For car drivers like Luong Van Thien, the afternoon of October 1 brought a moment of inconvenience. Around 2:30 p.m., as he approached the Long Phuoc toll plaza on the HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway, he had to pull over to a VETC (VETC Electronic Toll Collection Co. Ltd.) support kiosk. The reason? He hadn’t yet switched over to the new, unified traffic account system.
His existing toll account was with ePass, a service managed by the Viettel Group. This presented a problem, as the VETC staff couldn’t assist him due to the different management systems, advising him instead to contact the ePass hotline. After several unsuccessful attempts to get through, Thien made a pragmatic choice. He decided to abandon his ePass account and have the on-site staff set him up with a VETC one, a process that reportedly took about five minutes. During this time, a steady stream of other cars was also pulling into the kiosk for similar on-the-spot assistance.
Earlier that morning during the peak rush hour, this same station had faced a more significant challenge, with vehicles backed up for nearly a kilometer. The bottleneck was largely caused by drivers who, like Thien, still needed to complete the conversion process.
Director Lieu Khai Tung of the expressway’s toll collection enterprise noted that his unit had been proactive. “For the past four months, we’ve been coordinating with ETC service providers to communicate the changes and directly help customers make the switch,” he explained. This foresight, he added, meant that a majority of vehicle owners were already guided through the identification process, which helped minimize the potential for widespread gridlock.
Observations from the Mekong Delta region painted a calmer picture. Le Lam Quang Tung, the VETC representative at the Soc Trang BOT Station, reported a stable flow of traffic without any significant congestion. He mentioned that many drivers who hadn’t yet converted simply stopped at the station, where staff were ready to guide them through the process.
It was a similar story at the Can Tho – Phung Hiep BOT Station. According to Nguyen Thanh Phuong, the VETC manager there, the last couple of days saw a significant number of drivers visiting their office for assistance. “Despite the influx of inquiries, traffic through the toll gates has remained stable and continuous, and we haven’t had any traffic jams,” she stated. To manage the demand, VETC bolstered its workforce at the station, offering support from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily.
Meanwhile, in Central Vietnam, at the Tuy Loan toll plaza on the Da Nang – Quang Ngai Expressway, light traffic was observed. The transition to the new system appeared to be proceeding smoothly there, with no signs of congestion or local bottlenecks.
Head Nguyen Van Luong of the Da Nang – Quang Ngai Expressway’s tolling operations, the rollout has been relatively free of complex issues so far. He attributed this to a key directive from the Ministry of Construction that allows a grace period for businesses and foreign individuals.
“As a rule of thumb, as long as the old VETC or ePass accounts still have money in them, vehicles can pass through just fine,” Head Nguyen Van Luong clarified. “It’s only when the balance runs out that the system will automatically flag the account, and our staff will then guide the driver through the conversion.”
Reflecting on the first day, Sales Director for VETC Le Quang Hung asserted that operations across key expressways remained stable, successfully avoiding major jams related to the account transition. He proudly noted that VETC alone had already processed nearly two million successful account conversions.
“We’ve deployed almost 1,500 service points nationwide, staying open through the weekend and beefing up staff at expressway plazas to help customers with everything from identification and bank linking to balance transfers,” he said.
The Vietnam Road Administration (VRA) confirmed the deadline extension, clarifying that it only applies to foreign individuals and corporate-owned vehicles, who now have until the end of December 2025. Head To Nam Toan of the Department of Science, Technology, Environment and International Cooperation under the VRA explained that the delay was a practical response to technical hurdles these groups faced with non-cash payment integration.
Consequently, the VRA has instructed service providers to continue accepting payments from their existing toll accounts until December 31, allowing time to perfect the technical solutions. However, the administration stressed that the October 1 deadline remains firmly in place for all personally-owned vehicles.
