For a month now, a unique system of electronic toll collection using TAG devices has been available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which allows users to pass through toll booths without stopping, paying contactless tolls using a personal TAG device.
It is the result of the Memorandum of Cooperation on linking the electronic toll collection system signed by the companies “Autoceste FBiH” and “Autoputevi RS” and the system works perfectly, confirmed Nedeljko Ćorić, acting director of “Autoputevi Republika Srpska”.
“According to our data, “Autoputevi RS” have so far reconfigured around 900 devices whose users are those who have devices in the “FBiH Highways”. We do not have any problems in terms of passing through the toll booths themselves, the system works well. We have suggestions from users that it would be good to organize the system in the coming period, in such a way that we have one account for the Federation and the Republika Srpska. However, at the moment this is the only solution we could offer to the users of this system. We now have two TAG accounts installed on one, where one is intended for the registration of passage in the FBiH part, and the other in the RS part, whereby automatic billing is carried out in favor of one or another public company”, explains Ćorić.
He notes that users show a really high degree of satisfaction, because they use one TAG device to collect tolls both in the RS and in the FBiH.
“As for our users who have reconfigured their devices in the FBiH, we have information that at the moment it is around 200. We can explain why there is a greater number of users from the Federation, we can explain the fact that the ‘Highways of the RS’ allow devices to be reconfigured within 24 hours, from 0 to 24, while in the Federation it is reduced to eight hours, so this is probably one of the reasons. Another reason may be that a larger number of users who have TAG devices in the FBiH have a need for more frequent use of shares. Autoputeva RS,'” says Ćorić.
He adds that users of this system have benefits compared to those who pay for the use of the highway manually.
“That is the reason for the existence of the TAG device, it is faster to go through the toll booths, it is more convenient compared to those who do not have them, and this is probably one of the key reasons why people decide to use this device. I invite all users of highway services, who use the highways every day, to decide to switch to the TAG device in order to literally reduce their waiting time at the toll booths to a minimum, that is, they would not wait at all, and therefore they would have a more favorable service for using the highways in the RS,” he said.
He points out that the first month of operation of this system was a kind of trial period, but he believes that citizens are familiar enough to have a unique TAG device.
“We didn’t have an intrusive campaign by ‘Autoceste FBiH’ and ‘Autoputevi RS’ precisely because we waited for that trial period to pass so that we too could make sure that everything works flawlessly and that there are no disturbances in terms of using the TAG device. We intend to extend these possibilities to other countries in the region in the coming period,” says Ćorić and adds that there are no additional costs for users when they reconfigure the device, because it is free.
“The costs of toll collection have not changed, the prices have remained the same. Our goal is to increase the number of users who use electronic toll collection and we will meet the users. We will open a customer service that will soon come to life in connection with the issue of access to information and for the provision of services to our users, so that they can get to the TAG device in the simplest way possible, but also be able to safely and comfortably use the highways in Srpska”, says Ćorić and adds that it is imperative for “Autoputeva RS” that the electronic type of tolling is used in on a larger scale compared to manual billing.
