Hanoi (VNA) – The implementation of non-stop toll collection for vehicles entering and leaving airports is a bold step to develop smart airports and smart urban areas, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Aviation Business Association (VABA) Bui Doan Ne told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

According to Ne, over the past years, all toll booths on expressways and highways nationwide switched to automated toll collection, bringing substantial benefits to stakeholders. Therefore, it is inevitable to scale up automatic toll collection to airports, which is in line with the development trajectory for smart traffic.

The automated toll collection will make contributions to modernising traffic management as well as completing toll collection management for services at airports, he stressed.

꧂ The adoption of an electronic toll collection (ETC) system on roads to airports will smooth out traffic flow and avoid gridlock, thus improving airport capacity to receive passengers.

However, the system could lead to redundancies that competent authorities should work to handle, he said, adding airports should invest more equipment, and re-organise their operation systems.

Describing the ETC system as a giant stride to apply advanced technologies into airports, Ne said that it will pave the way to deploy the technologies in other fields. These include remote traffic control, supervision of the transport system, and integration of traffic regulation with other urban management work.

ꦿ Additionally, the system also helps reduce cash payment, making it easier for competent sides to manage toll collection for cars entering and exiting Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International Airports where the system will be put on a trial basis.

Following a pilot at the country’s two busiest airports, competent authorities should make evaluation on the system’s efficiency and shortcomings to outline more rational solutions for large-scale implementation in the future.  “I think the solutions will focus on completion of legal frameworks, especially those regulating convenient payment for vehicle owners, coordination mechanisms among stakeholders, purchase of suitable equipment and management software, and human resources training”, he said. A proposal to pilot non-stop automatic toll collection at the Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International Airports has been submitted by the Department for Roads of Vietnam.  The document reported that manual fee collection is still the norm in multiple airport parking lots in the country, which is time-consuming and leads to traffic congestion.  The department asked the Ministry of Transport to report the situation to the Prime Minister and allow for non-stop automatic toll collection at the Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports for a duration of six months.  The programme is expected to make use of investments into non-stop automatic toll collection, while also serving as the foundation for evaluation and perfecting the legal framework on automatic toll collections, the department’s representative added. Since automatic toll collection has existed on expressways and highways since August 1 last year, the Department of Roads of Vietnam reported that there are now five million automobiles with electronic toll tags installed and toll payment accounts, which equals 90% of the total number of vehicles in the country./.