The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has enforced a new rollout of the GNSS tolling system for national highways, along with amended rules related to the fees. Now, owners of private vehicles whose Global Navigation Satellite System is functional can commute up to 20 km every day on the highways and expressways without paying tolls.
The revised policy, called the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2024, was issued on September 10, 2024. Mechanical vehicle toll collection, according to the new rules, shall fall under the GNSS system excluding vehicles under National Permit. Tolls at highways, bypasses, tunnels, and bridges: No toll is payable up to the first 20 km of distance.
Do you know? GNSS tolling system uses satellites to measure distance travelled
Beyond that, every vehicle has to pay the toll fee. The 20 free kilometres are applicable for any one direction in a single day. The GNSS tolling system uses satellite tracking to calculate tolls with actual distance travelled, thus making the process of fee collection efficient and accurate. The rollout of this GNSS tolling system forms part of a broader initiative to bring modernization to toll collection.
Notably, he system began in July 2024 along with the existing FASTag system. The test sites were the Bengaluru-Mysore section of NH-275 in Karnataka and the Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Haryana. Making the big announcement, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said, “Preliminary work involved in-depth studies and stakeholder consultations, including a global workshop in June 2024.”
The ministry invited Global Expressions of Interest to fine-tune the system and get feedback from the industry. Thereby, the introduction of the GNSS tolling system is likely to be smooth, and congestion-free. Furthermore, it may even spur the installation of GNSS in private vehicles at toll plaza entrances. Consequently, lessons learned from the pilot projects will lead to nationwide execution with a view to increasing the element of fairness and efficiency throughout India’s national highway network.
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