eGovWatch: Student develops app to pay toll at booths
Once the app is installed on a smart phone, the user will have to register the number of his vehicle with his name, mobile number and email address on it.
Deepak Joshi
An app created by a 19-year old college student aims to decongest traffic near toll booths, saving both time and fuel.
Tapan Baburao Kane, a second-year instrumentation engineering student, has developed an application called Vtoll, short for virtual toll, which will soon be used at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link toll booth as a pilot. Based on its feasibility, it will be extended to other congested toll plazas in the state.
Once the app is installed on a smart phone, the user will have to register the number of his vehicle with his name, mobile number and email address on it. It would also require filling the vehicle class to determine the amount of toll to be paid.
“The registration will give the user payment options through either a credit or a debit card from which the user’s account would be filled with a prepaid amount,” said Kane, student of Watumull Institute of Engineering and Computer Technology in Worli. He added that if a user wanted to pay in cash, he would have to register at a separate counter at the toll booth to add money to his account.
The app works on a location-based technology on a smart phone. Once the vehicle is within 500 metres of the toll plaza, the user will have to switch on the app and an alert will be sent on the user’s account.
“This will give information about the toll booth and the amount to be paid. Once the vehicle is within 50 metres of the booth, the app will initiate the payment,” Kane told The Indian Express. Toll operators, too, will be able to see the vehicle registration number and the amount paid.
The application is expected to reduce the congestion before toll booths in the city. “This would reduce the vehicular traffic, and therefore, carbon emission and pollution too. It will also save electricity and paper of toll receipts,” Kane said. The pass will be available in various categories to the user, including daily, monthly and return journey passes.
