HCMC – The Hanoi-Haiphong Expressway management company has proposed increasing the number of electronic toll collection (ETC) lanes at the toll stations along the expressway to facilitate traffic on the road.
A representative of the Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment JSC (VIDIFI), which manages the expressway, said that after the toll stations on the road switched from manual toll collection to ETC on a trial basis in early June, over 46,500 vehicles used the ETC service per day in June, even up to 60,000 vehicles on high-traffic days, equal to 104% compared to the pre-pilot period.
The sales generated from the service totaled VND6.1 billion last month, equivalent to 103% against May.
However, the first month of piloting the service saw many shortcomings.
Last month, more than 13,000 vehicles had yet to have ETC tags. Over 34,000 did not top up their automatic toll payment accounts, and nearly 25,000 had an insufficient balance in their accounts. Some drivers failed to comply with the speed and distance requirements, had their tags broken down, or used multiple tags for the same vehicle.
There were errors linked to the service and equipment providers, resulting in a time-consuming process and causing frustration among drivers, the VIDIFI representative said.
VIDIFI has received many complaints from drivers who said they could not top up their ETC accounts although they had transferred money from their bank checking accounts. Many drivers also faced difficulties when complaining about the service via the hotline.
These inadequacies have slowed down traffic at the toll stations, thereby posing a risk of traffic congestion, especially during holidays, the VIDIFI representative said.
