Comprehensive development of the transportation "ecosystem"

Preliminary statistics show that the country currently has about 45.5 million motorbikes and 6.5 million cars in circulation. In the period 2015-2020, Vietnam's car ownership growth reached 17%/year, the fastest in the world , surpassing China (14%/year) and India (10%/year). Currently, Vietnam's GDP per capita has exceeded 4,000 USD/year (more than 100 million VND), so the car ownership rate in the coming years is forecast to increase even faster.

Currently, some solution and service providers such as VETC Automatic Toll Collection Company Limited and Vietnam Digital Traffic Joint Stock Company (VDTC) have piloted the implementation of cashless, non-stop parking fee collection services in Hanoi and soon in Ho Chi Minh City, with initial positive results.

Transparency, harmony of interests

In the general trend of smart traffic application, state management agencies and many enterprises have recognized the potential of the automatic non-stop toll collection system (ETC), proposing to expand intermediary payment services on the ETC platform to create an "ecosystem" of smart traffic services such as toll collection at airports, seaports; parking fees, inspection fees; payment of bus and train tickets, etc. According to Dr. Khuong Kim Tao, a traffic expert, cashless payment for parking with transparent, convenient, civilized and modern criteria has harmonized the interests of all three parties: the State, businesses and people, especially for people, when implementing this model, it will limit negativity, collect the right price, convenient non-stop entry and exit, easy to find and book and save time. The government also does not lose tax revenue; businesses operate effectively and sustainably.

According to the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, ministries and branches will jointly build a database on road traffic order and safety, including data on vehicle registration and management; vehicle inspection; training, testing, and licensing; handling of administrative violations, etc. The database on road traffic order and safety is built uniformly nationwide, shared by agencies, organizations, and individuals to serve state management, policy making, and requirements of relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals.

The total number of vehicles with ETC tags and toll collection accounts nationwide has now reached nearly six million vehicles, the number of transactions through the non-stop toll collection system accounts for about 95% of the total number of transactions through toll stations nationwide. Since the implementation of "pure ETC" on highways, there have been more than one billion vehicle transactions through this system. Along with that, data from the ETC system can be used to control vehicles entering and exiting restricted areas and parking lots; creating favorable conditions for developing features such as smart parking search, pre-booking parking spaces, etc. Decision No. 19/2020/QD-TTg on road service fees has laid the foundation for the development of the ETC system in Vietnam, but mainly focuses on road fees, not mentioning other traffic services.

ETC - the "key" to technology application

Recently, Noi Bai International Airport has tested phase 1 for three exit lanes of the ETC system and automatically collected non-stop entry/exit, stopping and parking services at the T1 Passenger Terminal car park. It is expected that before the upcoming New Year, the Airport will deploy phase 2. Vehicle owners who already have an ETC account used on national highways and expressways can travel through the airport toll lanes without having to stick an additional card or incur additional procedures, because the system is synchronously integrated. In the context of Vietnam aiming to become a digital economy , ETC is the "key" to open the door to high-tech applications such as IoT, Big Data and cashless payments.

According to the Scientific Research Report on the Impact of the ETC System in Vietnam by Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Minh Khuong, lecturer at the National University of Singapore and colleagues, in 2023, the first year of full implementation of ETC on expressways nationwide, Vietnam saved 442.7 million USD (14 times higher than in 2019). It is estimated that in the period of 2019-2030, Vietnam can reduce 2.3 million tons of CO2 emissions, save 727 thousand tons of gasoline and diesel, more than one billion hours of labor, and bring total economic benefits to society of about 5.3 billion USD.

“Greening” technology parking lots in Hanoi in recent times has helped people’s traffic experience become seamless and smooth.

“The development of ETC systems is inevitable to modernize road transport infrastructure. Potential applications of ETC should be expanded to similar digital payment systems for urban toll collection, e-parking, cashless refueling or other toll facilities. By reducing congestion, reducing emissions and improving operational efficiency, ETC systems provide sustainable solutions to the challenges of urban and inter-urban mobility,” Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Minh Khuong affirmed.

The cashless parking service has proven to be highly effective, clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of achieving “three reductions, three increases”: Reducing time, reducing administrative procedures and reducing costs; increasing service quality, increasing publicity, transparency and increasing people's trust. "Greening" technology parking lots in Hanoi in recent times has helped people's traffic experience become seamless and smooth. Up to now, in Hanoi, VETC Company has provided services at nearly 200 parking lots, including 108 car parking lots and 78 motorbike parking lots. The VETC system has recorded nearly 800,000 transactions, with a total value of more than six billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Phong, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Digital Traffic Joint Stock Company (VDTC), said: VDTC Company and Viettel Hanoi branch have deployed a technology solution to search and pay for cashless parking service fees at 168 parking lots and car and motorbike parking spots for 30 businesses and units such as Hanoi Parking Lot Exploitation Company, Dong Xuan Joint Stock Company, 901 Joint Stock Company, etc. By the end of September, the unit recorded nearly 539 thousand transactions on the system, with a total revenue of more than three billion VND.

VETC's representative shared: Thanks to the support of management agencies and parking lot investors, VETC's technology solutions will continue to expand their coverage quickly and strongly in Hanoi. The positive reception from the people as well as the initial results from the stakeholders are important motivations and evidence that management agencies and businesses are on the right track, making important contributions to the journey to turn Hanoi into a smart city and Vietnam into a digital nation.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/phat-trien-toan-dien-he-sinh-thai-giao-thong-post852776.html