Many commuters were confused, others were angry, and some others had no problem at all as toll collection began on the 55-kilometre stretch on the recently inaugurated Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway on Tuesday morning.
After a morning of commotion, wherein several pro-Kannada organisations, lawyers’ association, and some opposition party leaders protested near the toll plazas in Kanaminike and Sheshagirihalli, additional police forces from Ramanagara were deployed to provide high security throughout the day.
“A few protestors broke one of the boom barriers in the morning, and we had to install a new one. As it was the first day and some people had no idea about the toll collection, there were some small conflicts. As long as police security is here, we will be fine. But we do not know how people will react once they are not around,” said a staff member who was working in the toll plaza.
Heavy police presence was observed at the Kaniminike toll gate on the newly inaugurated Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway near Bengaluru on March 14, 2023. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain
Service road woes
More commuters took the service road to avoid paying the toll. “Only those who are going to or coming from Kodagu, Mangaluru, or longer distances like that are taking the expressway today (Tuesday). The other lot are those who do not know that toll has started. The rest, mostly regular commuters, are taking service roads,” said a police officer at the Sheshagirihalli plaza.
Regular commuters, who had to cover shorter distances like Bidadi and Ramanagara, were not happy to pay hundreds of rupees in toll. “Why are they imposing tax everywhere? Why should I pay so much to go such a short distance?” questioned a commuter who was going to Ramanagara from Bengaluru.
Those who took the service road complained about the poor condition of the service road and the lack of signage at the deviation near it, which resulted in some of them taking the expressway.
Minor congestions were being observed just before the start of the expressway as commuters who did not want to pay toll were seen taking a deviation to the service road. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain
“The condition of the service road is not good at all to reach Bidadi. Especially on the stretch where we are supposed to divert towards the service road, there is no signage or motorable road. Now they are asking me to pay a toll of ₹240 just to go from here to Bidadi,” lamented another commuter at the Kaniminike plaza.
On the other hand, some commuters said they did not mind paying the toll as it shortened their travel time. “It is okay if I have to pay a couple of hundred rupees as toll. The quality of the expressway is so good. Why would I prefer getting stuck in traffic jams on the service road?” asked Karthik U., who was going to Mysuru.
Technical difficulties
Many commuters were not happy to pay toll and could be seen fighting near the toll gates. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain
On the first day of toll collection, some snags were reported in the boom barriers, as some of them closed and caused minor damage to vehicles. As the Fastag scanner failed to work accurately and the staff members had to use manual scanners sometimes, vehicles piled up for a couple minutes near the toll gates.
Non-availability of change was also a problem as the vehicles which were not equipped with Fastag had to pay in cash. “I was supposed to go to Mandya, and I gave a ₹2,000 note near the toll gate. As those people didn’t have change, they told me to take the service road instead. Now I’ve to spend extra time on the road,” said M. Kumar, a commuter.
There were minor clashes between the toll plaza staff and commuters as a few political and religious leaders were let go without collecting tolls at both plazas. However, the staff said that they had provided such concessions to many commuters on the first day as they did not know about the toll and had taken the expressway by mistake.
Opposition slams toll collection
Meanwhile, the opposition slammed the move to collect the toll. KPCC leader D.K. Shivakumar took to social media and said he travelled via the expressway after hearing reports about people’s outrage. “I had seen on TV and newspapers since morning that people expressed outrage near the Bengaluru-Mysuru toll station. Today I also had the experience while travelling from Bidadi to Ramanagara. To go from Bidadi to Ramanagara, the toll charge is ₹135, but they charged ₹ 270 on the pretext of a problem with the Fastag scanner,” he tweeted.
