Sunday, November 12, 2017

FASTag - What? Why? Where? and How?

You are probably hearing a lot about FASTag recently! You will probably be hearing more in the coming days!
My FASTag from Paytm

So, here is everything you wanted to know about FASTag!

What?
FASTag is an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system operated by NHAI. It is a small rectangular RFID based device that you will have to purchase and stick on the front windshield of your vehicle.

It auto-deducts the toll amount from your account when you pass through a toll rather than your having to stop and pay for it by cash, card or e-wallets.

Why?
It is simply much faster and comfortable to use. Now that the Govt. is trying to make it mandatory, the service will hopefully get better. For it to make complete sense, all the lanes on the toll will have to be made ETC ready along with at least 2 dedicated lanes.

Where?
At the moment, most highways of the NHAI support it and the remaining too are getting FASTag-ready.

Also, the scope for it to grow is pretty high. I am hoping that soon most malls and paid parking lots would also start accepting this as a mode of payment and that would really make things easier for both parties.

How?
The major players in the FASTag business right now are Equitas Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank. There are other banks also that sell this, but the process to register with for e.g., Axis Bankwas rather confusing.

I have heard pretty good things about both HDFC's and ICICI's services. But unfortunately, I do not have an account with either of these Banks. So, when I tried to register for them, I was asked to submit KYC documents like Aadhaar Number and other address proofs - which I really did not want to!

Therefore, I turned to Equitas. The registration was very straightforward and simple. It did not take me more than 10 minutes to create an account, provide the relevant details and head to payment!

The following is the payment screen:


Equitas Price Breakdown - A little on the higher side!

Before I clicked Submit, I decided to do a bit more of digging around. And that's when I found out that Paytm has also just started this service. 

And their rates looked more reasonable:


Tag price: 100
Refundable Security Deposit: 250
Threshold amount (which will be added to wallet): 150

Total Amount: ₹500 (inclusive of all taxes)!

But, I read a large number of negative reviews online for Paytm's FASTag like delay in delivery of the tag, wrong tag sent received, tag not getting activated, tag not working properly etc. 

Anyway, I took a leap of faith with Paytm and bought it. You simply have to fill the form on this page and then proceed to pay for it through the Paytm Mall App or website.
Error on both App and Website

Initially, I received an error on trying to purchase it. I tried sending an email to error@paytm.com, but got no response. However, after about half an hour and a few more refreshes, I was able to finally place my order.

My first reaction was disappointment! You see that small text there that says that the expected date of delivery is 21 Nov 2017? I missed that! (facepalm!)

I placed the order on 03 November 2017. Which means, I was supposed to wait almost 18 days for this to be delivered. And I had already made plans for a trip on 18 November 2017 for which I was planning to use it.

Also, you cannot cancel, return, or replace it once you have placed the order.


Remember: "You cannot modify the details once you have placed the order. So check all the details you enter (especially the vehicle number) carefully before purchasing!"

I received an SMS from Paytm Mall that my order is processing.


Link to register vehicle
Desperate to hurry things up, on the next day (Total Days: 1), I sent out an email to fastag@paytm.com with the soft copy of my RC Book in both .jpeg and .pdf formats.

On 05 November 2017 (Total Days: 2), I received an SMS with the link to register my vehicle. It asked for a few basic details about the vehicle and I also uploaded the vehicle RC scanned copy and submitted it.

On 07 November 2017 (Total Days: 4), I also received a response to my earlier email saying, "Dear Customer, Thank you for the details. Your  FASTag will soon be delivered to you."


Activation message
On 08 November 2017 (Total Day: 5), I received an SMS saying that my FASTag has been activated successfully. At this point, I was not sure what this meant!

On 10 November 2017 (Total Days: 7), I was surprised when I received an email and SMS saying that my order has been shipped. 

So I was even more surprised when the very next message said that the updated date of delivery is 13 November 2017.


Delivered way ahead of time!
Finally, on 11 November 2017 (much earlier than planned), I received my FASTag at my residence. Yay! It took a total of 8 days from purchase to delivery.

The packet contained the details of how to stick the FASTag on the vehicle and a detailed application form. Now, I understood that since I already received the message that my FASTag has been activated, I did not need to fill adn submit the Application Form.


Remember: "Verify that the vehicle number written behind the packet is correct before opening the packet!"

So, I stuck the new FASTag on the front windshield right behind the mirror (IRVM). 

Managing the FASTag:
On your Paytm app, navigate to "Passbook". You will now see that FASTag has been added to this section along with your wallet.



The ₹150 you see there is the Threshold Amount auto added to the account from the ₹500 you already paid.

Clicking on Know More, displayed the status of the FASTag as Active



Now, all that was required was to test it to see if it is working properly!


Remember: "All you need is to top-up your regular Paytm wallet with money. You do not (and cannot) specifically add money to your FASTag wallet"


Test Run:
On the next day (Sunday, 12 November 2017), I took a late night long drive to Electronic City (on the Bangalore Elevated Tollway Ltd.) to to verify if the tag is working.

I pulled into the open dedicated FASTag lane and as I slowly approached the boom barrier, the signal turned to green and the barrier opened. The first run was a complete success.

However, I did not receive a SMS for the money deducted. 

I took the next U-Turn and headed back to the Toll Gate. Here, I pulled in too close to the right hand side (guess I was excited). The attendant asked me to reverse it a little and the barrier opened up again.

Remember: "Keep enough distance from the vehicle in front of you when you pull into the lane. At times, the barrier may mistakenly read your vehicle instead of the one in front!"

The following are the transactions as registered in Paytm and the SMS received:


As you can see, there was considerable delay in receiving the SMS. For a transaction at 10:18PM, I received the SMS only at 11:08PM.

Also note, that on the return journey, only the difference amount of ₹25 was deducted instead of deducting the the entire ₹45 again.

So, in short, Paytm FASTag has been successful for me so far!

As I mentioned, I have a trip from Bengaluru to Thrissur planned for the coming weekend and hopefully I will get a better idea of how efficient this is after this trip.

Until then, Happy FASTag-ing!!!

Update: The trip was smooth throughout and the FASTag worked like a breeze at all tolls!

6 comments:

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