NEW DELHI: Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has urged top officials to find ways to make highway travel hassle-free for commuters, suggesting the implementation of a system for issuing monthly or annual passes for cars to use the NH network.
He made this suggestion noting that collection from cars and private vehicles accounts for less than 25% of NHAI’s toll revenues.“Around 75% of the toll revenue comes from trucks and commercial vehicles. The remaining 25% comes from cars. There is a thought, which the secretary and NHAI officials can look at… whether we can give monthly or annual passes for cars. The income from this category of vehicles is not much,” he said at a conference on next-generation toll collection system.
NHAI issues monthly passes with a cap on the number of trips a vehicle can make, on a particular stretch. IHMCL that deals with all toll related matters, will soon carry out a study to assess the financial impact of exempting private vehicles – car, jeep and van – from paying toll at NH toll plazas as part of a bigger exercise to find the impact of electronic toll collection.
Sources said IHMCL has received bids for this study, to show the impact of the exemption. “The findings will help us plan better,” said an official.
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