Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC, 遠通電收), which provides electronic toll payment services on the nation’s freeways, yesterday said it would provide new electronic toll stickers to users for free, replacing current on-board units (OBU), to boost usage.
FETC is facing pressure to increase the usage of its toll system to the required 65 percent by the end of June next year based on the contract the company has with with the National Freeway Bureau. Currently, only 45 percent of the nation’s car drivers are using the company’s toll payment system.
Despite the FETC operating in the red, “we are positively responding to the call of the government and users for a free device,” said Douglas Hsu (徐旭東), chairman of local conglomerate Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), which owns FETC.
Photo: CNA
The electronic toll payment service provider has lost NT$3.3 billion (US$114.9 million), Hsu said. FETC has accumulated 1.3 million users since its inception in 2006, he said.
FETC aimed to complete the update of the electronic toll device, called “eTag” stickers, by February next year, which will require motorists to store at least NT$500 in prepaid accounts before they can use the device.
The tag, which is 2.5cm wide and 6.7cm in length, makes use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.
The current ETC system uses infrared technology on an OBU, which includes an ETC card and a card holder, and costs NT$1,199 each.
With the new electronic toll stickers, FETC hopes to boost usage of its payment system to more than 90 percent, the company said.
FETC spokesperson Lang Ya-ling (郎亞玲) said motorists can continue using their OBUs until the nation starts charging motorists according to the distance traveled on freeways, adding that each motor vehicle will get one free eTag as well as a free replacement if it is proven that the tag has not been damaged by human error.
The current infrared technology will still be available for use alongside the RFID technology before the end of next year, she said.
Bureau deputy chief engineer Wu Mu-fu (吳木富) said the eTags can help FETC meet the requirements of the OBU usage rate stated in the contract.
“The plan [proposed by FETC] is estimated to be able to quickly raise the installation and usage rates of OBUs,” Wu said. “When that happens, Taiwan will become the only country in the world in which all freeway users are charged by the number of kilometers traveled using the ETC system.”
FETC had violated the terms of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract last year by failing to reach the OBU usage rate of 45 percent. The bureau then decided to give the contractor a year to raise the usage rate to 60 percent by yesterday. However, the contractor again missed the mark by having only a usage rate of 45 percent as of Wednesday.
Based on the contract, the contractor would have faced a daily penalty of NT$500,000 if it failed to propose plans to raise the usage rate before the one-year grace period expired yesterday.
“The company must complete the installation of infrastructure needed for the eTag system by the end of this year, which we will list as an important point to check,” Wu said. “Aside from having eTags available in February next year, the OBU usage rate must also reach a usage rate of 65 percent by June next year.”
FETC will be fined if it fails to meet any of these requirements, Wu said, adding that the bureau will calculate the fines accumulated since April 15 this year.
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