Bengaluru, NFAPost: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with MSRDC and Equitas Bank to unveil India’s first Truck Parking Plaza on the Mumbai Pune expressway to offer a seamless experience with 100% Smart and Contactless parking using the NETC FASTag.
Benefits of MSRDC Plaza
The MSRDC Plaza will ensure the truck drivers get sufficient rest during long-distance driving as they can take breaks at the plaza and thereby ensuring lesser mishaps on the expressways. Extending the NETC FASTag for parking was the most logical and convenient option for the truckers as most of the commercial vehicles already have a NETC FASTag. NHAI intends to implement 100% tolling through NETC FASTag from the 15th of Feb 2021. MSRDC has also been actively promoting NETC FASTag on the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway.
NPCI Expands Contactless Parking Services in India
NPCI is now geared-up to expand the contactless car parking facility in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Trivandrum amongst other cities. It has also initiated discussions with major malls, airports, ports, railway stations, metro stations, hospitals, and other private parking lots in the country for the NETC FASTag powered contactless car parking solutions. The company has been receiving interest from major banks in spearheading the parking projects especially after the 100% NETC FASTag Mandate announced by the Indian Government.
Shri. Vijay Waghmare (I.A.S) Joint Managing Director (II) said,”Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has pioneered in furthering the NETC FASTag solution since inception of the programme. Mumbai-Pune expressway, Satara-Kagal, Sea Link, and Mumbai Entry Point plazas are running on the NETC FASTag solution. Now we are enabling NETC FASTag at MSRDC truck plaza which will help contactless payment for truck drivers & ensure their saftey during this pandemic. This digital transformation will introduce transparency and ensure complete contactless and safe travel for the commuter. MSRDC requests all commuters to install FasTags on their vehicles and ensure sufficient cash balance in the FasTag.”
Advantages of Contactless Parking
Mr Denny Thomas, Head NETC & AEPS, NPCI said, “We are pleased to partner with Equitas Bank to launch the NETC FASTag parking solution at MSRDC truck terminus. The parking implementation at the terminus is a natural extension from the current toll payments use case as most of the commercial vehicles plying on the highways already have a NETC FASTag. The parking solution at the terminus will help drivers, experience convenience and safety as it’s a 100% contactless payment solution. With NETC FASTag, it’s our constant endeavor to provide a seamless, cashless and automated toll and parking payment solution.”
Mr. Murali Vaidyanathan, President & Country Head- Branch Banking, Liabilities, Product & Wealth, Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited said, “We are pleased to be a part of this initiation by the Government of India to help the citizens to travel without any delay at the toll gates of National Highways and to avoid the usage of currency transactions especially during the current pandemic of Covid-19”.
Akhilesh Srivastava, COO IHMCL, said, “The FASTag has provided seamless experience to the highway users at the toll plazas across the country. With seamless parking service of FASTag being extended to users it will make their daily commute comfortable. NETC FASTag for parking will be a game changer and will make lives easier for everyone in the country. My best wishes to the ambitious program.”
The contactless car parking facility allows passengers and visitors the comfort of paying for parking without the need to roll down their windows. While parking lots across the country are being enabled with digital payment solutions only NETC FASTag can provide a 100% contactless solution.
This leads to an opportunity for all parking providers across the country to adopt a safe and contactless payment solution by implementing the NETC FASTag solution. The application installed at the parking plaza can seamlessly integrate with NETC FASTag API model provided by Acquiring Banks and avail the benefit of an interoperable ecosystem.
How the solution works:
Customers can buy NETC FASTag from any of the 29 issuer banks. The tag employs Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology and needs to be affixed on the vehicle’s windscreen. NETC FASTag can be linked to a prepaid account or a CASA account. The subscriber can use the parking without any manual intervention, such as waiting for a parking receipt at the entry or making cash/credit card payment at the exit. There is no additional cost to customers with respect to the parking fee. One has to just purchase a onetime tag which does away with the wait time at entry and exit.
Dedicated NETC FASTag lanes are in place. When a user arrives through this lane, the strategically placed RFID reader will capture the tag with the timestamp and store the details in the local data base. While exiting, the same will be reconciled and the chargeable parking fee is automatically deducted allowing the passengers to virtually zip through the parking lot in no time. Post completion of every transaction, user will receive SMS on the deducted amount.
For any parking integration requirements you may write to [email protected]
