In the modern world today when time is scarce and most of us are running around day and night to meet the demands of our career, family and social life, who has the time to lose waiting in long queues at a toll plaza? Most of us neither have the time nor the patience or the energy but we keep doing it, on a regular basis because either we are not aware that there is a smarter way to move through the roads and the tolls or we are too lazy to become a part of the process.
RFID or Radio frequency Identification technology is the latest that is enabling more and more people to travel faster, easier and seamlessly without wasting time through over-crowded toll plaza. This is Fastag and if you thought that this was expensive, it is not. In fact if you are smart enough, you can get some cash back offers too making the deal extremely lucrative.
Facts about Fastag
- It is affixed physically to your vehicle.
- It is usually issued by the Transportation department in your city and state and can be paid for online in which case the physical tag is sent by courier to your registered address.
- Your vehicle needs to move along the Electronic Toll collection lane or ETC lane.
- Every time your vehicle passes, the RFID technology identifies the tag and deducts the money immediately from your linked account.
- You can link the Fastag to either your bank account or to your e-wallet from a reputed e-wallet service provider like MobiKwik, PhonePe or Paytm.
- Simultaneously your vehicle cannot have more than one tag.
- All applicable rules and regulations regarding the balance in the Fastag and recharging is under the purview of the guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India.
Advantages of the Fastag
- It is based on the Digital India initiative of the government.
- Since the payment and recharge is done online, there are no cash dealings.
- Helps save a lot of time that is wasted and idled away at the long queues at toll plazas.
- It is a safer and securer process than moving around with a cash-loaded wallet.
- It helps conserve fuel and is definitely an eco-friendly process.
Everytime a transaction is done using the Fastag; the vehicle owner is informed via a SMS and email to the registered phone number and email id, respectively. This way he is able to keep a track of the usage even if he is not driving the vehicle himself.
This form of tag system only works at present on highways in states that have adopted the newer technology for traffic movement. You cannot use the tag balance, especially when it is linked to your e-wallet for any other purpose besides paying for the toll. In fact when you sign up for RFID tag, a sub-wallet is created by the system, wherein a balance is required to be maintained so that money from the account can be used effectively while moving through tolls on highways.
