How would you estimate the total toll collected in one day across all the toll plazas in the country?

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How would you estimate the total toll collected in one day across all the toll plazas in the country?

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Abhijeet Das · Answer 1 · 2025-07-06T21:04:35+0000

Estimate the total toll collected in a day across all toll plazas in India

Tolls are of different types -

National highway tolls
State highway tolls

Each toll has different pricing depending on the type of vehicle crossing the toll plaza. Assuming the below rates-

2 wheeler - 50/-

4 wheeler - 100/-

All trucks - 200/-

Let's assume a split of 20% 2 wheelers; 50% 4 wheelers; 30% trucks for each toll and 10 lanes at each plaza

Assuming during peak hours (8-11 am and 5-8 pm), 1 vehicle passes through a toll every 10 seconds. so 6 vehicles in 1 minute. Hence, total vehicles during peak hours = 6*60*6 = 2160 vehicles from one toll plaza lane.

So toll amount collected during peak hours = 2160*(50*.2+100*.5+200*.3)*10

= ~25L

During non peak non night hours (12 hrs in a day), the traffice will be around 70% of peak traffic, so ~3000 vehicles

So, toll collected = 3000*(50*.2+100*.5+200*.3)*10 = ~40L

During non peak non night hours, the traffice will be around 30% of peak traffic, so ~650 vehicles

So, toll collected = 650*(50*.2+100*.5+200*.3)*10 = ~10L

Assuming 1 toll booth for every 100 kms,

150000 km of NH, will have 1500 toll booths

200000 Km of SH, will have 2000 toll booths

So, total toll booths = 3500

Toll connected at one toll plaza = 55L

So, total toll collected across India per day = 55L * 3500 = 192500L = ~2000Cr

SANGEETA PANDEY · Answer 2 · 2024-05-29T14:55:38+0000

Reconfirming the question once – we want to estimate the total toll amount collected in all the total plazas across India in one day? à Yes

Toll booths are mainly on the national and state highways in India. It does not matter if a vehicle is passing from 1 state to another, if the vehicle is utilizing national or state highway while traversing even within a state, toll needs to be paid.

Total toll collection in a day = No. of toll booths in India (A) * Toll amount collected/booth in a day (B)

Let’s start with the estimation of (A):

Whenever we travel from Bangalore to any weekend getaways which are at a distance of 270-300km, we generally come across 3-4 toll booths on the way.

Total stretch of national highway ~ 150,000 km

Though, the stretch of state highway varies from 1 state to another depending on the state size, total stretch of state highway ~ 190,000 km

Assuming 3 tolls for every 300km (not differentiating between the number of tolls for a state highway vs national highway and not differentiating between the total density of 1 state vs another),

No. of toll booths in India (A) = 3 * (150000 + 190000) / 300 = 3 * 340000/300 = 3400.

Now, let’s move ahead with the estimation of (B):

Whenever we travel from Bangalore to any weekend getaways by a 4-seater SUV, we roughly pay around Rs40 to Rs150 at various toll booths. Also, different vehicles pay different toll amounts depending on the vehicle size.

So, lets assume at a single toll booth, a lightweight vehicle such as a 2-wheeler pays around Rs40, a medium weight vehicle such as a car pays about Rs 80 and a heavy weight vehicle such as a lorry pays about Rs 120.

It takes around 10 seconds for a vehicle to pass the toll booth and get the FASTag scanned.

There are around 5 lanes on each side of the road at a toll.

Total vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute or 60 seconds = 2*5*60/10 =60.

Just from observation, in a 1-minute window, let the distribution of light weight, medium weight and heavy weight vehicles crossing the toll be: 20%, 60%, 20%

No. of light-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute = 20% of 60 = 12

No. of medium-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute = 60% of 60 = 36

No. of heavy-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute = 20% of 60 = 12

Toll collected in 1 minute at 1 toll booth = No. of light-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute * Toll amount paid by light-weight vehicles + No. of medium-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute * Toll amount paid by medium-weight vehicles + No. of heavy-weight vehicles crossing a toll in 1 minute * Toll amount paid by heavy-weight vehicles

= 12*40 + 36*80 + 12*120 = 480 + 2880 + 1440 = 4200 + 1800 = Rs 4800

Since, we are doing a rough estimate, lets consider the toll amount gets halved in the night-time as the number of vehicles plying on the road differs during the day time vs night time (just considering 12 hour time windows).

Toll collected in 1 day (24 hours) at 1 toll booth (B) = (4800 * 60 * 12) + (2400 * 60 * 12) = 3456000 + 1728000 = 5184000 or 50,00,000.

Revisiting our main equation:

Total toll collection in a day = No. of toll booths in India (A) * Toll amount collected/booth in a day (B)

= 3400 * 50,00,000 = Rs 1700,00,00,000 or 1700 crore