Padma Bridge toll collection in 3 seconds using RFID technology

The much awaited Padma Bridge will be inaugurated on June 25 at 10 am. The bridge will be open to the public after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates it. In the meantime, the technology of paying toll without stopping the car has been added to the Toll Plaza of Padma Bridge. For this, a total of 14 Electronics Toll Collection (ETC) booths have been set up at both ends of the bridge. These booths are set up by the Korean Expressway Corporation, which is in charge of toll collection. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card has to be affixed in front of the vehicle to pay the toll automatically.

Toll will be automatically deducted in just two to three seconds on this white pre-paid card via Fast Track on the front dashboard of the vehicle.

According to sources, initially, an ETC booth will be placed at both the ends, so, there will be two ETC booths. The toll will be collected in eight toll plazas by manual method. The remaining four will be launched later. As the number of registrations for RFID increases, so will the number of booths come under ETC. Because, only the ETC booths will not be functional, if the vehicles are not registration for RFID.

According to the bridge department, for digital payment, the vehicle must have a valid RFID tag approved by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Car owners can register directly for RFID at the bank or at the toll plaza. Owners of vehicles plying on the highway must have an account in Dutch-Bangla Bank or Rocket Mobile account. The Rocket account must first be registered with the Nexus-Pay application. After registration, they will get the benefit of paying electronic toll.

It may be noted that, two companies from Korea and China have been jointly responsible for the maintenance and toll collection of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge for five years. The two companies are Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) and China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited (MBEC). The two companies will get a total of 692 crore 92 lakh taka for this service.