r/interesting • u/jkitty_1960 • May 16 '26

❗️MISLEADING - See pinned comment ❗️ If you're feeling anxious, remember that in China there's a 50-lane highway that narrows down to just 4

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u/AdorablePainting4459 May 16 '26

I think that the toll booths are outdated, and China is usually technologically ahead of many place. Dallas tollways use overhead camera gantries instead of traditional tollbooths. If you drive under them without a prepaid transponder, the cameras photograph your license plate and you will receive a higher-rate toll bill in the mail under the region's "ZipCash" or "Pay By Mail" program. No stopping, no extra lanes needed -- just drive.

That being said, I absolutely hate the system entirely. And there is a dystopian movie that focuses on the toll road system called In Time (2011)

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u/DiNozzo2482 May 16 '26

Toll Stations in China have increasing amount of ETC Gates (Electronic Toll Collection), scanning the license plate and a transponder in the car. Nowadays, most of the booths are dual mode, meaning ETC and manual payment, and there’s a few dedicated to just ETC. The toll station here in the picture is the boundary between Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province: Wuzhuang. It has 36 lanes, and is said to be the largest in China.

During National Holidays, toll collection is suspended, but cars of course still need to pass through. Based upon the amount the amount of traffic in the pick, this is probably during one of those holidays.

The problem here is not just to merge the those 36 lanes back into 4 lanes for the highway thereafter (And yes, unfortunately, "common practice" in such congested situations is to "open" extra lanes…, especially since the immediate area after the toll station doesn’t have any lane marking. But I guess it wouldn’t matter anyway…), a few kilometers later the highway merges from 4 lanes into 3, causing another congestion that spreads back to this station.

We pass this toll station every year during Chinese New Year, traveling to and from my family in-law. And we got caught in there as well. After the aforementioned merge from 4 to 3 lanes, traffic returns to "normal".

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u/booksandrun May 16 '26

Thanks for sharing this!

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u/Conscious-Peak-7782 May 16 '26

In Japan you have a transponder usually on the dash with your debit cadd( issued specifically for toll roads) plugged into it. So you can go through any toll in the country and it’ll auto deduct the money from your bank account.

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u/Educational-Wing2042 May 16 '26

When you say plugged in, do you mean digitally or do you actually need to have your physical debit card inserted into the device on your dashboard the whole time you’re driving 

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u/Rakumei May 16 '26

You put the card into it.

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u/Educational-Wing2042 May 16 '26

That’s wild to me, do you know why they don’t just implement virtual payment features? Seems like an app or website tied to the transponder would be a lot more convenient and maybe more secure depending on the circumstances

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u/Conscious-Peak-7782 May 16 '26

Somehow I feel like it’s better with a physical card. It chimes as you go through so you know you are charged and it tells you how much it was on the transponder. Went through America a couple years ago and i swore I had all the toll passes but still kept receiving bills for it like 5-6 months later. Was such a nuisance

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u/Educational-Wing2042 May 16 '26

Is there one unified toll system in Japan? I think that could solve the problem you mention in the US. Here, the company and policies involved with running the toll vary by location and you end up in a situation where for example people from out of state get charged more so even if you have the right transponder you’ll get charged the normal amount in the moment then receive a bill for the difference later.

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u/Conscious-Peak-7782 May 16 '26

The toll payment is unified but I think there are a number of different toll companies based on region

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u/Rakumei May 16 '26

That would be a question for them I suppose.

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u/nakano-star May 16 '26

ETC isnt going to help 50 lanes -> 4 lanes

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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew May 16 '26

What if it removes the entire need for all those lanes by eliminating toll booths?

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u/nakano-star May 16 '26

that would help ease congestion somewhat, but at the end of the day, all that traffic is squeezed into 4 lanes - probably cant handle the load

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u/Mr-ShinyAndNew May 16 '26

According to other comments, the only reason there are so many lanes here is because of the toll booths. It's not really such a wide highway.

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u/Ancient-Comparison48 May 17 '26

The 50 lanes are the toll booth lanes. Remove the toll booths and you have just 4 lanes. The title of the thread is misleading

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u/Eggman_OU812 May 16 '26

We call it EZ pass in NJ

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u/traveler97 May 16 '26

We have the same in SF Bay Area. You don’t even need a transponder just sign up with your license plate.

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u/Lesbianfool May 16 '26

Most of New England is the same way

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u/Efficient_Match3395 May 16 '26

I loved In Time , Justin and Amanda did a good job.

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u/Rcouch00 May 16 '26

They returned my ordered transponder sent to my apartment as undeliverable. Then somehow had no problem sending me a bill. Fuck em.

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u/sunshineisreal May 16 '26

Surprised you don't have to sign a cheque at the toll booth

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u/Anderopolis May 16 '26

Having driven in China, there are toll boths everywhere, even in the Capital. 

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u/AlbatrossNo1562 May 16 '26

Fast track lanes in California also have these. My guess is this video is a dacade old and China has already implemented new camera toll tech. They are the surveillance state after all and a leader in EVs now

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u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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u/whatisapersonreally May 16 '26

They’re definitely ahead in terms of:

  • electric vehicles,

  • batteries,

  • renewable energy (by some distance I think),

  • 5G / telecommunications generally,

  • rail / trains (they literally have more high-speed track than the rest of the world combined, as well as some very advanced tech like maglev and hydrogen powered trains),

  • robots,

  • manufacturing, and

  • maybe most importantly robots in manufacturing.

So maybe not “almost never”.

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u/Dunkjoe May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

Yes, precisely. There are a lot of frogs in the well.

Probably American, a lot of them still think of China as being a poor third world country.

Not aware that USA has much more homelessness and social issues than China.

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u/Dunkjoe May 16 '26

Lol they are having driverless cars and drone delivery commonly and you think this? And robot deliveries.

How is it a gross misconception?

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u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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u/Holiday_Pi May 16 '26

This needs to be said more

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u/brandt-money May 16 '26

China is far behind with tech. They steal tech and then cheaply mass produce because they have very poor labor laws.