The Senate will summon Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to answer for the lamentable experience of motorists from its ill-studied order for expressway operators to implement a 100-percent cashless toll collection starting this month.
Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, said she had filed a resolution asking the DOTr to revisit the order and suspend its full implementation to protect motorists.
“Today that resolution which came from my committee is being passed around. I heard from Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, one of those who filed that he will support this call. Because that’s the DOTr…Why do we allow conflict between the operator and the local government and leave the people in distress?” Poe said.
Meanwhile, a party-list lawmaker backed the call of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco for the DOTr to postpone the implementation of the cashless, contactless fee collection system in Luzon’s toll roads.
Velasco is proposing that implementation, originally slated this month but moved to next month, be deferred to March.
“During the three-month period of postponement, the government should allow the two big multi-billion-peso companies running our expressways to import Covid-19 vaccines for their toll collectors and other frontline personnel,”
Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, chair of the House committee on public accounts said.
He said the DOTr pushed for the early rollout of the radio frequency identification (RFID) access and toll payment scheme after scores of toll collectors and other personnel in north and south Luzon got infected with new coronavirus.
The DOTr’s order for a 100-percent cashless transaction came out only in August for full implementation in November.
It was moved to December but the apparent lack of preparation still resulted in long lines in the radio frequency identification (RFID) sticker installation sites, creating traffic choke points.
“We are asking the DOTr to suspend the full implementation of the 100-percent cashless transaction it compelled toll operators. The system isn’t completely ready,” Poe explained.
Poe said PUV operators and drivers have lost income because they had to fall in line for those stickers as they had a short window within which to get their RFID stickers.
Another issue that must be looked into is the P500-minimum load requirement of some toll operators.
“That minimum load is a big amount for some, especially if the toll they need to pay is just less than P100. That minimum load is even higher than the minimum wage,” Poe said.
Poe said the hearing would have to wait for next week because the Senate rules require a three-day period before a hearing can be conducted. The resolution calling on Tugade and the DOTr is now being circulated among senators for signature.
Valenzuela City has suspended the business permit of NLEX Corp. because of the traffic caused by its poor RFID system, with NLEX now allegedly getting a temporary restraining order against the local government unit.
“All this chaos could have been avoided had the DOTr consulted with its shareholders and listened to their concerns,” she added.
Defensro lauded the DOTr for wanting to shield these personnel, along with those in the mass rail facilities in Metro Manila, from possible infection.
Defensor noted that the contactless, cashless payment system also aimed to prevent infected workers from spreading the virus to motorists and motor vehicle owners.
“Unfortunately for millions of motorists, implementation went awry, causing vehicular congestion even in marked RFID lanes in expressway toll plazas, where entry and exit for vehicles with RFID tags are supposed to be seamless,” he said.
He said the resulting traffic chaos has not only brought suffering to the motoring public but has caused friction between one tollway operator and local government units traversed by its expressway.
Defensor pointed out that if tollway operators were allowed to import vaccine for their front line personnel and they could bring it in as soon as possible, there would be no need to rush the implementation of the RFID system.
He said these companies could be allowed to buy the vaccine already found effective, given accreditation and authorized to be used by regulators abroad.
“I am sure these big businesses have foreign connections that they can use to access these vaccines,” he said.
He stressed that if they are given more time, toll road operators could not only protect their personnel from Covid-19 by procuring vaccines but could fix their RFID deficiencies and inefficiencies as well.
In a related development. NLEX Corporation committed to Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan that the queue time at Balintawak Toll Plaza would be reduced by 25 percent within a week.
NLEX also committed to increase the reduction of queue time in another week’s time, pending the installation and completion of more long term solutions to the tollways problem.
This was the result of a meeting by NLEX officials with Caloocan City officials on Wednesday, December 9, to discuss the expected long queues and the traffic situation at the Balintawak toll plaza and nearby areas during the Christmas season.
“We are expecting a surge of vehicles, both private and public, that will traverse the Balintawak tollways. Thus, the concerted efforts to improve the current system.” Malapitan said.
There are 24 toll booths in Balintawak which serve as the main artery of the NLEx and has a daily traffic average of more than 52,000 vehicles. NLEx total daily traffic average is at 280,000 vehicles.
The representatives from NLEx and the City Government of Caloocan also agreed to immediately conduct a joint inspection of the Balintawak tollways to better understand the problem and seek better solutions.
City officials of Caloocan vowed to closely monitor the traffic situation at the Balintawak toll booths and daily assess whether NLEx is complying with their commitments.
Among the additional commitments made by NLEx in said meeting are the installation of additional hand-held readers in order to speed up toll payments and traffic flow, relocation of sticker installation and reloading sites, improvement of equipment maintenance and replacement program, and the establishment of more reloading sites. With Jun David