With the rapid development of science and technology, the way of highway toll collection has also ushered in a change. There are currently two main ways for drivers to choose:Convenient and fast ETC channel and traditional manual toll channel.
Although the convenience and efficiency of the ETC channel is considered to be a major benefit for drivers, in practice, many people still choose traditional manual charging, which makes many people confused.
ETC is one of the service functions of the intelligent transportation system. Its main purpose is to improve the traffic efficiency of the toll station, realize the vehicle does not stop and quickly pass through the toll station, so as to greatly improve the efficiency of toll collection.
In China, the development of ETC was not achieved overnight, but through a series of experiments and popularization processes.
Since 2009, China has started pilot work on ETC in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places. Over time,By 2011, ETC had been rolled out nationwide.
2015 has become an important watershed, this year, basically realized the national ETC network, the ETC coverage rate of the main line toll station reached 100%, and the number of ETC users in the country exceeded 20 million.
In order to further promote the popularization of ETC, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport issued relevant documents in 2019.
The document encourages close cooperation between banking financial institutions, non-bank payment institutions and Internet enterprises and other service institutions; Support commercial banks to promote the issuance of co-branded cards loaded with applications in the transportation industry; ETC is allowed to bind bank accounts and payment accounts. These measures have undoubtedly stimulated people's enthusiasm for ETC business.
Despite this, there are still some problems in the practical application of ETC.
The links of handling ETC are uneven, and some handling agencies have set up various "pits". For example, some institutions claim that tolls can enjoy an 85% discount, but in fact, according to the regulations, it should be 95% off, which may have the problem of hidden consumption.
Some institutions will require a deposit or advance deposit in the name of ETC, but the officially issued ETC does not actually need to do so. There is also whether there is an additional handling fee when using ETC, whether the regular ETC is bound to a bank card or Alipay WeChat, there is no handling fee.
Some car owners have reported that ETC is not necessarily cheaper than manual work. Because the manual toll collection will only take the lowest value between the two toll booths, and ETC can accurately record the driving path of the vehicle, so as to charge according to the actual driving route. Therefore, for some sections that are easy to go wrong, it may be more cost-effective to choose manual passages.
There are also some car owners who complain that they have encountered the phenomenon of "rubbing ETC". That is, there are some vehicles deliberately close to the ETC channel on the highway in an attempt to "rub" the ETC passage of other vehicles, which undoubtedly increases the trouble of the car owner.
Therefore, despite the obvious advantages of ETC, many drivers still choose the traditional manual toll collection channel due to the above reasons.
The best way to solve these problems is to comprehensively supervise the ETC handling process, and at the same time increase the punishment for malicious abuse. Only in this way can ETC, a policy that benefits the people, be truly recognized and used by the majority of car owners.