New national highways toll policy to make bus travel cheaper, efficient: Gadkari

Guwahati, Sept 11: Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, on Thursday, said that a new toll policy is being prepared to provide benefits to state and private bus operators using national highways.

Speaking at the Bharat Prawaas Awards organised by the Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI), Gadkari said the move aims to reduce operating costs and make intercity travel by buses more affordable and efficient.

The announcement follows the recent introduction of a FASTag-based annual pass for non-commercial private vehicles — cars, jeeps and vans — priced at Rs 3,000 and valid for one year or 200 trips, whichever comes earlier.

In a broader push towards sustainable transport, Gadkari also revealed that 10 highway stretches across the country have been identified for the introduction of “green hydrogen-powered trucks”.

These stretches will be equipped with hydrogen refuelling stations to be set up by Indian Oil and Reliance Petroleum. Major automakers, including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Volvo, have already started producing hydrogen-powered trucks, he added.

The identified stretches include Greater Noida–Delhi–Agra, Bhubaneswar–Puri–Konark, Ahmedabad–Vadodara–Surat, Sahibabad–Faridabad–Delhi, Jamshedpur–Kalinganagar, Thiruvananthapuram–Kochi and Jamnagar–Ahmedabad, among others.

Additionally, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is building 750 wayside amenities on private land along national highways to improve facilities for long-distance travellers.

PTI