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Senators eye pause on looming toll hike, cite faulty RFIDs

Light to moderate volume of vehicles is seen at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Bocaue Toll Plaza in Bulacan on January 2, 2024. NLEX has assigned around of 1,500 toll  personnel to monitor its toll plazas, while also situating medicnal response units, customer service helplines, and traffic management teams at various checkpoints and centers. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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CHRISTMAS TRAVEL

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — At least two senators on Monday urged the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB to hold off a looming toll hike this month, saying that expressway concessionaires should first address long queues and heavy traffic that stem from faulty RFID stickers.Senators Raffy Tulfo and Sherwin Gatchalian both protested against the looming increase in expressway fees, saying that concessionaires have failed to meet the key performance index set by regulators. “I’m serious wala munang increase,” Tulfo told regulators and tollways corporation executives during a Senate hearing. “Wala namang problema kung mag-increase kayo basta maganda ang serbisyo kaso palpak e,” Tulfo said, noting that there are numerous reports of malfunctioning RFID. “Sana bago niyo payagan yung petition for increase, it has to be justified… Dapat hinold mo muna hanggat hindi pa nareresolba yung mga problema,” he said, adding that glitches in the system have resulted in heavy congestion in some areas. <div> </div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/urfqoD-CNGs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) President and Chief Executive Officer Rogelio Singson admitted that the “first generation” RFIDs were found to be faulty, and that the company is already enforcing a “massive replacement” program to solve the issue.“Yung mga first generation talagang medyo sumablay. The issue here is kung yung sticker ay gastado na o nalagay sa maling lugar, hindi mababasa yan,” he said. “Ideally just behind the rear mirror pero yung iba ayaw ipabutas yung kanilang sunshield kaya nilalagay sa front headlight… Pagmali yung puwesto o nagalaw o nangiwi, mahihirapan na basahin yun,” he said. The MPTC also had a lapse “in terms of anticipating the volume” of traffic from local roads, said Singson, who once served as the Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).“Ang data namin is as much as 10 percent of the volume of vehicles are delayed,” he said. <div> </div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cO-bYOAzhZk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>“We know the volume of traffic that moves in and out of the expressways ang problema sa local roads, imbudo din so nagkulang kami doon in terms of anticipating that volume so we are coordinating with DPWH to find a solution,” he said. The Senate Public Services Committee also found that under the current system, a toll barrier would only be raised if there is already a 1-kilometer queue on that lane. “Ang iniiwasan po kasi nila kaya ayaw nila itaas [yung barrier] yung leakage,” said Alvin Carullo, executive director of the TRB. “Sa queue length po probably bagsak yung mga ano [concessionaires] natin,” he said. The TRB is planning to revise the guidelines to require expressway operators to automatically lift barriers when a queue has already reached 250 meters, he said. “Hindi ako sangayon na hindi natin mini-measure yung kanilang performance, walang accountability on the part of toll operators, wala ring accountability of toll regulators,” Gatchalian said. “Kasi at the end of the day kami nagbabayad niyan everyday at hindi tama na taas tayo ng taas pero sarili nating KPI hindi natin sinusundan,” he said. In June, toll rates in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) were increased between P5 and P17 after the TRB approved the hike, which was part of periodic toll adjustments. A second tranche of the increase is expected to be implemented in August. The Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) is also expected to implement higher toll rates this month after the TRB approved the increase. “Ang trabaho ng TRB is protektahan yung mga consumers, yung mga dumadaan doon. Bilang isang consumer hindi ako masaya sa serbisyo ng NLEX,” Gatchalian said as he presented a video that showed his stalled vehicle at the entrance of the Balintawak toll plaza due to the system’s failure to detect its RFID. “‘Yung regulator dapat protektahan muna yung mga dumadaan diyan bago itaas yung tollgates. We are paying for this highway… so we expect good service and world-class infrastructure that will not experience these aberrations during typhoons,” he said.BARRIER-FREE TOLL PLAZAS Several tollways operators — including the MPTC and the SMC Tollways — told senators that they are now in the process of reverting into a “barrier-free” system, similar to what is being done abroad. Under the more modern scheme, tollway corporations will replace toll booths with gantries equipped with high-tech cameras and sensors so that vehicles can be automatically charged with fees once they pass through these metal arches. “In 2 years fully implemented,” said Singson, whose company operates the NLEX, Cavitex, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Cavite-Laguna Expressway and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.“We need the regulation kasi hindi kami puwede maglagay niyan without the regulations,” he said, noting that so far, 30 percent of vehicles passing through MPTC’s expressways have not been paying the proper charges. SMC Tollways — which operates the South Luzon Expressway, Skyway, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway — said it is looking to fully implement the barrier-free system in its highways by next year. The TRB, on the other hand, said it would issue a directive that all RFID stickers should be installed only on windshields. “Yung mga tag kasi mali ang pagkakalagay lalo na yung mga nasa headlamp madali talaga siya mag deteriorate so irerequire na namin na sa windshield na talagang dapat ilagay,” Carullo said. “Pinaka effective at male-lessen yung wear and tear ng RFID kasi sa headlamps mga 1-2 years, defective na siya,” the TRB chief added.The TRB said it has also sought for additional manpower to station more “flying squads” — or a group of quick-response teams — in different parts of expressway<div> </div>

At least two senators said that expressway concessionaires should first address long queues and heavy traffic that stem from faulty RFID stickers.

At least two senators said that expressway concessionaires should first address long queues and heavy traffic that stem from faulty RFID stickers.