Do vehicles with ETC enjoy highway toll discounts?
1 Answers
Vehicles with ETC do enjoy highway toll discounts, and banks offering ETC services often provide additional incentives to encourage more applications. Since 2020, vehicles without ETC or not using ETC are no longer eligible for toll discounts. In the future, highway toll stations will retain only one manual lane, requiring non-ETC vehicles to pay tolls manually, which is less efficient compared to ETC lanes. ETC Deduction Principles: Highways feature one or more ETC lanes. Through dedicated short-range microwave communication between the vehicle's onboard electronic tag (installed on the windshield) and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane, coupled with computer network technology for backend bank settlements, vehicles can pass through toll stations without stopping. This system operates on the principle of "pass first, deduct later." Benefits of Installing ETC: Time-saving: Eliminates the hassle of waiting in queues; Green and eco-friendly: Reduces noise and exhaust emissions by eliminating stops at toll stations; Cost-saving: Minimizes vehicle wear and fuel consumption by reducing frequent starts and brakes; Improved efficiency: ETC lanes can theoretically process vehicles 2-3 times faster, making them more advanced and efficient. Compared to license plate payment systems, ETC technology is more mature and advantageous. More policy support: The State Council's "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Integrated Transportation System" explicitly states the goal of "achieving interoperability of transit cards in major city clusters and significantly increasing the proportion of vehicles equipped with ETC by 2020." It also sets a target of "50% ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles by 2020." Future possibilities: Beyond improving ETC installation convenience and passenger vehicle usage rates, future efforts will promote ETC adoption for trucks and explore deeper integration with smart transportation initiatives like vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-road coordination, offering comprehensive travel services to drivers. This means more application scenarios will support ETC. ETC Usage Notes: The ETC transaction sensing range is 8 meters. If the preceding vehicle stops, maintain a distance of over 10 meters to avoid accidental toll payments for the other vehicle due to ETC device malfunctions or absence. The recognized speed for ETC lane passage is 20 km/h. Excessive speed may prevent reading vehicle device information, leading to failed deductions. Unauthorized removal or displacement of the OBU device, or a loose/detached ETC electronic tag, will render the tag ineffective. These issues can be resolved by visiting the bank where the ETC card was issued or a highway service center for reactivation if the detachment was unintentional. Insufficient balance in a debit card linked to ETC may cause deduction failures. Follow on-site staff guidance to use manual MTC lanes with cash or card payments. Overly thick windshields may impair ETC signal reception. This is particularly relevant for vehicles with replaced or modified windshields after accidents.
