Barrier-less tolling marks a shift from infrastructure-centric to technology-centric highway management. Examine the opportunities and challenges of Multi-Lane Free Flow tolling in India.

Toll plazas used to depend on booths, boom barriers and queues. Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling replaces these with gantry-mounted RFID readers (FASTag) and ANPR cameras, so vehicles can pay without stopping [2]. India's first MLFF went live at Choryasi on NH-48, and NHAI has now issued a circular that standardises MLFF plaza design on four-lane and above NHs [1]. The shift has begun, but whether it succeeds will depend on data quality and enforcement more than on construction.

Opportunities

• Lower cost of collection: toll operating cost may fall from about 15% to 3–4%, saving ₹5,000–6,000 crore a year [3].
• Environmental gains: less idling could save about 250 crore litres of fuel and about 81,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year [3].
• Logistics efficiency: freight that does not stop moves faster, which supports the goals of PM Gati Shakti.
• Leaner and safer plazas: the standard design uses fewer lanes and adds variable message signs (VMS) and lighting, which reduces land needs and conflict points [1].
• Less leakage: a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended ANPR at congested plazas and noted that FASTag had already reduced leakages [6].

Challenges

• Enforcement moves to a back office: a non-payer gets an e-Notice, and after 72 hours the fee doubles and the FASTag may be blacklisted [2]. Collection now depends on the plate being read correctly.
• Data integrity: older FASTags often carried mismatched vehicle numbers (VRNs), so NHAI ordered banks to validate them and blacklist invalid tags [4]. New tags must now be checked against VAHAN before activation [7].
• Wrong rates, collected faster: the CAG found an undue burden of ₹132.05 crore on road users at five plazas [5]. Automation can repeat such errors at scale without anyone noticing.
• Grievance redressal and privacy: there is no defined way to dispute a wrong e-Notice before the double fee applies, and ANPR images have to comply with the DPDP Act, 2023.
• Legacy plazas: the circular covers only future and under-construction projects [1].

Way Forward

• Finish the FASTag–VAHAN clean-up before adding more MLFF plazas [4].
• Create an online dispute window that pauses the 72-hour clock while a challenge is checked.
• Hold independent toll audits [6] and publish plaza-wise e-Notice data.
• Enforce High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) so ANPR reads are accurate.

MLFF moves highway management from concrete to code, and it brings fiscal, green and logistics gains. Sound data, fair grievance redressal and correct toll rates can make it a citizen-centric model of e-governance that supports SDG 9 on resilient infrastructure.