Traffic took a toll on Wednesday

Many places observed traffic jams on Wednesday, the primary reason for this being it was the first day of the revised toll tax at five entry-exit points of Mumbai. It was not just the traffic that angered the motorist but the fact that they had to shell out Rs5 more as toll charges. Motorists were stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes and then paid Rs5 more.

The toll charge has increased from Rs 30 to Rs35, for light vehicles for the next three years.

"We are tired of explaining to the motorist, why they have to pay Rs5 more. This has been in the news for weeks now. But they still ask us," said a staff at Dahisar toll booth.

Due to this, each and every vehicle took more than the usual time to cross the toll booth. Usually, on an average, it takes 20-30 seconds for the vehicle to pay the cash and collect the receipt. However, on Wednesday, the time had doubled and this slowed down the vehicular movement.

The jam was the talking point on various social networking sites. Bloggers warning others about the traffic and the best hour to clear the toll.

Traffic police manning on either sides of the toll booths were helpless as they were unable to divert the traffic to alternate roads as done within city limits. "Motorists were not willing to pay extra and this led to arguments and traffic jams. We deployed more traffic personnel to control the situation. The traffic snarls happened during peak hours at the Dahisar check naka," said SB Talegaokar of Borivali traffic police. The situation was similar at the Mulund check naka.

According to Mumbai Entry Points officials- the toll collection agency- the problem was because it was the first day of the revised toll tax. As days goes by, this would no longer be a problem because by then motorist would be aware of the new rates.