The tollway unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said Monday it will roll out the contactless automated fare collection system at North Luzon Expressway and Manila-Cavite Expressway in the second quarter.
“It’s still being tested. We are hoping we can launch it this quarter. Initially, Cavitex and portions of NLEX,” Metro Pacific Tollways Corp president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said.
MPTC operates NLEX, while Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. operates Cavitex.
Franco said AF Payments Inc., a consortium led by Ayala Corp. and MPIC, would provide the device for the rollout of beep card at NLEX and Cavitex.
AF Payments won the P1.72-billion contract for the automated fare collection system project.
The new system uses contactless smart card technology to upgrade and integrate the ticketing infrastructure for the country’s major railways, including LRT Line 1 and 2 and Metro Rail Transit Line 3.
The beep card is the new contactless payment solution developed to make the payment process more convenient across all three rail lines as it allows seamless transfers from one rail line to another.
The beep card uses a more powerful chip-based system and will serve as an electronic payment solution for day-to-day payments.
MNTC earlier completed the P650-million NLEx-SCTEx integration project, which involves the conversion of NLEx and Subic-Clark-Tarlax Expressway toll collection systems into a single one.
The project reduces toll collection stops to two, instead of five from Balintawak to Subic and back, and four from Balintawak to Tarlac and back.
“The integration speeds up the queues on toll plazas. Motorists who will drive from Manila to Subic will just have to stop for toll payments at Balintawak and Subic or Tarlac. This will save them up to 40 minutes of travel time,” Franco earlier said.
MNTC constructed seven new toll plazas to unify the system of NLEx and SCTEx. These include gates in Tarlac, Subic-Tipo, Sta. Ines and the northbound and southbound sides of Dau and Mabiga.
Motorists will no longer need to stop at the existing NLEx Dau and SCTEx Mabalacat barriers as these are converted into pass-through lanes. By April, the barriers will be removed to provide motorists with a more comfortable travel.
The Subic Freeport Expressway toll plaza will also be dismantled to better facilitate the integration of the two expressways.