Easytrip targets 4 million users by 2024

MANILA, Philippines — RFID provider Easytrip Services Corp. hopes to hit four million users by 2024 on optimism that the push for cashless transactions and the rising demand for automobiles will drive growth for its technology.

Easytrip president and general manager Jack Coson told reporters that the company is expected to end 2023 with a user base of 3.3 million, up by 14 percent from 2.9 million the previous year.

Coson believes it is doable for Easytrip to achieve four million users next year, as the government begins to compel motorists to go cashless when paying toll on expressways.

In September the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) required toll road concessionaires to commence a dry run of contactless payment on select plazas. Since then, the TRB has expanded the coverage of the program, adding more toll exits to assess the viability of the RFID system.

“We have started doing contactless in some of the toll plazas, and you can actually see the faster movement of vehicles because of that. Compared to using cash, it is really quicker to use RFID,” Coson said.

Apart from this, Coson pins his confidence on the resurgence of car sales across the country, as this will result in additional motorists who need to register an RFID.

Latest data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. reported that car sales jumped by 24 percent to 390,654 from January to November,.

“If they [Filipinos with new cars] are expected to use expressways, it then adds to our registered users,” Coson said.

“However, Coson said that RFID operators are still working on ensuring the interoperability of their respective systems for ease of access on expressways. Currently, motorists have to avail two RFIDs to pass through different toll roads.

Easytrip is used to traverse the expressways managed by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., while Autosweep is needed to cross tollways operated by San Miguel Corp. The government wants to make both RFIDs readable across the various toll roads for the convenience of motorists.

Coson said both Easytrip and Autosweep gained from the digital transition during the pandemic, as Filipinos were forced to rely on online platforms in completing their transactions.

“What we would like to achieve is actually higher penetration rate on our expressways, [so much so] that those using cash will be much less compared to those using electronic toll,” Coson said.