Highways Department warns of hefty fines for late payment of M-Flow toll fee
The Highways Department announced on Tuesday that the grace period for fining motorists for late payment of M-Flow gateway use would end this month and the department would start collecting fines at the rate of 10 times from April 1.
Sarawut Songwilai, director-general of the Highways Department, said on Monday that unregistered motorists who have not paid for using the M-Flow gateway will be required to pay the toll fee within seven days or face the hefty fine.
The M-Flow system, which uses AI technology and cameras to recognise coming vehicles, will send the bills to the house of unregistered motorists and they would be required to pay the fee within seven days.
Motorists who have registered to use the M-Flow gateways can use an app to pay the fee by credit card or other payment services.
The barrier-less gateways have been in use at the rightmost entry point of the Thanyaburi and Thapchang gateways of the N9 motorway, also known as the eastern ring road.
Since the M-Flow gates have no barriers, many motorists drove through them and were later billed, but many failed to pay in time, leading to heavy fines and complaints from the public.
Following the complaints, the government asked the department to suspend the fines until the public confusion was cleared.
Sarawut said the department had already refunded the motorists the fines collected earlier. He said about 95 per cent of M-Flow users earlier had to pay the fines. And new fines were suspended until March 31.
“April 1 will be the day to start collecting the fines on M-Flow users who have not registered and who failed to pay the fee in seven days,” Sarawut said.
He said the department would encourage motorists to register for the M-Flow system. Its is offering two free passes to the 100,000 who register first and all M-Flow registered motorists will get 20 per cent discount on toll fees for three months.
He said the department has designed a system to allow motorists to quickly and easily register via its Line account: OA@mBlowthai. The registration can be done in two minutes.
He said the registered users can pay with credit card or can use their current Easy pass or M-Pass cards to pay for the toll fees.
Motorists can call 1586 or visit the website: www.mBlowthai.com for more information.
