HÀ NỘI – The Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam (DRVN) has asked the Ministry of Transport for permission to test cashless toll collection on one-stop toll highways.

In a document sent to the ministry, the DRVN said that there were more than 100 fee collection stations in the country. Of which, 86 were under the ministry’s management and 15 were under local authorities’ management.

Currently, the ministry has applied electronic fee collections for 37 tolls along the National Highway No1A and Hồ Chí Minh Highway.

An electronic toll collection station determined whether vehicles are enrolled in the programme, alerted toll collectors about those that were not, and electronically debits the accounts of registered car owners without requiring them to stop.

Vehicles would be equipped with a tag on the windshield with information to be read by the station’s sensor. Those without the tag would have to stop and pay manually.

The ministry plans to replace toll booth operators with electronic collection systems. The move aims to reduce traffic jams and delays at toll gates and cut costs.

According to the ministry, in many countries, electronic fee tolls and manual fee tolls are used on the same highway.

It said vehicles would pay via prepaid Card of State-owned VietinBank.

VietinBank would be assigned to install the pre-paid card system as a trial on one-stop toll highways. The model will be implemented from now on until the end of this year.

National Highway No1A connects Lạng Sơn and Cà Mau, running more than 2,300km through 32 cities and provinces, while the Hồ Chí Minh Highway runs along the west of the country, connecting Cao Bằng and Cà Mau via the Central Highlands with a total length of 3,167km. – VNS