Philippines
Philippines

Skyway reverts to old toll plaza scheme after chaotic traffic

Aika Rey

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Skyway reverts to old toll plaza scheme after chaotic traffic
The new toll collection system at the Skyway leaves motorists and commuters angry and confused

MANILA, Philippines – After public outrage over “chaotic” traffic along the Skyway, operator Skyway O&M Corporation will revert to the old toll collection system effective 10 pm on Tuesday, January 30.

In a statement on Tuesday, Skyway management said that the full implementation of the new Runway Toll Plaza is “not feasible without severely affecting motorists.”

“While we exerted every effort to lessen the impact of transition, which we anticipated and communicated early on, we recognize at this point, full implementation may not be feasible without severely affecting our motorists,” said Skyway O&M Corporation.

In the meantime, only Class 2 vehicles such as buses and delivery vans will be required to use the new Runway Toll Plaza for cash payments.

Since Monday, January 29, commuters and motorists have been enraged over the “terrible” traffic they experienced due to confusion with the new scheme.

Among those who complained on social media was Muntinlupa City Representative Ruffy Biazon.

 

On Tuesday, Biazon requested for a briefing on the new toll collection procedure. Despite the decision to partially revert to the old system, Biazon said the briefing he requested from the Skyway management will proceed.

The management apologized for the inconvenience that the new system has caused and appealed for understanding from the public.

“As always, we continue to adjust to our motorists’ needs, and that includes exploring better ways to implement this transition to a new toll collection system in the future. We still believe the new system can benefit a greater number of people over the long term,” Skyway O&M Corporation said.

New scheme

The new Runway Toll Plaza on the northbound section of the Skyway was supposed to “better handle” increased traffic volume by facilitating faster toll collection starting Saturday, January 27. It consisted of 3 lanes for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) and 4 cash lanes.

The new scheme required all vehicles with ETC radio frequency identification (RFID) stickers from Alabang in Muntinlupa City, Dr A Santos in Sucat, and Doña Soledad in Bicutan to use the RFID lanes at entry points, and to exit at the dedicated ETC lanes at the new toll plaza.

Meanwhile, all vehicles paying in cash coming from Alabang and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) were supposed to pass through the Alabang elevated toll plazas. Payments were to be processed at the Runway Toll Plaza’s new cash lanes.

Vehicles from Sucat and Bicutan using cash should continue to pay upon entry. When exiting the cash lanes, however, motorists must hand over the QR-coded stub attached to their receipt to the teller.

Motorists pointed out that the redundancy of submitting the QR-coded stub added to the heavy traffic.

 

In an earlier statement, Skyway management said the new scheme would cause some delay and confusion but maintained that it would enable faster processing. – Rappler.com

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Aika Rey

Aika Rey is a business reporter for Rappler. She covered the Senate of the Philippines before fully diving into numbers and companies. Got tips? Find her on Twitter at @reyaika or shoot her an email at aika.rey@rappler.com.
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