I've not had the opportunity to go over the newly opened Delhi - Gurgaon Expressway till today morning. I've heard a bunch of horror stories about the trip - especially the toll gates at the border of the two cities. Traffic jams of over an hour have been common ever since it opened. The road itself is great - 8 lanes each way.

Today I finally had to use this road - luckily at around 4:30am - to catch a flight to Banglore. I didn't hit the traffic snarls, but did see a reason why it must be happening.

By some weird logic, someone decided to have toll rates for different vehicles in strange values. Cars are Rs. 16 each way, buses are Rs. 49. There's something else for Rs. 37, and so on. This itself can cause an undue amount of delay per vehicle that crosses the toll since paying this amount exactly is difficult for anyone. And giving the change back from a standard currency note would take additional time for the toll gate operator as well.

For instance, when in my car I need to cross the toll gate, I might either fumble for exact change (Rs. 10 + 5 + 1 in the simplest combination) or give a higher note to the operator - say Rs. 100. The operator is going to calculate the amount to be returned (Rs. 84) and pick it up form his cash register (Rs. 50 + 20 + 10 + 2 + 2, again in the simplest combination). There is an additional 1 step here per vehicle that comes in. Taking more complex combinations increases the steps even further (For example, Rs. 50 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1).

I can't imagine why they couldn't have kept the rates in multiple of 10's - or at the very least, 5's - so that it is simpler on both the commuter as well as the operator and leads to a bit more efficiency and bit less snarls on a newly, opened and otherwise very well made highway.