Guaranteed to apply only non-stop toll collection

BOT investors who do not complete the installation of the ETC system on schedule will be handled or even forced to stop toll collection.

Particularly, the Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway – the key expressway will only non-stop toll collection. At present, the installation of equipment and system signal connection lines has been completed. The relevant units also prepared many plans so as not to affect the travel of people while ensuring the harmony of interests between the parties.

Stop the car, pay the card, pay at the toll station…, after nearly a month, such images will no longer appear on the Hanoi – Hai Phong highway. All toll lanes on this route will switch to non-stop electronic toll collection.

An ETC toll lane on the Hanoi – Hai Phong highway. (Photo: Investment Newspaper)

“If it’s a highway, toll vehicles that accidentally stop can collide with each other. When it’s automatic, the car will just go through, reduce speed, much more secure”, Mr. Nguyen Van Thoan, Mai Dinh, Soc Son, Hanoi, said.

Currently, on the toll lanes, the BOT investor has installed non-stop electronic toll collection devices. The investor and service providers have also coordinated to connect the signal to the system. Traffic organization on the route and at the tollgate is also planned by the management agency to ensure the pilot implementation of non-stop electronic toll collection.

“We organize a review of the traffic sign system on the entire route to redesign it to ensure the goal of lane separation, remote channeling, and notify vehicle owners before entering the highway about when entering the highway. The Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway must meet the conditions for non-stop electronic toll collection,” said To Nam Toan, Director of the Science and Technology Department, Directorate for Roads of Vietnam.

The allowable error of the non-stop electronic toll collection system is 2%. That means with the traffic of about 60,000 vehicles per day traveling on the Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway, there will be about 120 faulty cases.

In order to limit the impact on the travel of people, the BOT investor and service providers will arrange staff at the station to handle the situation. However, people also need to be proactive in controlling the account balance to avoid the case when entering the toll lane but the account does not have enough money to go through.

“Going to the toll station, we can top up at the station, but it will take more time. Customers can use inter-bank service, which means that from their bank account, they can pour into the traffic account to automatically The operation always runs when passing the toll booth and the limit is determined by the customer”, said Mr. Ho Trong Vinh, Deputy General Director of VETC.

With the inter-bank service, the transfer of money to the traffic account is free of charge, the transfer limit also depends on the needs of the user. This is not only a solution to avoid fear of appropriating capital, but also helps service users avoid the problem of insufficient money in the account when going through the automatic toll collection lane without stopping.

Ensure troubleshooting when applying non-stop tolls

It can be seen that on the Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway, up to now, the infrastructure for the non-stop toll collection has been completed. However, investors and service providers here still have backup plans ready to handle problems that may arise when officially deployed.

From June, toll stations on the Hanoi – Hai Phong highway will not have a mixed toll lane as at present. However, at each station, one lane is still arranged to handle arising incidents.

Thus, when traveling through the station, even if the vehicle has problems with the toll collection technology, it does not stop or the errors of the card stickers on the vehicle are handled by the tollgate staff. The operation management unit of this expressway has also assigned responsibility for each stage of toll collection.

Expressway Hanoi – Hai Phong is applied in the form of closed toll collection. That means that when there is a problem on the transmission line at one station, it can also cause signal loss for the whole line. In order to avoid similar incidents that have happened, the management agency also requires the units to ensure a backup plan.

“We asked VIDIFI to pull an extra fiber optic cable to connect at the end of Hai Phong. To prevent a break in the middle, we asked VIDIFI to add at each station a wireless transmission line using 4G network. for backup,” said Mr. To Nam Toan, Director of the Department of Science, Technology, Environment and International Cooperation, Directorate for Roads of Vietnam.

An additional parallel line is added, including a redundant wireless connection signal for automatic toll collection, which means 300% increased risk prevention of the network connection. Thus, the Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway is ready for 100% automatic toll collection from June to here.

The road toll collection does not stop

The Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway is piloted with only non-stop toll collection with the aim of encouraging more car owners to stick the toll card without stopping, thereby increasing the investment efficiency of the system. At the same time, this is also a premise, a model for toll stations across the country to reach the goal of being a non-barie toll station like developed countries in the world.

According to experience from countries around the world applying the form of automatic toll collection without stopping, the Ministry of Transport has developed a roadmap for implementation in 3 phases.

Currently, Vietnam’s non-stop electronic toll collection system is in phase 1. (Illustration image – Photo: dangcongsan)

Accordingly, in phase 1, toll stations still exist. Vehicles with valid service card information and sufficient balance of the toll account upon arrival at the barie station will automatically open for the vehicle to pass. If the vehicle has not been tagged with a service tag, or has a service tag, but there is not enough balance in the account, the system switches to one-stop toll collection mode.

Phase 2, at the toll booths there are no barriers, only lane separations are maintained. Vehicles traveling freely in lanes pass through the toll booth, then there will be no one-stop toll collection.

In phase 3, at the toll station area, only the long gate price is left to install toll collection devices. Multi-lane free-flowing vehicles pass through the tollgate area.

Currently, Vietnam’s non-stop electronic toll collection system is in phase 1.

Regarding the progress of implementing the toll collection system, right from the beginning of April, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh asked the Ministry of Transport, the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises and the General Corporation to Vietnam Expressway Development Investment Company (VEC) must accelerate the implementation of the non-stop toll collection system at expressway projects managed by VEC.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the units to complete on schedule according to the direction of the Government and the National Assembly; handle the responsibility of the concerned individuals and collectives if the progress is delayed; report to the Prime Minister the results of the implementation before June 30.

In which, VEC was assigned by the Ministry of Transport to be the investor in the construction, management, operation and exploitation of 5 highway projects including: Cau Gie – Ninh Binh expressway, Noi Bai – Lao Cai, Da Nang – Da Nang expressway. Quang Ngai, Ben Luc – Long Thanh and Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay. Up to now, only the Cau Gie – Ninh Binh expressway has been invested and operated by the ETC toll collection system since June 2021, other highways still collect one-stop tolls.

Nationwide, up to now, after nearly 7 years of implementation, there are more than 570 lanes at nearly 120 stations that are non-stop toll lanes, reaching the rate of 70%. The percentage of vehicles with toll tags is nearly 60% of the total number of vehicles. Among the cars that have the card attached, only 60% of the cars are loaded onto the card to use the service. The numbers are considered to be modest and must be urgently completed in a short time, in which efforts are needed from management agencies, service providers and the cooperation of the people.

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