HCMC – Traffic on the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway has declined by almost 50% to around 15,368 vehicles per day, after electronic toll collection (ETC) began two days ago.
The BOT Trung Luong – My Thuan JSC on August 11 said the total number of vehicles passing through the station was 34,585 during the first 48 hours of toll collection on the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expy.
The report of the People’s Committee of Tien Giang Province on August 4 showed that the traffic count on the expressway reached some 30,000 vehicles/day before the toll collection was officially put into operation.
The main reason is that drivers are opting for National Highway 1, instead of the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expy, as toll rates are too high.
Despite the decrease in traffic, congestion has been recorded on the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expy, especially at the toll stations.
The ETC process has encountered some difficulties, such as vehicles entering the station without ETC cards, insufficient funds in their accounts, damaged ETC cards, misplaced cards, overlapping cards, etc.
The BOT Trung Luong – My Thuan JSC has built five toll stations on the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway and other connecting routes to collect tolls for the payback of the expressway project.
The ETC fee for vehicles traveling through the entire expressway ranges from VND103,000 to VND334,000/turn. The project has a payback period of 14 years and eight months. The period will be adjusted after the audit but won’t exceed 15 years.
