It is acceptable to have ETC installed without using it. According to the State Council's regulations, vehicles without ETC or not using ETC in 2020 cannot enjoy toll discounts. In the future, only one manual lane will be retained at highway toll stations, requiring manual payment of tolls. How ETC Works: Through dedicated short-range communication between the on-board electronic tag installed on the vehicle's windshield and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane at the toll station, computer networking technology is used for backend settlement processing with banks. This allows vehicles to pass through highway or bridge toll stations without stopping to pay tolls. ETC Deduction Principle: For ETC vehicles, toll amounts are rounded using the "round down if less than 0.5, no action if equal to or greater than 0.5" method (i.e., amounts with a decimal less than 0.5 are rounded down, while those equal to or greater than 0.5 remain unchanged). After this, a 5% discount is applied, followed by rounding to the nearest cent. MTC vehicles still follow the "round to the nearest yuan" rule. All this is based on the principle of passing first and deducting fees later. Benefits of Installing ETC: Time-saving: Eliminates the hassle of waiting in line; Green and eco-friendly: Promotes low-carbon travel by allowing vehicles to pass toll stations without stopping, reducing noise and exhaust emissions, thereby minimizing pollution; Reduced wear and tear: Saves costs by decreasing the frequency of vehicle starts and brakes, lowering wear and fuel consumption; Improved efficiency: Theoretically, ETC lanes can increase vehicle passing efficiency by 2-3 times, making traditional ETC more updated, faster, and more high-tech. Compared to license plate payment, ETC technology is more mature and advantageous. More policy support: The State Council explicitly stated in the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System" that "by 2020, intercity transportation smart cards should be basically realized in key city clusters, and the proportion of vehicles using ETC should be significantly increased." It also set a clear target in the "13th Five-Year" comprehensive transportation development indicators: "By 2020, the ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles should reach 50%." More future possibilities: In addition to continuously improving the convenience of ETC installation and usage and increasing the ETC usage rate for passenger vehicles, efforts will also be made to promote ETC usage for trucks and explore deeper integration of the ETC system with vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure coordination, and other smart transportation development directions. This will provide comprehensive travel services for vehicle owners, meaning more application scenarios will support ETC usage.
