Skyway to open northbound toll plaza

MANILA, Philippines — The operator of the Skyway System is set to open a toll plaza on the northbound section of the expressway later this month to improve traffic flow and speed up the processing of payments.

In a statement yesterday, Skyway O&M Corp. said it would open the runway toll plaza on the northbound section of the elevated Skyway near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on-ramp on Jan. 26.

The new toll plaza has three lanes dedicated to the faster Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system and four lanes – with up to five tellers per lane – dedicated to cash payments.

 “At Skyway, traffic volume is a reality we all have to contend with. But for our part, we continue to look for ways to manage traffic better,” said Ramon Ang, president of San Miguel Corp., the parent unit of Skyway O&M.

With the new runway toll plaza, all drivers of vehicles with ETC radio frequency identification (RFID) stickers from Alabang, Sucat and Bicutan will continue to use the RFID lanes at entry points and exit at dedicated ETC lanes at the new toll plaza.

Drivers coming from Alabang and the South Luzon Expressway who will make cash payments will pass through the Alabang elevated toll plazas and have their payments processed at the runway toll plaza’s new cash lanes.

To mitigate excessive build-up at the new cash lanes at the runway plaza, drivers from Sucat and Bicutan using cash payment will continue to pay “upon entry.”

When exiting at the cash lanes of the new toll plaza, motorists from Sucat and Bicutan only need to hand over the QR-coded stub attached to their receipts to the teller, similar to the system used when motorists give their payments to ambulant tellers at various toll plazas.