TTO - The application of non-stop toll collection is being urgently implemented to eliminate shortcomings of current manual collection. Thereby, it is possible to remove the manual toll booth, drives will pay the toll equivalent to the number of kilometers... as many countries have done.

Non-stop automatic toll booth (ETC) at the Cai Lay BOT toll booth on Highway 1 through Tien Giang province – Photo: V.TR

According to the Prime Minister's decision, as of December 31, 2018, all BOT stations on National Highway 1 and Ho Chi Minh Road (Highway 14) through the Central Highlands must apply automatic non-stop toll collection (ETC) to create convenience in circulation and transparency in toll collection.

The Ministry of Transport has appointed a partnership of Tasco Joint Stock Company - VETC Automatic Toll Collection Company Limited (Tasco - VETC) to be the investor of the project under the BOT form.

However, up to now, only 17/28 newly installed stations have been able to collect non-stop tolls and about 480,000 / nearly 3 million vehicles are tagged, the rate of vehicles passing through automatic toll booths is still very low.

Vehicles ownersprefer the toll collection

Mr. Ha Xuan Quynh - director of Thong Nhat Company Limited (Bac Giang) – expressed the above on the sidelines of the conference deploying the Prime Minister's decision on non-stop automatic toll collection held by the Directorate for Roads on March 16.

“With 120 vehicles, I really need this form of payment instead of giving cash to pay the toll for each driver and they avoid the station to get the toll, while I have to spend more gas money because vehicles has to run long distances to avoid toll booths.

Paying fees via account is also less risky when handing over cash to the driver. At the end of the month, it is better to get a toll receipt then gathering hundreds of tickets through the BOT station to conduct the tax procedures "- Mr. Quynh said.

Meanwhile, talking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Thanh - Director of Kim Phat Transportation Company (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) - said that more than 30 of the company's container trucks have been tagged and they will pay money in the near future to pass through the BOT stations with automatic fee collection.

According to Mr. Thanh, when transferring money into accounts, the company can control the number of times drivers have passed, avoiding the fact that drivers go around "dodging" the station but still report to pay toll or declare incorrectly.

Some freight companies said they strongly support the implementation of non-stop toll collection.

These enterprises affirmed that the VETC Company came to the place to paste the card free of charge, supported the participation in non-stop toll collection, so the transport fleet was tagged, but in fact ... not used.

Mr. Minh - the driver of a car rental company in Ho Chi Minh City – indicated that most of the stations still collect one stop (pay in cash), so he see that it is not necessary to stick the card.

“Every day I drive along the Hanoi Highway towards Dong Nai passing two toll booths. However, only Dong Nai toll booth has automatic toll collection, the rest collects one stop so I do not need to stick the card ”- Mr. Minh said.

Need to amend the regulations

Despite appreciation for the convenience and transparency, at the conference on March 16, delegates also expressed a number of questions about paying one-way tickets with monthly tickets, taking invoices, ensuring the safety of payment through account, the ability to connect toll accounts with bank accounts.

Answering the above questions, Mr. To Nam Toan - director of the Department of Science and Technology (Directorate for Roads) - said that the system still charges monthly, quarterly and one-way tickets subject to the way of buying tickets of the owner.

At the conference, reporters and some delegates asked if the bank account, debit card of the car owner can be connected to pay toll in case the account runs out of money? However, Mr. Toan said there is a lack of legal regulation to implement the above solution.

The Directorate for Roads, investors have worked with banks and agreed to amend the circular and decree to allow automatic toll payment from other accounts as well as sanctions against vehicle owners passing the station without paying toll.

The non-stop toll collection system operates by identifying the vehicle via an E-tag and deducting the money in the owner's account to open a barie for vehicles, in case the account runs out of money, then drivers can pay in cash as current.

However, according to the Decision 07 of the Prime Minister, in case the account runs out of money, the service provider will debit the vehicle owner's account and notify the owner to let the vehicle pass through the station.

Within 10 days the vehicle owner must transfer money into the prepaid account to pay the debt. If the owner does not pay the money, the service provider can take legal actions against the vehicle owner.

However, at the conference, there are some comments that it is necessary to amend the decree on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of road traffic so that the authorities have sanctions in addition to the right to sue owner who do not pay toll.

People register to stick VETC automatic toll collection stamp at the motor vehicle registration center in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: HUU KHOA

The sanctions must be strong enough to be effective

“Currently, there is no regulations forcing vehicle owners to have automatic fee payment accounts, if people do not stick cards or support automatic toll collection, it is difficult to ensure the highest transparency in toll collection.

If people do not support and cooperate to create a transparent transaction, at some point, the Government can force the vehicle owner to register to have an account to pay toll and pay fines for administrative violations ” - Mr. Nguyen Van Huyen, Director General of Directorate for Roads, said.

Talking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - General Director of VETC Co., Ltd., the organization implementing the non-stop toll collection project - said that the company is still free of charge for the automatic toll card service across the country.

Mr. Ha said that the goal of the Ministry of Transport is that until end of 2018, 100% of vehicle owners use the card to pay through toll booths.

Although the tagging has been implemented at registration stations, toll booths as well as mobile phones to agencies free of charge, the number of car stickers has not increased much.

"If there is a strong enough determination and sanctions, we expect that in 2018, all 3 million vehicles will be stuck with cards" - Mr. Ha said.

The non-stop toll collection project is still sluggish, and currently has not reached the plan.

Recently, right after the Prime Minister's instruction, the Ministry of Transport has sent a message of determination to stamp automatic toll collection on 100% of motor vehicles and in 2019, will implement non-stop toll collection at all road toll collection booths. Delayed investors will be requested to stop charging.

This is considered as a strong measure that the Ministry of Transport apply to force investors to promote the application of non-stop toll collection technology at BOT stations.

Talking with Tuoi Tre, Mr. Nguyen Van Thu - Rector of the University of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City – show the determination of the Ministry of Transport to follow the schedule of non-stop collection.

To ensure the implementation of this policy, the payment through the station is still insufficient, Mr. Thu said that there are sanctions if the vehicle owner does not voluntarily pay when passing the station.

"Sanctions like tax collection, even giving a specific penalty will be conducted immediately" - Mr. Thu said.

Mr. Thu suggested that more banks should participate in the non-stop fee collection process, do not let some affiliated banks do it as student fee collection on students which is not acceptable ...

Source: tuoitre.vn

The BOT station removes manual toll collection