E-toll cards fail to impress commuters
Long queues at plazas test patience of ORR users
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority's decision to switch from manual to electronic system has been causing major inconvenience to the commuters travelling on Outer Ring Road (ORR). The inexperienced staff who were unable to operate the automatic Toll Management System (TMS) has been consuming time to enter the details of the vehicles to issue smart cards at the entry points at several toll plazas in ORR.
Under the automatic TMS, vehicle owners will get a chip-equipped smart card at the entry interchange station and the same has to be swiped at the exit interchange station.
Upon swiping the smart card, the vehicle owner is issued a receipt regarding the distance travelled on the Expressway and toll charges to be paid. It has to be surrendered at the exit station.
After successfully conducting trail run for ten days from July 21 to July 30, the HMDA has been issuing the smart cards from Saturday.
Traffic snarls about two hours have been reported on Saturday and commuters were lined up at toll plazas for at least two kilometres since two days.
Sharing his experience, Jhonson D'Souza, a commuter at Nanakramguda toll plaza, said that he has been in queue at least for 90 minutes to get his smart card.
"The staff at toll plaza has been consuming at least five minutes to enter the details of each vehicle to issue smart card which enable to lift the boom barrier. I have reached Nanakramguda in 10 minutes from Shamshabad but I waited for 90 minutes to get the smart card", he said.
HMDA commissioner, T. Chiranjeevulu said, “The TMS system will be helpful for HMDA to monitor the vehicle and classify them with the computer-operated sensors installed at every interchange. The system will enhance the accountability and ensure transparency on the private agency which has been maintaining the toll on ORR. Therefore, the ORR users are requested to co-operate with toll collection agency for sometime."
The commissioner said that he had already instructed the agency and staff to sort out the issue at the earliest.