Bengaluru: The Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on Monday strongly expressed its objections towards National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) proposal to introduce a toll while entering and exiting Bengaluru city from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) saying that this move will only aggravate the already messy traffic snarls which in is turn affecting Brand Bengaluru’s image. Currently a cumulative toll is collected by NHAI from vehicles entering into Bengaluru City from Kempegowda International Airport.
BCIC today submitted a representation to NHAI and the State Government opposing this move by the government and appealed that the two-way toll collection will only create traffic chaos especially, during peak hours as this will result in longer queues at the toll plaza.
Ahmedali, Past President, BCIC submitting the representation to the State and the Union Governments today said: “We gather that the NHAI is now planning to introduce toll collection on both directions, instead of the current system of collecting only from traffic coming from airport towards Bengaluru. We have also noticed some work is being carried out at the Plaza to implement this proposed plan. We apprehend this will aggravate the problem further for the traffic in both directions. Time is critical while entering the airport. If there is free flow of traffic into the airport, the departure and security check points will also be smooth and without creating any panic for either the passengers and nor the security personnel. Though there are more lanes at the toll plaza for the return traffic, we always notice long queues, especially, during peak hours. This leads to delays, loss of productive time, waste of fuel, vehicles jumping the queues and resulting in road rage incidents.”
Ahmedali further said: “While we are not opposed to toll collection for a single journey on any direction, we appeal to NHAI to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to ensure that the traffic to and from the Airport moves smoothly without wasting time at the toll plaza.”
While traffic going to the airport moves faster due to the trumpet flyover connecting it, on the return journey it takes a longer time to pass through the toll plaza.
Ahmedali said: “We have observed that it takes about one or two minutes for a vehicle to complete the process at the tool booth. Ideally there should be not more than 3 vehicles at any lane waiting for their turn to pay the toll, even during peak hours. On the contrary, we have observed that many a times, even at night – when there are more international flights – the queue is more than 10 vehicles long in each lane.
The BCIC in its representation has proposed a few implementable suggestions to improve the smooth flow of traffic into Bengaluru including:
a) The objective should be to ensure that at any time there are no more than 3 vehicles waiting in any lane at the Plaza.
b) Increase the number of booths and ensure that all booths are working especially during the peak hours.
c) Create enough dedicated ‘FASTag” lanes on both directions. To ensure that only vehicles with FASTag or return journey tickets pass through these lanes. We have noticed that many a times cash paying vehicle enter these lanes blocking the way for FASTag vehicles thus defeating the whole purpose.
d) It is noticed that usage of FASTag is not high. NHAI should popularize and incentivize usage of FASTag. Procuring and recharging of FASTag should be made simpler and it should be available at more & convenient places. Currently, due to mixed traffic in lanes, one does not see much benefit of having FASTag. So ensuring speedier exits from Express lanes would go a long way in promoting the adoption of FASTag system.
e) Like in other major cities, let the toll charge be collected by the airport and passed on to the NHAI. The present system of toll collection at the toll plaza can continue only for vehicles that are going towards Devanahalli.
