MANILA, Philippines – Motorists passing through major expressways are advised to switch from cash to RFID by September 1 as select toll plazas will be holding a dry run for contactless toll collection.

During the two-month dry run, cash lanes will be significantly decreased, with some participating plazas removing their cash lanes altogether in favor of electronic toll collection (ETC) or RFID lanes. An initial batch of qualified toll plazas will participate in the contactless program, with more gradually being included. 

The first batch includes toll plazas at the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), Skyway, South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), STAR Tollway, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX), North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX), and Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). Here’s the list:

Autosweep

• NAIAX – NAIA Main Alpha
• Skyway Stage 1 & 2 – Nichols Entry and Nichols Exit
• Skyway Stage 3  – Del Monte Northbound Alpha
• SLEX – Mamplasan Northbound
• SLEX – Silangan Northbound
• STAR Tollway – Tanauan Northbound Entry
• TPLEX – Rosario Toll Plaza
• MCX

Easytrip

• NLEX – Ciudad de Victoria Northbound
• NLEX – Sta. Rita Northbound
• NLEX – Pulilan Northbound
• NLEX – Pulilan Southbound
• NLEX – San Simon Northbound
• NLEX – Mexico
• NLEX – Dau Southbound
• SCTEX – Dolores
• SCTEX – SFEX
• CALAX – Technopark Toll Plaza
• CALAX – Laguna Boulevard A Toll Plaza
• Cavitex C5 Southlink – Taguig Toll Plaza
• Cavitex C5 Southlink – Merville Toll Plaza

You can find the full list of toll plazas participating in the dry run on the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) website here.

“RFID providers will be offering and encouraging the motorist to avail [of] the RFID stickers. If the motorist refuses, he/she may pay cash. However, to prevent inconvenience to other motorists, availing of the RFID sticker is highly recommended,” the TRB told Rappler on Wednesday, August 16.

The TRB said this is part of the reimplementation of its cashless program, which it started in November 2022. Glitches in the contactless system caused traffic along expressways, eventually leading the TRB to allow vehicles with no RFID stickers back on expressways and to require cash lanes in all toll plazas.

Now, however, the TRB said ETC lanes have a 98% successful automatic detection rate, along with “almost real-time transmission of data, accurate charging of toll fees, crediting of load to the account, updating of account balance information and accurate Toll Fare Indicator information during lane passage.”

The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road was among the first to implement a 24/7 barrier-free electronic toll collection system. – Rappler.com