Important news! National highways resume normal management and continue to be toll-free

At the beginning of April, we predicted that highway tolls and traffic and number restrictions might be restored in advance, and netizens also had "ardent" discussions in the comment area.

And just yesterday, Brother Nan was driving on the expressway and suddenly discovered that the original "raise the bar" entrance to the expressway had begun to perform the same operation as before the epidemic: "lower the bar", scan the TEC or hold the card to enter the expressway .

Many car owners did not insert their ETC cards in advance, so they needed to back out and change lanes or stop to look for cards, etc., causing congestion at highway intersections. Brother Nan himself was unable to enter because the ETC equipment was out of power and was beeped by the car behind him for two minutes.

Last night, Brother Nan finally saw the "Important Notice" on the ETC Assistant's official account, and I will share it with you today:

According to the unified deployment of the Ministry of Transport, Starting from 0:00 on April 25, 2020, the expressway will comprehensively carry out full-section and full-process testing, and implement normalized management. All toll expressway entrance and exit lanes will return to the normal "lower pole" traffic from the current "lever pole" traffic. pole" status.

It will continue to be free for the time being, but it is unknown when it will be charged

In the official announcement, the time when it will stop free of charge was not clearly stated again, but the following words were used implicitly: We would like to remind all car owners that before the announcement of the cessation of vehicle toll exemption policy, the testing work will not affect the continued free passage of vehicles. In this way, there is room for whether it is charging in advance, maintaining the original tentative post-6.30 charging, or continuing to be free.

ETC toll display will be clearer

After the cancellation of the previous provincial boundary toll stations on highways and the reform of the ETC system, many car owners have charged incorrectly, unclear tolls, and segmented tolls. The charges are not checkable, multiple notices are received, and multiple invoices are issued. Some people also questioned the lack of clarity on fees, and that making the system and fee checking methods more complicated is a "secret operation", and "it is unnecessary to take off your pants and fart." If we don’t look at the ETC reform through conspiracy theories, it proves that the previous system upgrades were imperfect and incomplete, and it can also be said in four words - "a waste of people and money."

As of yesterday, the official finally said:

In order to meet the needs of the majority of ETC customers after the cancellation of provincial boundary toll stations on expressways, the current time will be displayed promptly and accurately in the exit lanes of expressway toll stations. The full fare of Tongtong realizes "one trip, one bill, one deduction and one notification".

Although in Nan Ge’s actual experience, the deduction amount was not set to 0 yuan, but a piece of white paper was used to block the display amount, but in general, “one trip, one trip” One bill, one deduction, one notification” is what the people want. The majority of car owners have finally gotten their daily driving experience back on track, which is something to be thankful for.

The biggest problem remains unresolved

In this notice, the official confidence in the toll system is clearly stated in "timely and accurate display of the full toll for the current passage", but In addition to cost, car owners may still have questions about the efficiency of highway entrances and exits.

The original purpose of implementing "National ETC" should be to enhance traffic efficiency and reduce the decrease in urban operating efficiency caused by queuing at manual channels. However, during the implementation process, the "one size fits all" and "DA leap forward" methods are still relied upon by some institutions, causing the new regulations to be "counterproductive" in some areas. Previously, there were endless chaos such as stopping vehicles at highway intersections to install ETC, annual inspection vehicles having to install ETC, and coach vehicles having to install ETC. We even saw signs saying that those who don’t install ETC are not welcome to use the expressway.

But judging from Nange’s real experience, there is still a biggest problem in some areas: the reduction of manual toll lanes, resulting in congestion caused by large and small cars changing lanes left and right and queuing up.

At the entrance of the Yonghe-Jiguang Expressway in Zengcheng, Guangdong, which Nan Ge often passes by, trucks of all kinds cross three lanes every day because they need to change lanes to the manual window to weigh and pick up their cards, resulting in traffic jams entering the expressway. The auxiliary roads are congested, which in turn causes the surrounding intersections to be congested one after another. Even if ETC has a high recognition rate and accurate toll rate, how to smoothly enter the highway intersection is still a big problem.

Although there are not many places where trucks are relatively concentrated at this specific T-junction, the car owners who spend more than ten or twenty minutes every day should be miserable.

I wonder if the relevant departments can get rid of the "one size fits all" implementation method in the future, or whether they can authorize each toll entrance and exit site so that staff can adapt to local conditions.

After all, "transparent charging, improved efficiency, and safe return home" is what the people want.

Five reminders for car owners

Many car owners previously joked that "the epidemic saved ETC," referring to the fact that the epidemic caused highways to suspend tolls, thus allowing the ETC system to be adjusted. A few months of breathing room. When the domestic epidemic situation gradually stabilizes, early toll collection on highways will most likely be inevitable. The debugging of the ETC system and the resumption of daily management of highways also means that early resumption of toll collection may have entered the final preparation stage.

Of course, let’s look at it from another perspective: Compared with the raging epidemic abroad, those foreign government operations and foreign fanatic behaviors that make us raise “black question marks”, we can return safely and smoothly. Living a normal life and finding order in production are already a powerful force for the country. Everyone should feel inspired by how united we were before the pandemic and how we basically got it under control.

Finally, I would like to give you some precautions for resuming tolled driving on highways. I also hope that you will continue to pay attention to the car owner's guide and talk about new cars and the automotive industry together at noon every day. If you like Brother Nan's sharing, you can also light up "Watching" every day to let more friends know. During the May Day holiday, the highway will continue to be free. I hope everyone will stick to their jobs in the last few days, go out safely, and go home safely.

Five reminders

1. It’s time to charge the ETC device. Car owners who want to avoid being charged during the free period can also insert the card back into its original place.

2. ETC vehicles can drive in normally from the ETC entrance lane or the ETC/MTC mixed entrance lane without stopping, and will be charged normally when passing through the mast. The exit lane will be deducted 0 yuan from the card (or the fee will be charged). is blocked, that is, there is no charge).

3. MTC refers to manual and semi-automatic toll lanes, which is the existing manual toll collection system. Nowadays, it is generally used mixed with ETC entrance.

4. Truck friends, please note that trucks will be strictly subject to highway entrance weighing inspections, and illegally overloaded and overloaded vehicles are prohibited from entering the highway.

5. Before the official announcement of the cessation of vehicle toll exemption policy, the testing work will not affect the continued free passage of vehicles.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.