DOTr chief stops full cashless tollway collection

MANILA, Philippines — Calling it “anti-poor,” newly appointed Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon has suspended the implementation of full cashless collection across all tollways that was supposed to start on March 15.

Speaking to Palace reporters on his first day as transportation chief, Dizon said he directed the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to defer its order mandating full contactless transactions across expressways.

“There was an announcement from the TRB that NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) and SLEX (South Luzon Expressway) will go cashless. OK, I’m telling you right now I already told TRB to suspend that,” Dizon said at a press briefing, a few hours after taking his oath of office before President Marcos at Malacañang.

In a statement on Feb. 14, the TRB – an attached agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) – said motorists using the expressways need to have an RFID sticker on their vehicles by March 15.

The TRB earlier said vehicles without a valid RFID sticker would be allowed to enter toll plazas on the condition that a sticker would be installed. However, they will be issued a temporary operator’s permit or a show cause order for violating the RFID policy.

Dizon, who replaced Jaime Bautista, stressed the need to make the system “more efficient” before going full cashless, citing a previous chaotic incident.

“This was tried already in the past several years ago and we probably all remember what happened in Balintawak and other choke points on NLEX and SLEX. There were traffic jams. I guess for whatever reason, information (was) not disseminated,” he said.

“I want to first work with the two toll operators MPTC (Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.) and San Miguel (Corp.). We will look at the system first,” the DOTr chief said.

“Is there a way to make it more efficient? Are all barriers working? Are all RFIDs working? Are they readable? The system isn’t nearly perfect, maybe it’s not time for us to suddenly go cashless,” he added.

MPTC is the operator of NLEX, while SLEX is controlled by SMC.

In 2020, the DOTr required tollways to go full cashless to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“I understand the need to regulate but the need to regulate should not result in making the lives of people difficult,” the official said.

“Right now, I don’t believe in it so I asked them to stop it and already sent word to the toll operators that we’re not going cashless on March 15 and we are not going cashless for the foreseeable future,” he clarified.

Marching orders

Dizon said Marcos’ clear directive to him is to make the country’s transportation system more efficient.

This will involve fast-tracking the implementation of big-ticket projects, such as the Metro Manila Subway and North-South Railway as well as the development of more regional airports and agri-ports.

Dizon said that while big infrastructure projects are likely to take years to be completed, he would focus on “low-hanging fruits” to address the needs of the commuters such as additional capacity of trains and the use of the Pasig Ferry System.

He said he would also like to revisit the EDSA Greenways, a project funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Meanwhile, Dizon is open to privatizing the operation of the EDSA Bus Carousel to make it more efficient.