State Bank of India (SBI) on August 30, 2024 introduced a new design for its FASTag, aimed at improving vehicle identification and toll collection efficiency for vehicle category-4 (cars, jeeps, vans). The initiative is expected to reduce travel time for commuters and increase toll plaza revenue by reducing misuse of tags meant for different vehicle categories.
Introduction
State Bank of India (SBI) has launched an enhanced design for its FASTag, specifically targeted at enhancing the toll collection process for vehicle category-4 (cars, jeeps and vans). The move is expected to streamline vehicle identification, reduce travel time for millions of commuters and increase revenue for toll plazas by addressing common issues related to incorrect issuance of tags.
Who can use the new SBI Fastag?
The newly designed SBI FASTag is specifically for vehicle class-4, which includes cars, jeeps and vans. This initiative is a significant step towards ensuring that the right tags are affixed on the right vehicles. The previous design often resulted in the tags being misplaced on higher class vehicles like trucks, leading to revenue loss for toll operators. By introducing this new design, SBI aims to fix this problem and improve the accuracy of toll collection.
How will the new design help passengers?
The main advantage of the new SBI Fastag design is its ability to facilitate easy identification of vehicles at toll plazas. This improvement will enable toll staff to instantly identify any misuse of the tag, ensuring that vehicles are charged the correct toll fee. Additionally, the new design is expected to reduce chargeback cases related to issuance of wrong tags, making the toll collection process smoother and more efficient. This will not only save commuters' time but also encourage them to buy the correct category of Fastag to avoid unnecessary hassles.
Other innovations by SBI
Along with the new FASTag design, SBI also launched two other important products on August 30, 2024. The first is the MTS RuPay NCMC prepaid card, India's first of its kind card, which offers a seamless offline payment solution for transit projects such as metro rail, bus and toll. The second is the OneView mobile application, designed to manage SBI's NCMC prepaid cards, allowing users to top-up, track and manage their cards from a single platform.
conclusion
The introduction of the new FASTag design and other digital innovations by SBI underlines the Bank's commitment to improving the public transport experience. These efforts are in line with the broader goal of enhancing digital financial inclusion in India, ensuring convenience, safety and efficiency for all users.