People nowadays pay electricity bills, student fees at educational institutions and many other services online without having to wait in queues.
However, vehicles snarl up while paying tolls on roads and bridges in the traditional system.
Long tailback is created in toll plazas every year during any holiday or festivity.
Traditional method of toll collection is threatening to create huge traffic jams in the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holiday. Although the automated toll collection system was introduced in the country five to six years ago, it is seldom used.
Toll is mainly collected in roads, flyovers and bridges in the country. Most of these are under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Bridges Division.
Chattogram Development Authority controls one elevated expressway in the port city while Dhaka South City Corporation collects tolls in Mayor Hanif Flyover.
RHD sources said Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) booths were installed in eight big bridges and two roads under its control in April, 2019. A discount of 10 per cent is available for using ETC booths. Bridges division launched ETC booths in December, 2020.
Sources from the RHD and Bridges Division attributed two reasons behind the failure of the ETC system. Firstly, many banks and Mobile Financial Service (MFS) providers have not been integrated into the system. Secondly, to ensure automatic toll collection, vehicles must have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) stickers.
According to ETC booth estimation, although most vehicles have RFID stickers, they do not work in about 90 per cent of cases. The cameras in the ETC booths cannot read these stickers automatically.
Tolls are collected automatically in many developed and developing countries of the world. To implement this system in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) introduced digital number plates and RFID stickers in 2013. It has also been made mandatory for all types of motor vehicles in the country. Vehicle owners have added digital number plates and RFID stickers by paying extra money. But it is not working.
It was said that the vehicles would have RFID stickers. Each vehicle will have a mobile phone financial service or internet banking customer number. When a vehicle passes through an ETC booth on a bridge or road, the camera at the toll booth will collect the vehicle's information and deduct a certain amount of toll. In this way, vehicles will not have to stop at the toll booth and no one will have to collect the toll. As a result, there will be no risk of traffic jams and corruption in toll collection will be stopped.
Ehsanul Haque, Senior Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, told Prothom Alo that he had instructed BRTA to find out why RFID tags are unreadable and solve the problem. A meeting will soon be convened with Banks and MFSs to make the ETC booths effective.
He added that decreasing traffic congestion in toll plazas is among the priorities of the ministry.
Only a handful registered on ETC
Bangladesh Toll Policy 2014 has called for the introduction of an automatic toll collection system at toll plazas. It has called for the introduction of various modern technologies including RFID stickers, smart cards, touch and go, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In continuation of this, the RHD has installed ETC systems at 12 toll plazas. To pay the toll through this system, vehicles have to register with a designated bank or financial institution in advance.
There are currently about 5.6 million vehicles in the country. RHD sources say that only 30,646 vehicles have registered for automatic toll payment at the toll plazas under their jurisdiction as of last February.
On the other hand, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority is an autonomous organisation. The Jamuna Bridge and Padma Bridge are under its jurisdiction. Muktarpur Bridge and Karnaphuli Tunnel are also under its jurisdiction. An average of 22,000 vehicles ply through the Jamuna Bridge daily while the number increases to over 50,000 during Eid. On the other hand, about 16,000 vehicles travel on the Padma Bridge on average daily. The number doubles during Eid.
The Bridges Division opened one booth at each toll plaza in December 2020, with the slogan ‘I will pay toll on ETC, I will cross the bridge quickly’, to collect tolls automatically. According to Bridges Division sources, only 5,949 vehicles have been registered by the owners to cross the Jamuna Bridge.
On an average, only 250 vehicles use the ETC booth daily. The maximum number of vehicles registered at the ETC booth has been registered by PRAN-RFL Group, which has 622 vehicles. The government's transport agency, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), has 490 registered vehicles. Apart from this, Hanif Enterprise has registered 396 buses.
Many privately owned or company vehicles have not been registered on the Padma Bridge. Only the Bridges Division’s vehicles and the vehicles of the toll collection contractor have been registered. On the other hand, the ETC system is operational on the Karnaphuli Tunnel and Muktarpur Bridge, but no one uses it.
According to RHD sources, more than 127,000 vehicles crossed the eight major bridges and two toll roads of the department on 8 February.
Of these, only 7,687 vehicles crossed through the ETC booths. All the rest were manually collected by toll plaza employees. That is, only 6 per cent of vehicles used the ETC booths.
Sources involved in the toll collection of the Jamuna Bridge say that the RFID tags of only 15 per cent of vehicles are automatically detected at their ETC booths. The rest are collected by employees. In addition, in many cases, even though registration is done, sufficient money is not deposited. As a result, tolls cannot be collected automatically from vehicles.
The RHD earns about Tk 12 billion annually, including VAT (Value Added Tax), from its roads and bridges. The four bridges and tunnel under the Bridges Division generate more than Tk 17 billion annually.
Kazi Mohammad Ferdous, Chief Engineer of Bridges Division, told Prothom Alo that coordination among different government bodies is required for more effective ETC service. More banks and MFS have to be integrated into the system.
Transport ministry sources said the A2I (Aspire to Innovate) project authority has been trying to take control of the ECT management system of toll plazas since 2022.
The ousted Awami League government wanted to bring EkPay (digital financial transaction platform) app created by the a2i, at the center of the system.
However, other government bodies including RHD and Bridges Division believe that several problems have already arisen in the payment of salaries and allowances to government officials and employees in the A2i software. In addition, A2i does not have any financial management skills or legal framework. As a result, this system cannot be implemented. Rather, they want to connect all banks and mobile financial service providers. This will require a high-level decision from the government.
Adequate financial services have not been connected
RHD sources said that the automatic toll payment system at their toll plazas has not been made as accessible as needed. Because, money can be paid at RHD’s toll plazas through the internet banking systems of two banks (Rocket and Upay). Sonali Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Janata Bank, BRAC Bank, mobile financial service provider bKash, and Payment Gateway Organisation Software Shop Limited have shown interest in joining this system.
According to RHD sources, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will have to be signed to bring the banks and MFSs under this system. On 12 February, the chief engineer of RHD also sent a letter seeking instructions from the ministry in this regard. Meanwhile, the condition is the same in the toll plazas under the Bridges Division as there is no initiative to bring more banks and MFSs in the system. Ali Ahmed, Chief Commercial Officer of bKash, told Prothom Alo that it is possible to make the communication system more dynamic and customer-friendly through automatic toll payment. bKash is continuing discussions with RHD and bridge authorities to get involved in this system.
Sufferings continue at toll plazas
People's sufferings at the toll plazas become visible when people return home during any festivals. Thousands of vehicles wait to pay the toll, creating miles of traffic jams. The infrastructure that has been built at huge cost for easy travel of people is not getting its benefits due to the lack of use of modern toll payment systems.
Transport expert and professor of the Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Md Hadiuzzaman told Prothom Alo that while bridges have been built in the country at a huge cost and roads have been widened, it is completely unreasonable that people have to suffer at traffic jams at toll plazas.
He said at most 300-400 vehicles can cross bridges per hour when toll is collected manually. Four times more vehicles can cross bridges if the system is automated.