Can I drive on the highway without ETC now?
2 Answers
It is possible to drive on the highway without ETC now. A highway, abbreviated as expressway, refers to a road specifically designed for high-speed vehicle travel. The definition of a highway varies across different countries, regions, eras, and academic fields. The horizontal alignment of highways is primarily composed of circular curves combined with transition curves, emphasizing three-dimensional spatial alignment design that considers horizontal, vertical, and cross-sectional dimensions. ETC, which stands for Electronic Toll Collection in Chinese, is an automatic toll collection system for highways or bridges. It utilizes dedicated short-range communication between an onboard electronic tag installed on the vehicle's windshield and a microwave antenna in the ETC lane of a toll station. This system leverages computer networking technology to process backend settlements with banks, enabling vehicles to pass through highway or bridge toll stations without stopping while still paying the required fees.
I believe you can still use the highway without an ETC, which I can confirm based on my years of driving experience. There are manual cash lanes at highway toll stations where you can simply drive up to the window and pay. It’s convenient to use cash or scan QR codes via WeChat or Alipay. However, queues can get quite long during peak hours—like last weekend when I had to wait nearly 20 minutes, which was quite a hassle. The advantage of ETC is automatic fee deduction, reducing wait times, but if you don’t frequently use the highway, paying with cash temporarily isn’t a big issue. When heading out, it’s advisable to prepare some change in advance to avoid last-minute confusion at the toll booth. Above all, safe driving is the priority—don’t forget to follow traffic rules.
