Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) has rolled out RFID payments across 75 percent of its network, adding it is on track for full electronic payments by November 2 this year.
This was in line Transportation secretary Arthur Tugade’s directive for toll operators to have 100 percent electronic toll collection by the deadline in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19.
MPTC operates the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and Cavite Expressway. Another project, the Cavite Laguna Expressway (CALAx), is currently underway.
The update was shared by Roberto V. Bontia, president and general manager of MPT South Corp.
“Around 75 percent of these lanes are already RFID-enabled,” Bontia said in a statement.
Recently, the Philippine Arena toll plaza, Lawang Bato Northbound Entry, and expansion lanes in Balintawak and Bocaue toll plazas in NLEx have been converted into exclusive RFID lanes.
CALAx also opened full RFID interchanges in Laguna Boulevard and Laguna Technopark in Biñan City, Laguna.
MPTC said it was also phasing out battery-powered Easytrip tags in use since 2005 at the NLEx-SCTEx by Sept. 30 this year.
Easytrip tag users are assured that any remaining account balance will be carried over once they switch to the new RFID system, the company said.
All MPTC-allied expressways have also introduced a reduced initial load of the stick-it-yourself RFID stickers from P500 to P200. The stickers are free.
MPTC has also implemented arrangements where teams have interfaced with homeowners’ associations and local government units where Easytrip RFID installation teams go to their locations for a one- or two-day stickering event.
The tollway company is also set to activate so-called RFID Assist Squads to help motorists who need immediate help with their stickers for initial loading and reloading.
“Minimizing physical contact and going cashless in our toll roads became an urgent priority because public health has taken on a whole new level of significance with COVID-19,” NLex Corp. president and general Manager J. Luigi L. Bautista said in the same statement.