Is ETC useless if not installed after application?
1 Answers
Applying for ETC without installation is indeed useless. According to Article 19 of the "Notice on Vigorously Promoting the Development and Application of Highway ETC" issued by the State Council, starting from 2020, vehicles without ETC or not using ETC will not enjoy toll discounts. In the future, only one manual lane will be retained at highway toll stations, and tolls can only be paid through manual channels. How ETC works: Through dedicated short-range communication between the onboard electronic tag installed on the vehicle's windshield and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane at the toll station, the system uses computer networking technology to perform background settlement processing with the bank. This achieves the purpose of vehicles passing through highway or bridge toll stations without stopping while being able to pay the tolls. ETC deduction principle: The toll amount for ETC vehicles is rounded according to the "round down if less than 0.5, no change if equal to or greater than 0.5" rule (i.e., amounts with a decimal less than 0.5 are rounded down, while decimals equal to or greater than 0.5 remain unchanged). After a 5% discount, the amount is then rounded 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: Green and low-carbon, vehicles pass through toll stations without stopping, reducing noise and exhaust emissions, thus minimizing pollution; Reduced wear: Saves costs, decreases 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 clearly stated in the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System" that "by 2020, key city clusters will basically achieve interoperability of transportation smart cards, and the proportion of vehicles using ETC will significantly increase." It also explicitly set the goal in the "13th Five-Year" comprehensive transportation development indicators that "by 2020, the ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles will 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 in the future. There will be exploration of deep integration between the ETC system and smart transportation development directions such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-road coordination, providing comprehensive travel services for vehicle owners. This means more application scenarios will support ETC applications.
