Choriyasi besides
NHAI plaza at Narmada Bridge and L&T IDPL Plaza at Karjan, Vadodara.
• To make the toll collection process at the National Highways (NH) easier and more
transparent, Joshi had announced to roll out RFID-based electronic toll collection
across all the toll plazas on national highways through out the country by 2014.
• The pilot project for this has already been launched on Chandigarh-Parwanoo on
NH-5. Presently, RIFD tags are available at the Kiosks located at all the Toll
Plazas at Mumbai-Vadodara stretch besides would be available online at the
ICICI BSE 0.90 %Bank’s website.
• “It will work as a pre-paid toll account and there will be automatic toll
deduction when the vehicle crossed Toll Plazas. The initial cost of the tag has
been kept at Rs 150 and the minimum amount to be deposited for a car is Rs
200.
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25. Advantages
Some of the benefits of ETC include:
• The automated collection promises to eliminate waiting time and ease congestion
at toll plazas.
• – fuel savings;
• – reduced mobile emissions by reducing or eliminating deceleration.
• – possible reduced drain on public monies(transparency in toll collection), if
the system is more self-sustaining or if the system was built/run via a public-
private partnership arrangement.
• The major advantage to open system is that ease traffic flow ie; cars need not stop
nor even slow down for payment. The new system will curb overcharging by
unscrupulous toll plaza attendants apart from helping motorists avoid long queues
or fumble for change.
• The first one is absence of the need for new road infrastructure (gantries);
operators can keep using the existing infrastructure.
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26. Advantages ……. Continued
• System works without toll booths, extra lanes, speed restrictions or complex
structures along toll roads.
• It has much greater flexibility in defining or changing payment by simply
redefining the "virtual" toll areas. It means ability to adapt easily and quickly to
changes in charge parameters (road classes, vehicle types, emission levels, times
slots, etc.).
• ETC systems can improve the traffic flow through the toll area.
• ETC lanes are less expensive to build and operate than traditional/conventional toll
collection methods.
• An ETC lane can process 1,200 vehicles per hour.
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27. Disadvantages
• In automated identification vehicle (AIV) optical systems proved to have
poor reading reliability, especially when faced with inclement weather and
dirty vehicles.
• The major disadvantage RFID tag is the cost of equipping each vehicle with
a transponder, which can be a major start-up expense, if paid by the toll
agency, or a strong customer deterrent, if paid by the customer.
• The disadvantage is that fully automatic recognition has a significant error
rate, leading to billing errors and the cost of transaction processing (which
requires locating and corresponding with the customer) can be significant.
Systems that incorporate a manual review stage have much lower error
rates, but require a continuing staffing expense.
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28. Conclusions
• The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system is the most efficient method of toll
collection with minimum delays.
• Toll roads represent a step in the direction of developing rational highway design.
• By providing economic incentives (and disincentives) for selected routes and travel
times, the toll road system helps create a more efficient vehicle movement
system throughout the region. Further implementation of toll roads and time-
based toll pricing will contribute to more balanced highway usage and additional
economic benefits.
• Sufficient peak capacity to carry the full volume of traffic can be handled by toll
highways without a significant decrease in the level of service.
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29. References
• Traffic Engineering And Management - Dr Tom V. Mathew, IIT Bombay
• NJTA Design Manual - Facility Buildings / Toll Plazas
• Review of Toll Policy for National Highways- The Secretariat for the Committee on
Infrastructure Planning Commission, Government of India Yojana Bhawan,
Parliament Street ,New Delhi - 110 001
• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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30. Questions
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