Examining effect of electronic toll collection (ETC) system on queue delay using microsimulation approach at toll plaza - A case study of Ghoti toll plaza, India

Mixed traffic conditions in the same toll lane at toll plazas, as well as the use of manual toll collection (MTC), gives birth to the serious problem of congestion and thus delays at toll plazas. To overcome this, an electronic toll collection (ETC) system, commonly called FASTag, is recently implemented in India, which allows the fast movement of vehicles, creating less delay and pollution. This new technology thus provides new opportunities for designers to optimize the system. To address these issues, a VISSIM micro-simulation model is developed for toll plazas in India. The VISSIM model is calibrated with driving behavior data and validated with queue length and delay information obtained from field data collected at the Ghoti Toll Plaza (GTP), near Nashik, India. The results show that the full implementation of ETC systems could decrease queue delay by 95%. Also, if the traffic operates as lane-based traffic (i.e., vehicles in dedicated lane), delay decreases by 24% in MTC and by 48% in ETC. The queue length and queue delay were also found to vary parabolically with an increase in approach volume.