In a recent announcement by National Payments Corporation India (NPCI), it confirmed that Mumbai is now FASTag ready. All the three major toll booths; Mulund Eastern Express Way, Mulund (LBS Marg) and Airoli have been enabled with dedicated FASTag lanes. Along with the above three toll booths, Rajiv Gandhi Sea link and Vashi Toll plaza had already been enabled with the platform. FASTag gives a seamless and convenient way of paying tolls which in return saves fuel and time. Meanwhile, the Dahisar toll plaza will soon be enabled with this platform.
There are chances that all the parking booths will also be enabled on the FASTag platform. This was first introduced in the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad and resulted in shorter queues which resulted in faster traffic movement inside the airport premise. Soon, every parking in the city will be enabled with FASTag which will also be a boon as it will provide contactless transactions which is the need of the hour given the rising covid cases in India.
The busy Mumbai-Pune expressway has implemented this convenient mode of toll payment and is further adding new technologies to improve the inter-city experience. The Khalapur and Talegaon toll plazas have recently been provided with 4 dedicated FASTag lanes for cars to further reduce the time travel between the two cities.
As of November 2020, the total transaction value stood at INR 2102.02 crores with a total count of 124.88 million transactions. The statistics for October were INR 2137.16 crores for the total transaction and 122.36 million number transactions. This shows that more and more people are starting to use the platform and this is a positive sign. The best outcome of this system will be evident only when more and more people join in and take advantage of this convenient and seamless mode of toll payment.
The FASTag was first launched in India back in 2013 on the Mumbai-Vadodara corridor. The contactless parking system is expected to be implemented to lot more cities in the near future and the aim is to make every parking booth 100% smart and contactless.
