Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) passes for the Bandra-Worli Sea Link will not be renewed for March, instead motorists will be given FASTags, which had been rolled out on the sea link in January. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) aims to increase the adoption of FASTags through the move.
MSRDC officials said around 40,000 vehicles use the sea link on a daily basis and around 52,000 vehicles currently had ETC tags. “Over 90% of the ETC tags are monthly passes, which will be changed to FASTags upon renewal. The remaining work on a reducing balance concept, which will be phased out gradually,” Vijay Waghmare, joint managing director, MSRDC, said.
FASTags were introduced on the sea link on January 26 and MSRDC officials said they have since seen the adoption double. “On an average, around 2,000 vehicles would use ETC on the sea link every day. Over the last two weeks we have seen the number of motorists using ETC or FASTags increase to around 5,000 per day. We expect the number to cross 8,000 by the end of this month,” Mr. Waghmare said.
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At present FASTags are operational on the sea link and are yet to be implemented on the five Mumbai entry points. Mr. Waghmare said the toll operator was conducting trials across all entry points and FASTag will be rolled out once they are completed. MSRDC officials said roughly 25% of all vehicles going through the five entry points everyday had ETC tags and would potentially convert to FASTag once the system is rolled out. Dahisar and Vashi toll nakas cater to nearly 80,000 vehicles per day, with half of them passing through in a four-hour period during morning and evening peak hours.
FASTag was first rolled out on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and National Highway 8 in the State in December 2018. The earnings from non-cash toll collection has since increased from around ₹30 lakh per day in November to roughly ₹1 crore in February, MSRDC officials said.