Toll relief eases traffic snarls, helps save time and over 60,000L of fuel:Times Of India

State To Pay Rs 9,000Cr To Offset Losses At 65 Posts

Six toll posts on the periphery of the Mumbai metropolitan region started of fering relief from Monday , freeing up the flow of traffic and helping commuters save on time and fuel cost.

One toll booth (at Wadkhal) was closed while five others (see map) waived costs for private cars or SUVs, and school and ST buses.

In all, toll was either scarpped or waived for passenger car units (PCUs) at 65 booths across the state at the stroke of midnight on Sunday .Twelve toll posts have been closed and waivers are being offered at 53 posts belonging to both the public works department and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

The move will help save over 60,000 litres of fuel daily and cut down on pollution and cost as over 2.6 lakh cars will now zip past booths where they earlier spent at least 8 minutes on average to pay the toll. Transport experts estimate that each vehicle consumed 250-300ml of fuel at these toll posts due to long queues and traffic snarls.

Now, Mumbaikars commuting from distant suburbs like Ghodbunder Road, Bhiwandi-Kalyan Road and Sion-Panvel highway will save Rs 70 to Rs 200 depending on the travel. Road trips to Nashik, Goa and Pune will also cost less. The toll waiver will help the state transport corporation save Rs 138crore.

The relief again brought into sharp focus the steep toll and long queues commuters face at the five entry-exit points of the city (see map), the Bandra-Worli sea link and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway . Though a committee is looking into the possibility of offering some relief, sources said since the cost and maintenance of projects such as the expressway and sea link were very high and they also helped save travel time, there was no chance of any waiver for cars. In case of the five entry and exit points of Mumbai, the contract with the toll collector does not include a `buyback' clause and is a major legal hurdle in offering any waiver. “Legalities are being explored to see if cars and SUVs can be saved from the toll and traffic jams here,“ the source said, terming it difficult.

For the relief at the 65 toll posts from June 1, the state government will spend about Rs 9,000crore over the next 25 years to make up for the losses of road developers and toll collectors.Sources said PWD will pay Rs 7,800crore over 25 years and MSRDC Rs 1,125crore over the next five-six years. The diversion of the major chunk of funds for the cash-strapped government could have an impact on development projects, some officials feared.

State PWD officials said the state has taken a policy decision to allow toll projects only if they cost more than Rs 200crore and then too, to exempt cars. Addressing fears of toll only on commercial vehicles driving up costs, one official said: “These large commercial vehicles carry huge loads and if distributed evenly , the impact of a bigger toll gets much lesser than expected.“