Comprehensively developing the traffic “ecosystem”

Preliminary statistics showed that the country currently has about 45.5 million motorbikes and 6.5 million cars in circulation. In the 2015-2020 period, 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.
VETC Automatic Toll Collection Company Limited takes advantage of the existing ETC service platform, coordinating with relevant units to deploy a non-stop parking solution. (Photo: Huyen Trang)
VETC Automatic Toll Collection Company Limited takes advantage of the existing ETC service platform, coordinating with relevant units to deploy a non-stop parking solution. (Photo: Huyen Trang)

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 and harmonisation of interests

In the general trend of smart traffic applications, state management agencies and many enterprises have recognised the potential of the non-stop automatic 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 and seaports; parking lot fees, inspection fees; payment for bus and train tickets, etc.

According to Dr. Khuong Kim Tao, a traffic expert, cashless payment for vehicle parking with transparent, convenient, civilised and modern criteria has harmonised the interests of all three parties: the State, businesses and people, especially for the people, when implementing this model, it will limit negativity, collect the right price, convenient non-stop entry and exit, easy to find and book seats 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; inspection; training, testing, and issuance of driving licenses; handling of administrative violations,...

The database on road traffic order and safety is built uniformly nationwide, shared by agencies, organisations and individuals to serve state management, policy making and requirements of relevant agencies, organisations 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; facilitate the development of features such as smart parking search, advance parking reservation, 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 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 2019-2030 period, Vietnam can reduce 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, save 727,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel, more than one billion hours of labour, and bring total economic benefits to society of about 5.3 billion USD.

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

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

Cashless parking services have proven to be highly effective when 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 the capital city of Hanoi in recent times has helped people’s traffic experience become seamless and smooth. Up to now, in Hanoi, VETC 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.

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 car and motorbike parking lots 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 539,000 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.