By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter
THE TOLL REGULATORY Board (TRB) said the draft circular imposing fines for those passing expressways without radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and those with insufficient funds has already been signed.
“But it still needs publication and registration with UP-ONAR (University of the Philippines-Office of the National Administrative Register) to be effective. Probably [it will be effective] this coming September,” TRB Executive Director Alvin A. Carullo told BusinessWorld in a Viber message on Sunday.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) President and Chief Executive Officer Rogelio L. Singson said this would pave the way for the implementation of a cashless collection system.
“Right now, there is no regulation that says I can fine you if you enter without RFID or your load is not sufficient,” Mr. Singson said on the sidelines of a forum last week.
With the signing of the circular, tollway operators can now implement a full cashless system, he said.
“In other words, they can impose the cashless system,” he said, adding that the implementation of interoperability between toll collection systems is still on track for October.
He said the target implementation for electronic toll collection interoperability is still set for October, while the migration of the company’s system is ongoing.
To recall, TRB initially aimed to implement a unified wallet system by July, but it was later postponed to October while MPTC and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) establish an interoperable wallet.
In April, MPTC said it would allocate up to P10 billion for the implementation of a barrierless toll system.
The first stage of the barrierless tollways will be the implementation of cashless transactions, followed by the interoperability or the introduction of the unified RFID wallet system along expressways.
In a separate media release over the weekend, SMC said it has equipped its entry toll plazas along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) with automatic license plate readers to reduce the need for barriers.
“The upgrades are likewise in line with the government’s directive to implement contactless toll collection and barrier-less plazas along expressways,” SMC said.
The company is also upgrading its servers to manage and improve their capacity to handle the growing number of vehicles, SMC said.
SMC said the expansion of SLEx is on track to be completed by the fourth quarter.
The expansion of SLEx is being undertaken by SMC’s unit SMC SLEX, Inc., which is aiming to widen the expressway to six lanes on each side from the current four lanes on each side.
It said the upgrades include enhancements to its cashless toll collection system for barrierless toll plazas.
MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
