Taking its toll

EDITOR’S NOTE: A new TRB board will convene on the 22nd of July and determine the date of the next public hearing.

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned toll hike to rattle every motorist’s cage. As far as heated topics go, it ranks up there with corrupt cops, reckless bus drivers, idiots using wang wangs and genital warts. And for a motoring journalist looking for a topic in a column, it’s as close to gold as you can get. You could have the writing skills of a wet sponge, but you could still win the undying admiration of your readers simply by nailing the big bad toll operators to the cross. It’s a simple formula that has worked flawlessly ever since they invented ink and taxes.

But that’s not what I’m going to do.

You see, as tempting as it is to go with the tried and proven method of speaking in the popular voice of the majority, I believe that if we want a world-class product, we need to pay world-class prices. It’s as simple as that.

Okay, kindly put down your pitchforks for a moment and hear me out. Firstly, just to qualify myself, I live in the South. As a matter fact, with the exception of one brother, my whole family lives in the South. We use the SLEX daily. We bleed just like any of you reading this. But let’s be realistic here. 82 centavos a kilometer is a little outdated. It is the lowest toll rate in the country and has only been adjusted three times in as many decades – one of which was a decrease.

During those years, we saw a gross neglect of the road. Perhaps it was simply from a lack of revenue, but most of us will remember that there was no lighting, pot holes large enough to house a small community, illegally parked trucks on the shoulder, no medical response, an increase in crime… it was a mess. Nobody wanted to touch it. There were three separate ground breaking ceremonies before the current investor, MTD, stepped in with a budget of 8.5 billion pesos in exchange for a 30 year contract. That was back in February of 2006. They have since spent 11.5 billion pesos.

The first major project was the rehabilitation and expansion of the Alabang viaduct, which was deemed unsafe for heavy vehicles and was said to have no chance of surviving even a modest earthquake. It was completed in December of 2008. Then there was the lane expansions further south. We suffered for what seemed like an eternity during its construction, which in reality was just over a year, but eventually, the project was completed with the exception of the toll plazas.

Now comes the problem. Due to some nasty disputes regarding ownership, PNCC refused to let go of the management (or more importantly, the collections), which led to numerous injunctions and TRO’s that stalled proceedings and effectively allowed us to use the improved road for almost two years without paying. Now I know from experience, once you give someone something for free, they find it almost impossible to pay for it afterwards. For some unexplainable reason, no matter how much they appreciate it, they grow immune to its value. Well this is exactly what happened here.

Now we have a situation where MATES, which is the management and maintenance company that operates the 29 kilometer portion from Alabang viaduct to Calamba, finally taking control and trying to recoup their investment. We don’t like that. Because all of a sudden, the same patch of road that we have been enjoying for almost 2 years now is going up from 82 cents to 2.73 pesos a kilometer, which at the risk of sound completely cliché, is highway robbery.

We’re naturally upset because aside from the drastic jump, we no longer see what we’re getting for our money simply because there is no immediate gain associated with it. How quickly we forget. I’m not sure about you, but when I cast my mind back to the days of the two lane pot hole marked, traffic riddled highway, the thought of swapping the 8 extra lanes or 230 linear kilometers of new road, complete with full medical emergency response from LIFELINE ambulances and professional roadside assistance monitored by 82 CCTV cameras is like trading in my laptop for a type writer and thinking I got a good deal because I save on electricity.

I know it’s not exactly what you want to hear, but as painful as it may sound, most motorists will know what I’m saying is true. Nobody likes a price hike, but if there’s a fair swap in service, then only the unreasonable ones will continue to protest. This is the price we pay for progress. If we want to elevate ourselves, we need to make some sacrifices. Besides, there comes a point where it becomes penny wise and pound foolish.

If we go simply by average speeds alone, the average running cost of a class 1 vehicle for the old SLEX was 9.09 pesos a kilometer. That has almost halved to around 5 pesos due to the increased speeds and reduced travel time. And once the electronic collection systems are fully operational, MATES claim to be able to process 1,200 vehicles an hour, versus the current rate of 600-800, bringing up the average speed even more.

Now I do realize that I’m going out on a limb here by giving MATES the benefit of the doubt and basing a large chunk of my argument on all their promises coming true (better not let me down) but if you take away the proposed increase of 1.91 pesos per kilometer from the 4-5 pesos that you save in vehicle operating costs, it more than evens out in the wash. And that’s still without factoring in your value of time.

Honestly, my biggest beef here is that there really was no need to make the increase so dramatic. Perhaps the TRB would like to consider staggered toll adjustments or sectional increases as stages are completed. It may be too late for this situation, but perhaps they could look at the Skyway 2 project as a test bed. This way the motorist would get used to paying as he/she enjoys a new benefit, and wouldn’t end up feeling like they are being cooked in their own oil, which seems to be the case today with MATES. The money could be held in escrow until such time as the entire project is completed, which should help raise equity in the project and retire the debt earlier, leading to faster recovery and eventually lower toll fees altogether in the future.

Here are a couple of your Backseat Driver comments from last week’s “Of car sales, model changes, and facelifts” by Manny N. de los Reyes. It seems his discussion on the year’s new releases has prompted some Nissan fans into action…

To Nissan: Please release the Nissan Pathfinder here in the Philippines in order to compete with the Monteros, the Everests, the Fortuners... the X-Trail is way too old. I have seen the Pathfinder in the Middle East and it can hold its own against this established SUVs. By the way, only the Navara is holding the flag for Nissan right now. – noygelo

Noygelo, I agree with you. We were looking for an SUV to replace our old Ranger and were looking for a diesel Pathfinder or even a diesel X-Trail (last choice) which we were used to in Australia. But no luck, so we settled for a Forester instead.

The new Pathfinder would put up a really good fight against the Montero and Fortuner, especially if it came with a diesel engine. And depending on its affordability, I would certainly consider buying one. – bruks_pt