Toll plazas are part of the government’s system of collecting tax from people for using the national highways. But as important as they are, they can be very tedious and inconvenient for travelers. If you are traveling through any of the highways in the country, having to wait in a long line and have the exact change to pay the toll can be a major inconvenience. Now imagine taking a long trip across the country and having to do it numerous times. To avoid such a situation, you can get a FASTag.
What is a FASTag?
A FASTag is a prepaid electronic system made to collect tolls on highways. Created and managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the system employs radio frequency identification technology (RFID). The system works with a sticker and scanning cameras. An RFID sticker called the FASTag is affixed at the windscreen of the car. The scanning cameras are set up at the toll plaza. These cameras can detect the sticker as the car is driving through the toll plaza. Once that happens, the toll is collected without you having to stop at the toll booth.
But the question is, why is there a need for a FASTag? Here are a few reasons:
Eliminates the need for cash
When you are at a toll plaza, you will notice that the toll officials ask for an exact change in cash. This is because they want to accept your payment and move to the next vehicle. This is to avoid unnecessary traffic at the booth. But sometimes there can be passengers that just do not have the exact change. This can block things up and cause further issues. However, FASTag eliminates the need to pay cash entirely. Your FASTag is connected to a digital wallet. You can transfer money to that wallet and simply drive through the plaza, making the exact toll payment within seconds.
- Saves time
The basic idea of a FASTag was to make toll collection smoother. While the collection of payment is made smoother by the transaction system of the service, there is still the question of making toll collection quicker. One of the best FASTag benefits is that it is a huge time-saver. Your regular toll process involves adding yourself to a queue, hope that every driver before you has perfect change and the line isn’t too long. But FASTag ensures that things are not left to chance. With a FASTag, you do not need to wait in a queue to pay your toll. Toll plazas have dedicated lanes for drivers with FASTags. In fact, the government has made FASTags mandatory since February 15, 2021.
- Notifications for toll collection
Whenever your credit card is used somewhere, your bank notifies you of the transaction. This makes your life so much easier. You know exactly where, when, and how much money was spent. The same happens with your FASTag. When you pay toll digitally through FASTag, you get a message about it. The message confirms that the toll payment has been made.
- Reduced effort
The toll plaza management and effort of monitoring the system manually is reduced.
