FASTag lanes on Hyderabad ORR to be streamlined

From June 1, Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) will be collecting double the fare from motorists entering the exclusive FASTag lanes without the tags on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). The initiative is aimed promoting use of FASTags, reduce waiting time at the toll counters and cash transactions.

Payment of toll through RFID-based FASTag was introduced by the Central government to reduce long queues near toll gates. The use of FASTags is being promoted on the ORR since March 2019 and from initial 10,000 motorists, utility of these tags has increased steadily with about 60,000 motorists prerfering these tags

Every day about 1.20 lakh vehicles move across ORR and of these nearly 60,000 are using FASTags for toll payment at the 19 toll plazas. To encourage the tags, HGCL is operating 50 per cent dedicated lanes and with double fare being collected from June 1 from motorists entering



the dedicated lanes without the tags, officials are expecting utility of the tags to increase further.

This apart, since March 15 this year, HGCL is not offering a rebate on the toll for return journeys for those making cash payments at the counters. The FASTag also prevents physical contact at the counters apart from reducing pollution caused by vehicular emissions while cars and trucks idle waiting for to pay the toll.

Those, who do not have FASTag facility can also opt for digital payments like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, debit or credit cards etc but they too will not be offered rebate on the toll for return journeys, said an official from HGCL.

After the implementation of FASTag, time saved per transaction was about six seconds and the cumulative time saved per day is about 110 man hours, he said.