ETC problems occur frequently and the user experience is poor
With the large-scale promotion of highway ETC, the number of car owners using ETC has surged. However, some car owners have encountered many problems in the process of use, which seriously affects the user experience and makes some car users more and more distant from ETC.
"There is a long queue with ETC, I'm so angry!" Wang Xiaohua complained loudly while waiting for the vehicles in the high-speed artificial passage to move forward, "ETC after-sales service is really bad!" When asked again, it turned out that Wang Xiaohua had broken the equipment twice since she used ETC for more than a year, and it was very cumbersome to replace it, and then she inexplicably deducted dozens of yuan in additional expenses, which made her deeply dissatisfied with ETC.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport, the cumulative number of complaints about the ETC system has been rising over the past five years, reaching 23,615 in 2020. The complaints mainly focus on several major aspects, such as arbitrary charges and poor service attitude.
And with the expansion of the scale of use, the problem is also becoming more prominent.
"I just did ETC and there was an inexplicable overdeduction of fees, is there a problem with the ETC system, or is someone eyeing my ETC card?" Li Dalong quickly decided not to use the ETC system for the time being, and returned to the manual toll channel, which has also become the choice of many car owners.
At a highway intersection, there is a long queue in the artificial passage with many cars at this time, but the ETC lane is empty. This kind of "rather queue than ETC" situation is not uncommon.
According to the analysis, the reasons for the poor user experience are that management and technical supervision cannot keep up, and there are loopholes and problems. Second, quality control and human factors are also very important, and the speed and efficiency of troubleshooting and responding to complaints also need to be improved.
It can be seen that there is a long way to go to change ETC.
The reason why the car owner chooses the artificial passage
"It's not the first time we've seen empty lanes and long queues at artificial lanes. Li Dalong stopped at the high-speed service station to observe, and his heart was full of doubts.
"I used to be a big user of ETC, but now I'm a 'queue guy'. Li Dalong randomly asked a car owner who was queuing up to ask why.
Wang explained that he had handled ETC before, but then there was a problem with the device, and it was very troublesome to cancel it. "First of all, you need to find the bank that originally issued the card, fill in the form to apply for the cancellation of the service, otherwise you will have to pay liquidated damages.
The whole process was complicated and cumbersome, and I didn't want to use ETC again.
Situations like Wang's encounter are not uncommon. According to the Ministry of Transportation, more than 85% of car owners choose to use artificial lanes instead of ETC. A significant number of them choose to charge manually because it is too cumbersome to log out ETC.
In addition, some people are worried about the complexity of losing or damaging the ETC device and needing to re-apply for it.
"I don't use my ETC equipment very often, and I need a manual bill to go home for the Chinese New Year or be reimbursed by the company. "Although the ETC device is free to pick up, the subsequent use and management are not as troublesome as queuing."
It can be seen that the difficulty of cancellation and management troubles are important reasons why car owners do not choose ETC. The convenience of these services needs to be improved urgently, otherwise there is still a long way to go for ETC to be promoted.
License plate payment is considered an alternative to ETC
In the process of Li Dalong and other "queuing people" asking the reason, someone mentioned another word - license plate payment. "I heard that the country is moving forward with a license plate payment system and is preparing to gradually replace ETC. One car owner said.
To put it simply, it uses license plate recognition technology, when the vehicle passes, the relevant cameras and software can automatically identify the license plate information, and deduct the account pre-stored in the card to complete the charge.
This technology is maturing and has been applied in many residential areas and parking lots.
Compared with ETC, the biggest advantage of license plate payment is that there is no need to install additional equipment. The vehicle itself already has a license plate, and the license plate recognition system only needs to be set up at the road toll office, which greatly reduces the hardware cost.
In addition, the license plate corresponds to the vehicle one-to-one, which also reduces the occurrence of the phenomenon of "rubbing the car".
The transportation department predicts that in 2025, the proportion of China's highway license plate payment system may reach about 60%. This means that it may gradually replace ETC as the mainstream charging method.
Li Dalong also looked forward to this after learning about it.
However, industry experts remind that from the perspective of the existing infrastructure, it is still too early to fully replace ETC in a short period of time. After all, ETC equipment has been widely rolled out, and transformation and upgrading is also a major project.
A transition period of at least 5-8 years is expected.
The goal of the ETC rectification work is clear
While the license plate payment is gradually rising, the transportation department has not given up on the optimization of the existing ETC system. In 2022, a new ETC rectification campaign will be rolled out across the country.
The focus of this rectification is to standardize ETC services, make cost supervision transparent, and simplify business processes. For example, improve online and offline inquiry channels, the time limit for responding to complaints shall not exceed 72 hours, and severely crack down on all kinds of arbitrary fees.
It can be said that the pain points of ETC have been examined and rectified one by one under the microscope. The transportation department hopes that through continuous governance for 3-5 years, the service level of the ETC system will be improved to a big level, and the user satisfaction will reach more than 80%, and the confidence of users in choosing ETC will be restored.
After understanding the rectification goal, Li Dalong and other car owners also began to look forward to the improvement of the supply side of ETC. Perhaps after the rectification, the problems with ETC equipment may be greatly reduced, and they will also reconsider the use.
The owner's choice: embrace change
In the face of the dual choice of ETC and license plate payment, the attitude of car owners is also quietly changing.
Wang Xiaohua originally hated the ETC system, and after hearing about the rectification, she said, "I don't have hope, but I'm willing to give it another chance." Li Dalong is also eager to try, planning to re-operate the ETC system and personally verify the effectiveness of the rectification.
Some car owners choose to wait and see and continue to use manual toll channels.
And another part of the car owners have begun to embrace the license plate payment. "It's easy and fast and I don't need to change equipment, I've already experienced license plate payment in the parking lot of the community and office building.
One driver said, "It's perfect for highway tolls, and I'm very optimistic!" According to the transportation department, the reconstruction of the license plate payment expressway will be piloted in 100 service areas next year, and the scope will be gradually expanded.
Experts believe that the ETC rectification and the rise of license plate payment together indicate that the high-speed toll model is entering a new stage centered on "convenience for the people". The choices of car owners will also be more diversified.
Perhaps one day in the future, the automatic toll collection system will completely replace the manual channel. At that time, there will be no more "queuing families" on the expressway, and the passage will be more efficient and convenient.
According to the existing infrastructure, industry insiders expect that it will take about 5-8 years for the large-scale popularization of license plate payment to completely replace ETC. This means that the transition period for the use of both technologies will last for a longer period of time.
Overall forecasts and recommendations
To sum up, ETC is facing an important turning point in the replacement of the old and the new, and the gradual rise of license plates. In this process, the ETC rectification work is indispensable, which will solve and improve the ETC system, improve the user experience, and lay the foundation for the next generation of license plate payment.
This paper predicts that the next 5 years will be a critical period for the parallel development of the two technologies, and in 8 years, license plate payment will become the dominant one, and eventually replace ETC, realizing the innovation and upgrading of the charging model.
Finally, it is recommended that car owners actively embrace change and progress, and choose the appropriate charging method according to their own situation. At the same time, the industry also needs to accelerate the improvement of network infrastructure construction to lay a solid foundation for intelligence and convenience.