Faulty ETC system takes its toll on Ministry of Transport

The Ministry of Transport's news conference in Beijing on Friday has not helped clear the air about the reliability of the electronic toll collection system that some local transport departments are reportedly enforcing on drivers.

The system was introduced to "improve tolling efficiency". But on Friday the ministry admitted and apologized for some "systemic problems", including the inability of some sensors to read the ETC cards, which are lengthening the lines of vehicles at the toll stations.

Worse, quite a few drivers have been overcharged. The ETC system linked to their bank accounts deducts the toll without informing them for days, even weeks, through short text messages.

The ministry said it has sent technicians to the toll stations where most of the complaints have come from to fix the problems, but made no mention of how the overcharged consumers would get refund.

In other words, the ETC system is not foolproof, even though the number of vehicles that have installed it surged from 76.56 million to 180 million in 2019. The loopholes in the system have taken a toll on traffic management and the credibility of the authorities.

Some people suspect the ETC project, given the huge amount of fund involved and its introduction without thorough research and trials, could involve corruption and dereliction of duty.

Some lawyers even suspect the ministry has violated several laws.

Evidently, the ministry did not properly test the system before thrusting it on drivers, causing them great inconvenience and loss of time and money while increasing the logistics costs.

So just apologizing for the problems is not enough. Supervisory and disciplinary watchdogs must probe into what could have been an avoidable problem, and the ministry must do all it can to fix the ETC system and refund the overcharged drivers.

Besides, until the ETC system starts functioning properly, the ministry would do well to reopen the manual toll stations that have been shut down to make way for the new system.