This is why your Pune-Mumbai trip can get expensive soon

Soon you might have to pay more while travelling between Mumbai and Pune via road as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) announced that it will increase the toll fees of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway from April 1. The Corporation has decided to impose an increase in the prices of the toll tax after it gave the toll collecting contract to IRB Infrastructure Developers.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is India’s first six-lane concrete, access controlled tolled expressway. The expressway starts from Kalamboli near Panvel and ends at Dehu Road near Pune. 

Here is the change in toll prices that will be effective from April 1:

• The toll for cars will increase from ₹230 to ₹ 270
• For mini buses, the toll will raise from ₹355 to ₹420
• For trucks and heavy axle vehicles, it will increase from ₹493 to ₹580
• Bus drivers will have to pay ₹797 as compared to ₹675
• The large trucks earlier had to pay ₹1,165-1,555. Now they will have to shell out toll tax varying from ₹1,380 to ₹1,835.

According to reports, IRB Infrastructure Developers will initially pay ₹8,262 crores to the MSRDC. The balance amount will be paid by IRB to MSRDC in instalments as it collects the toll on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway for the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, despite the journey becoming costlier, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is set to become safer for drivers. The authorities are planning on introducing Tactile Edgeline technology on the lanes of the Expressway. This will be the first time that the road safety tech will be deployed in India. The tactile edgeline technology is said to exponentially bring down the number of accidents caused by collision from behind.

The government will be utilising the technology by drawing out rumblers on the fourth lane. If the vehicles come in contact with the fourth lane, the rumblers will be activated and make loud noises. This will alert the vehicle in front, thus avoiding an accident.