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This investigation quantifies the advantages of transitioning from a cash to electronic toll collection (ETC)/open road tolling (ORT) system in an Indian setting. The real-world driving emissions approach, which is considered more suitable at locations with frequent acceleration and deceleration events, was adopted for actual onroad emissions data. Observations demonstrated that, unlike diesel vehicles, emissions generated during the waiting phase in gasoline vehicles were relatively minor when compared with acceleration and deceleration phases. As a result, for queues of equivalent length, the benefits of ETC were not pronounced for gasoline vehicles. Simulations were also carried out using a traffic simulation model VISSIM under three separate regimes – a 100% cash-based system, ETC, and ORT. Results revealed that the emissions generated by the ETC and cash-based systems were respectively 2 and 4 times greater than those generated by ORT. Likewise, the cumulative weekly time-delay experienced under the cash system was 2.5 times greater than that experienced under ETC. Furthermore, a comparison of efficiency of the cash and ETC systems was carried out by assessing the time-headway between transactions of both toll collection systems. The same was found to be approximately 21 s for the cash and 13 s for the ETC system in India. These results provide ample justification for the Indian government to contemplate a shift to ORT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]