Increasing number of people are availing themselves of the online payment service of the Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA). Since its introduction in April this year, close to 400 people have used the service so far.
After the introduction of this system which has been mostly used by the civil servants, the number of people waiting in the line at the RSTA head office in Thimphu to make their payments has declined.
“Now, more people are using the online payment service,” said Sangay Lham, an official from Registration Section of RSTA.
The records maintained with the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) show the trend is rapidly picking up. When they started off in April, they only had 14 transactions using the service. In June, it increased to 228 and this time, within the first week of the month, 65 people have availed themselves of the digital facility.
As part of the service, people can pay fines, renew, and replace driving license and vehicle registration certificate among others.
“To renew licenses manually is tiresome. Firstly, one has to take leave from office, and then drive here to RSTA wasting fuel and also one does not easily get a parking space to park cars,” said the ICT Officer of MoIC, Tshering Nidup, adding that people have to wait in long queues which really waste time.
The service is, however, not completely prevalent. Along with keeping the service operational, the RSTA will be focusing equally on creating its awareness among the people.