Is ETC mandatory for highway travel in the future?
1 Answers
It is still possible to use highways without ETC. According to regulations from the State Council, vehicles without ETC will not enjoy toll discounts. In the future, only one manual lane will be retained at highway toll stations, where drivers can pay tolls manually. Additionally, newly installed ETC devices cannot be used immediately on highways; they must be activated first. During holiday free-toll periods, highways can still be used. For users who have already installed ETC, passing through ETC lanes will not incur charges. The principle of ETC toll deduction: There will be one or more ETC lanes on highways. Through dedicated short-range microwave communication between the onboard 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 with banks. This allows vehicles to pay tolls without stopping at the toll station, all based 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: Promotes low-carbon travel by reducing noise and exhaust emissions since vehicles do not need to stop at toll stations; Reduced wear and tear: Saves costs by decreasing the frequency of vehicle starts and stops, thereby reducing wear and fuel consumption; Improved efficiency: Theoretically, ETC lanes can process vehicles 2-3 times faster, making traditional ETC more advanced, 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 will be widely used in key city clusters, and the proportion of vehicles equipped with ETC will significantly increase." The plan also set a target of "achieving a 50% ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles by 2020" in the main indicators for comprehensive transportation development during the 13th Five-Year Plan. More future possibilities: In addition to continuously improving the convenience of ETC installation and usage rates for passenger vehicles, future efforts will include promoting ETC use for trucks and exploring deeper integration of ETC systems with vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure coordination, and other smart transportation developments. This will provide comprehensive travel services for vehicle owners, meaning more application scenarios will support ETC usage.
