Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) registrations have increased significantly ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, marking a growing interest among vehicle owners in paying bridge tolls electronically for a hazard-free journey.
Officials said around 100 motorists are now registering daily for ETC services on bridges operated by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), compared to a poor response since the system was introduced first on the Meghna and Meghna-Gumti bridges in 2019.
The recent rise in registrations came after the RHD opened the system to all banks and mobile financial service providers, allowing toll payments through electronic platforms, debit cards and credit cards at its 17 bridges. The RHD has so far registered 62,749 vehicles for ETC services.
Its ETC-enabled bridges include Meghna, Meghna-Gumti, Lalon Shah, Third Shitalakhya and Karnaphuli bridges located on key highway corridors such as Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Mawa.
In contrast, ETC registrations on the Padma and Jamuna bridges under the BBA remain lower due to separate software systems. According to BBA data, ETC-registered vehicles stood at over 800 for Padma Bridge and 6,774 for Jamuna Bridge.
However, officials said ETC traffic on the two bridges reached 448,650 vehicles from September 15 to last week, generating Tk 604 million in toll revenues.
Meanwhile, 6,698 ETC-registered vehicles used RHD bridges on a single day last Friday. Around 2.9 million vehicles used ETC services across 15 RHD bridges in 2025, paying nearly Tk 600 million in tolls.
An RHD official said the department expects ETC registrations to reach 150,000 before the Eid rush, underscoring the need for a uniform toll collection system among the RHD, BBA and city corporations for wider adoption.
The uniform system has been tried to establish all the old bridges under the BBA and RHD by the present government.
The RHD has over 71 toll bridges of which 17 are operated through ETC in a single lane. But the BBA which is entitled to construct over 1.5 km bridges has so far three such bridges and one PPP model's elevated expressway crosses over the capital city for bypassing vehicles from different highways.
smunima@yahoo.com
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