Three Years On, Dhaka Elevated Expressway Still Relies on Manual Toll Collection, Causing Mounting Hassles

Eklas Haque

The Dhaka Elevated Expressway was built to ease traffic jams and help city people move with ease. But drivers and passengers still do not get the relief they expect. The expressway runs from the airport to Tejgaon and lets people reach their destination in a short time. Yet they must wait a long time at the toll plaza.

Toll collectors take cash by hand, and this creates long lines of vehicles. Drivers and regular commuters say this ruins the speed benefit of the expressway. More than three years have passed since authorities opened the airport to Tejgaon part of the expressway. Still, no modern toll system is in place.

People now question the old method of collecting toll by hand on this important road. Passengers, drivers and others ask why authorities cannot run an automatic toll system on one of the biggest projects of Digital Bangladesh. Authorities opened the part from the airport to Tejgaon in Farmgate to traffic. Modern expressways usually use Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and automatic number plate recognition.

These systems can identify a vehicle and collect toll in a fixed way. So people need less cash, wait less at the toll plaza, and officials keep income and spending records with more ease. Passengers say they can now reach a place near their destination within minutes after they enter the expressway from the airport area or from the Tejgaon end. But they lose a long time when they pay cash at the toll plaza by hand. They demand a fast, automatic and modern toll system on the open part of the expressway.

They also say authorities must plan for modern tolls from the start in every new part that will open in future, and not only in the airport to Tejgaon part. If they do not, more vehicles will use the new parts and the suffering at the toll plaza may grow. People also worry about manual toll collection when VVIPs and other important persons use the road. If a line of vehicles forms at the toll plaza, the convoy of an important person also has to wait.

This makes it hard for them to reach their destination on time. Security members who guard an important person sometimes get out of the car to clear the traffic. Authorities say work on the Kamalapur part is moving fast and they hope to finish it by the middle of next year. When this part opens, more vehicles will use the expressway and the load on the toll system may grow.

Users say officials should check early whether waiting time at the toll plaza will rise if they keep the manual method. During busy hours, office workers, students, businessmen, people who travel abroad or return from abroad, patients and people on urgent work spend hour after hour on the road. The Dhaka Elevated Expressway lets them reach their destination in far less time than the road below. So drivers of private cars, company vehicles and other approved vehicles use it.

But the whole trip takes longer when they must wait to pay toll as they enter or leave the expressway. Mr. Mahfuzul Haque, a regular commuter on this route, told Inqilab that the toll plaza wait costs more time than the main road saves. So it becomes hard to fix a travel time. He said a toll plaza jam creates trouble even when people plan to reach their office or a flight on time.

Inqilab called several officials of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project to get their views. They did not pick up the calls, so Inqilab could not get any comment. Professor Dr. Hadiuzzaman of the Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is an expert on communication and transport. He told Inqilab that many countries use electronic toll collection, automatic vehicle identification and digital payment on modern roads and expressways.

He said these systems aim to cut toll payment time, reduce the use of cash and keep traffic moving. He said the weak point of the manual method is that every vehicle must stop for each payment. Staff must take the cash and finish the accounts by hand. If a modern road does not get a modern toll system, he said, people will find it hard to enjoy the full benefit of technology based travel. He added that digital toll technology can raise traffic speed and also make revenue records more open.