“From October 1st: Vehicle Owners Who Don’t Switch to Transportation Accounts Will Not Pass Through Toll Booths”

Only 30% of vehicles have made the switch to the new transportation account so far.

According to Government Decree 119/2024, vehicle owners are responsible for coordinating with road usage charge service providers to transition their existing toll accounts, as per the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 19/2020, to a transportation account and connect it to a cashless payment method before October 1st, 2025.

Vehicle owners must ensure that there are sufficient funds in the payment method linked to their transportation account when making electronic road usage payments.

If there are insufficient funds in the payment method linked to the transportation account to pay for the toll on expressways, the vehicle will not be allowed to pass through the toll booth.

In cases where there are insufficient funds in the payment method linked to the transportation account to pay for road usage charges, the vehicle must use the mixed-payment lane at the toll booth on the national highway.

If there are insufficient funds in the payment method linked to the transportation account for electronic road usage payments, excluding the above two cases, other payment methods can be used at the toll point.

Road usage charge service providers can use the transportation accounts they manage directly for electronic road usage payments for the services they provide.

From October 1st, vehicle owners must switch to a transportation account

According to statistics, there are currently 6.3 million vehicles in the country using the automatic toll collection service, accounting for almost 100% of the total number of vehicles nationwide. However, according to toll service providers, only about 30% of vehicles have made the transition to the new transportation account. This is mainly because vehicle owners are unaware of this new regulation.

According to VETC Automatic Toll Collection Company, despite their efforts, the number of vehicles using the VETC service that have made the switch is still low, with only 1.5 million vehicles out of over 3 million customers completing the transition.

Clear Separation in State Management

Mr. To Nam Toan, Head of Science, Technology, Environment, and International Cooperation Department of the Vietnam Road Administration, said that there have been many cases of fraud through text messages and account openings. As a result, when service providers send text messages or OTP codes to guide vehicle owners through the account transition process, they often assume it is a scam and do not make the switch.

Explaining the reason for the account transition requirement, Mr. Toan said that the toll accounts currently used by vehicle owners include information about the vehicle, the owner, and the funds deposited by the owner for toll payments when passing through toll stations.

Failure to switch will result in inability to pass through the BOT toll station without stopping

Since this is a dedicated toll account, the funds deposited by the vehicle owner can only be used for road toll payments and cannot be used for other purposes. Additionally, the money in the toll account does not earn interest.

Moreover, the connection between the toll account and the cashless payment method has limitations and does not provide convenience to the people and enterprises, especially large transport enterprises that have to deposit a large amount of money into the toll account. This has led to dissatisfaction among enterprises and people because the money in the account does not earn interest.

More importantly, the Ministry of Construction is not a specialized unit in managing the money in the toll account, so there are difficulties in managing the toll revenue.

“For the above reasons, during the formulation of Decree 119, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) agreed with the State Bank on a management method that separates the toll account into a transportation account connected to a cashless payment method, such as an e-wallet or a bank account or credit card. Vehicle owners have the right to choose the payment method to connect to the transportation account,” said Mr. Toan.

The purpose of the account transition is to have a clear separation in state management. The Ministry of Construction will specialize in managing transportation accounts for electronic toll collection. The State Bank will manage cashless payment methods, ensuring legality and safety for people and enterprises.

Most importantly, the money in the cashless payment method will earn interest. The diversity of payment methods will also provide convenience for vehicle owners, especially large-scale transport enterprises.

Each toll service provider has a cashless payment method (ePass has Viettel Monney, MoMo, Visa…; VETC has VETC e-wallet). The process of transitioning from a toll account to a transportation account takes only about 5 to 10 minutes on the service provider’s application.

“From October 1st, if vehicle owners do not transition their toll accounts to transportation accounts connected to a cashless payment method and do not transfer funds from the toll account to the cashless payment method, it will be considered as not having a sticker, not having a transportation account (the previous toll account), in other words, not meeting the conditions for electronic toll collection, and the vehicle will not be allowed to pass through the toll station,” said Mr. Toan.

Ngân Tuyền (ANTĐ)