Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway - Taking a toll on the commuters

Delhi-Gurgaon expressway that promised the moon to the commuters, has failed to deliver! A closer examination will reflect on the fact that everything that could have gone wrong with a project, has gone wrong.

Some details about the expressway:

1- It is a 28 km long expressway.

2- The average traffic is 1,40,000 vehicles/day. (approx) {This figure as per the estimates of Rites limited in its DPR was to reach only in 2013} The expected number was 80000 vehicles/day for 2008.

3- Expected growth of traffic is about 9%/annum

4- The current unofficial estimated revenue/day is approximately INR 70,00,000/annum

What is the modus-operandi of toll collection?

A- Multiple cash collection lanes and single tag only and card only lane.

B- The toll is INR 16/trip; an odd figure that adds to the delay as commuters more often than not struggle for change.

C- The tag lane does not have and toll gate and there is an automatic debit as the car passes through the reader. However, the major drawbacks are as under:

a. The tag machines are often faulty.
b. Recharging the tag is a cumbersome process.
c. There is no additional monetary benefit of the tag. {The toll is still INR 16/- despite the fixed charge of INR 500}
d. There is not customer service. The tag customers do not get the statements of usage (though there is a digital display that flashes the current balance} and customer complaints (example tag machine not working) are rarely followed up.

D- The card would have similar issues as the tag.

What are the drawbacks of the current system?

A- The commuter’s nightmare as the average waiting time is 30 minutes (in some cases even 45 minutes) as against the promised 30 seconds.

B- On occasions the Tag machines are faulty and commuters willingly/unwillingly end up taking advantage of the same. The result is lost revenue for Jaypee DSC Ventures Ltd

C- The Tag/Card has lot of administrative hassles such as card/tag not working, lost card reporting, balance determination (currently there is a momentary display of available balance that a commuter can easily miss), recharging, etc, that involves revenue lost and additional costs for Jaypee DSC Ventures Ltd.

To summarize, the following would be the major constrains in the current system:

1- High average waiting time for which NHAI (the road regulator in India) has sought an explanation from Jaypee DSC Ventures Ltd. They are desperate to reduce the waiting time from 30 minutes to at least 5 minutes.

2- Management of transaction is not the core expertise of Jaypee DSC Ventures Ltd. The inefficiencies of their current system is resulting in administrative hassles that are adding to the cost and also affecting the revenue.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 (I migrated from blog.co.in)