Concerns about "fee upon fee
Starting from August 2026, traffic fee payment applications such as VETC and ePass will officially charge account management fees for users (including individuals and businesses).
On the morning of August 18, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong newspaper, Mr. Do Van Bang - owner of Sao Viet car company said that up to this point, the business has not received any official documents on toll collection.
I only heard about it when reading information in newspapers and social networks. I am asking staff to check again to see if this fee has been deducted or not," Mr. Do Van Bang said.
According to Mr. Bang, it is unreasonable for users (including businesses and individuals) to be charged an additional fee to maintain their traffic accounts, because to use non-stop toll collection services, individuals and businesses were previously required to top up and maintain a certain amount of money in their traffic accounts.
Mr. Bang emphasized that the money in the ePass/VETC account is actually the customer's property but is not charged interest during the maintenance period to serve traffic fee collection.
This can be called fee upon fee. The amount may not be too large for a traffic account, but for many accounts, the total number needs to be calculated. The card management unit must consider the rights of consumers when issuing this regulation," Mr. Do Van Bang shared.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Thanh Ha (Hanoi) said that collecting management fees for millions of traffic accounts can bring significant revenue to the management unit, so it is necessary to publicize and clearly inform about the basis for collecting the above type of fee.
If tolls need to be commensurate with the level of use
According to the announcement on VETC's official website, the fee applied to individuals is 6,600 VND/month/wallet (including VAT), applied from August 1, 2026.
As for corporate customers, the applied fee is 66,000 VND/month/wallet (including VAT), applied from August 1, 2026.
For the ePass application, the price for individual and business customers is also at a similar level.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Dang Minh Tan - lecturer at the University of Transport, majoring in Roads - said that toll collection needs to be considered on the principle of harmonizing the interests between the provider and the user.
According to Mr. Tan, this is a service provided by businesses and businesses must spend resources to operate, so fee collection can be considered. However, the fee level and collection method need to be reasonable, fair, and suitable for the frequency of service use of customers.
Regular service users may have to pay fees corresponding to the level of use; users with fewer uses should have lower fees. Especially, for those who do not use the service, it is necessary to consider whether to pay fees or not," Mr. Tan said.
According to the expert, for example, if a car owner only uses vehicles in the inner city, does not travel on highways and does not use value-added services from the provider, but still has to pay a fixed fee, it is necessary to re-evaluate the rationality of this mechanism.
Mr. Tan said that it is necessary to clearly distinguish fees for services that customers actually choose and use from fees that do not create additional value or service for road users.
For value-added services that customers actively choose, paying fees is normal. However, if no additional services arise but fees are still collected, it is necessary to consider ensuring a balance between costs and benefits that users receive.
If there is a fee, it is necessary to ensure the principle of reasonableness, fairness and commensurate with the level of service use. People who use a lot pay a lot, use less pay less, and people who do not use it need to consider not to bear fees that do not correspond to the benefits received," Dr. Dang Minh Tan emphasized.
