Context :
Soon,
pay highway toll based on vehicle size, road stress /
03 Oct 2022
Extract :
The size of your vehicle and the potential load on the road
infrastructure may soon determine how much toll you pay on national highways.
The
government is planning a major overhaul of the toll policy, which would shift,
# from the current system of tolling
based on fixed distances travelled on roads
# to one where it is
determined based on real time and distance travelled on highways.
Also,
the toll is determined based on the actual
size and weight of vehicles and not just on the number of
axles as is currently the case.
The
idea is to charge tolls based on ,
# how much
space a vehicle takes up and
# how much
weight it puts on road infrastructure, resulting in faster road
wear
The Union Ministry of
Roads is discussing the proposal and may launch pilots in some of its
upcoming greenfield highway projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai corridor,
before rolling out nationwide, the official added.
To
prepare the ground for the change, the ministry has also asked the Indian
Institute of Technology (BHU)-Varanasi to calculate the latest passenger vehicle unit
(PCU) for various types of vehicles.
“Passenger car unit is a vehicle unit
used to express the capacity of the highway or how much road capacity a vehicle
will use and for how long. This unit was established several years ago, and
meanwhile, the size of vehicles and their speed have made great changes This will
be documented in the revised passenger car unit, which could also become the
basis for determining highway tolls,” the official said.
Mint
had previously reported that tolling could also shift from the current
FASTag-based system to a GPS-enabled one, creating a tolling system based on
actual road use.
Users with smaller and
lighter vehicles covering shorter distances on highways would therefore pay
much less toll than users with larger, heavier vehicles and longer distances.
“Location-based toll collection should
be phased in, as it would be a technological leap over the current FASTag-based
system.
About 80% of tolls collected in India come from the
transportation of freight by commercial vehicles, and this segment needs to be
exposed to the changes first,” said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Director and
Practice Leader – Transport and Logistics, Crisil Ltd.
“As
processes stabilize, other segments can also be enabled to provide universal
service for relocations across the country. Adopting technology for change is
not complex or expensive. But the adoption should be gradual, eliminating the
chance of disruptions,” he added.
In the
current system, toll rates are determined on the basis of previously calculated
PCU. The number of axles was also one of the criteria for determining the toll
rates.
This meant that larger trucks with a higher axle capacity paid
more toll even if they were
efficient, caused less damage to the roads and transported larger quantities of
goods in a faster turnaround time.
Also, the current toll system does not record the actual road distance
traveled by a vehicle. Tolls are charged at specific toll stations for a full ride,
even if a vehicle leaves the highway early.
The new system rewards efficient vehicles with lower toll rates,
while vehicles that wear out road infrastructure and take more time and
space are charged more.
The
new toll policy will be finalized after the IIT-BHU report on the PCU review,
which is expected in the next six months.
Following the report, the PCU counts of several vehicles would
be re-determined.
Also, location-based services would require,
# GPS devices on vehicles, and
# location-based tolling regulations
need to be finalized,
which would require the Motor Vehicle Act to be amended.
“Work
to finalize the new toll policy is moving fast and could be announced in 2023,”
the aforementioned official said.
.
Dear Shri Nitin
Gadkariji,
Congratulations for making a beginning to implement Trans-Tax base on a vehicle’s Harm Quotient , as detailed in my
following earlier e-mail :
Ø Transport : an
Integrated Logistic Plan ?............................... [ 20 Nov 2018 ]
( Detail procedure to calculate
any vehicle’s Harm Quotient/its
linkage to Trans-Tax, are shown in
email ) :
Following are the SALENT FEATURES of my suggestion :
Levying of TRANS-TAX on all vehicles from birth to death of a vehicle ( irrespective
of change in ownership through
gifting / selling )
o TRANS-TAX will get collected
automatically and for each hour of a vehicle’s life
o In this collection process ,
there will be NO HUMAN INTERVENTION whatsoever
o Amount of TRANS-TAX to be
collected every hour , will depend on it’s TRANSCORE
o A vehicle’s TRANSCORE will be based on its total HQ [ Harm Quotient ] for that
hour
o Higher the total HQ [ TRANSCORE ] higher the TRANS-TAX ( directly proportional )
o Logic :
To lower their TRANS-TAX liability , people will opt for vehicles and driving
conditions which generate
a low TRANSCORE
o TRANS-TAX will replace all other vehicle-related taxes ( eg : Registration tax / Road
Tax etc ) , other than the
GST payable by buyer at time of purchase of vehicle
o TRANS-TAX will be uniform throughout India but credited to the State in which
vehicle is, at each hour of
its life
o TRANS-TAX will be computed as per following HQ MATRIX . For exact mechanism ,
look up para on
TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM below
· This is a conceptual frame work and transport experts may debate and come up
with a different set of “ Factors “ /
“ Weightages “ / “ Rating Scales “
with regards,
Hemen Parekh
hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 04
Oct 2022
