Cashless toll roads: Smooth in south, gridlocks in north

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s two major toll road operators yesterday had differing accounts of the first day of full cashless toll collections.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said traffic along its expressways and toll plazas was generally smooth while Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) encountered challenges in the morning due to the heavy volume of Manila-bound passengers from the north.

SMC said there were still queues of vehicles at assigned Autosweep RFID installation lanes, but traffic at the STAR tollway, Southern Luzon Expressway, the Skyway System, NAIA Expressway, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway was generally “smooth and peaceful” yesterday morning.

The queues did not contribute to any major or sustained traffic gridlock in and out of the expressways, SMC said.

“As we announced recently, all our expressways are fully equipped to comply with the government mandate for 100 percent cashless toll collection,” SMC president Ramon Ang said.

Ang said the smooth flow of traffic can be attributed to the fact that most regular users of the southern expressways have secured their Autosweep RFID stickers.

Meanwhile, heavy traffic was reported at some toll plazas along the North Luzon Expressway yesterday morning.

MPTC chief communications officer Romulo Quimbo Jr. said the congestions occurred between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the Bocaue toll plaza due to the “surge in... travelers from the north coming back to Manila.”

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) mandated toll operators to implement 100 percent cashless transactions for their expressways starting yesterday.

The DOTr said the Dec. 1 deadline is only for the toll operators. Motorists have until Jan. 11, 2021 to have RFID stickers installed on their vehicles.