GNSS: How the new satellite-based highway toll collection system will work

The amendment makes a legal provision to earmark specific lanes to implement GNSS, and mandates the collection of toll through this new system.

On July 2, the Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), a company promoted by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under MoRTH issued a tender to construct free-flow GNSS lanes at toll plazas. The tendering process is currently ongoing.

According to MoRTH, a pilot study for the implementation of GNSS-based tolling has been completed on the Bengaluru-Mysuru section of NH-275 in Karnataka, and the Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Haryana.

Toll collection by satellite

GNSS will allow toll or highway user fees to be collected without stopping the vehicle at a toll booth boom barrier in order for the FASTag barcode to be read.

Vehicles can simply pass through designated GNSS lanes, which is seen as a long-term solution to congestion and pile-ups at toll plazas. A number of developed countries follow this system for efficiently collecting highway toll.

For GNSS to work, owners will have to get a non-transferable “on-board unit” (OBU) fitted in their vehicles. GNSS OBUs could ultimately come factory-fitted in new vehicles in the same way as many showroom owners now attach FASTag stickers to new cars rolling out of their premises.

In its tender, IHMCL said GNSS lanes will have advance signage, markings, lighting, and equipment so that vehicles can safely cruise through the toll plazas at reasonably high speeds without coming in conflict with the slow-moving FASTag vehicles passing through non-GNSS lanes.

As a GNSS vehicle passes through the toll gate, the charger will receive a ping (distance and time stamp) through the OBU. The payment mechanism will be mediated by fintech companies, and will be similar to the concept of issuer banks in the FASTag system.

Non-GNSS vehicles entering GNSS lanes will have to pay double the toll as penalty.

The new system is expected to reduce or end congestion and delays at toll plazas. The FASTag system takes time — up to a minute at times — to read the barcode and operate the boom, a delay that causes pile-ups and arguments at busy plazas.

What happens to FASTag?

IHMCL has said that the GNSS-based electronic toll collection system will be implemented alongside the existing FASTag ecosystem to begin with. Both systems will be in use simultaneously; however, as the use of GNSS becomes more widespread, all lanes will eventually be converted to GNSS lanes.

FASTag, which uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, was launched in India in 2015. It has been mandatory for the payment of user fee/ toll since February 2021, with a 100% penalty for cash or non-FASTag payments.

According to MoRTH, as of March 2024, more than 98% of user fee payments at toll plazas were being made through FASTag. Toll is collected for approximately 45,000 km of National Highways and expressways through 1,200 toll plazas maintained by NHAI or concessionaires.