Tollgates on Japanese expressways are being replaced with those accepting only vehicles equipped with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system at an accelerated pace.
The number of interchanges that do not allow toll payments with credit cards and cash is increasing year after year, and expressway operators aim to complete the shift to ETC-only gates at almost all of the 1,500 toll stations across the country by around fiscal 2030.
The introduction of ETC-only lanes is designed to ease congestion and save on labor costs.
