Skyway 3 stays toll-free longer
TRB weighing reasonable rates
Proposed toll for the Buendia to A. Boni-Balintawak stretch will likely be lower than the P274 proposal of SMC which consumers have described as too steep
Motorists will likely have an extended celebration from the free use of the Skyway Stage 3 project that has ended the ordeal of Manila residents of being stuck for hours on the road. The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) said yesterday it will have to decide first on the proposed rates before the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) project can impose charges which means toll collection will not likely start on the 1 February 2021 target. Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, during a special edition of Daily Tribune’s online program “Straight Talk” to mark the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) 122nd anniversary, highlighted the Skyway as a concrete example of the whole of nation cooperation involving the government and private sector in resolving deep-seated problems such as the perennial traffic jam.
“It is a prime example of the projects that resulted from President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to make lives of Filipinos more comfortable,” Tugade noted.
In the same program, DoTr Undersecretary for Finance Gary V. de Guzman explained the proposed toll for the Buendia to A. Boni-Balintawak stretch will likely be lower than the P274 proposal of SMC which
consumers have described as too steep.
Moreover, De Guzman said the TRB will require the project to be completed including the ramps before toll collection starts.
Proposal being reviewed
Although Skyway Stage 3 has provided a huge relief to motorists by decongesting the main thoroughfares of the metropolis, De Guzman pointed out that the toll “should be reasonable.”
“The published toll fee rate was just a proposal. We will have a public hearing on that. But probably, we will just follow the toll rates on the initial phases of the Skyway Project,” De Guzman said.
“If they charge a high toll fee, motorists might be discouraged from passing through it and that’s not good for the operator’s business,” he added.
Before a Toll Operation Certificate is issued, De Guzman said the TRB and SMC should agree on a “justifiable rate.” Until then, toll fee collection will remain pending.
100K less cars on EDSA
According to Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar, the 18.68-kilometer (km) elevated Skyway Stage 3 is seen to ease 100,000 cars off the main EDSA highway.
TRB will require the project to be completed including the ramps before toll collection starts.
A price matrix proposal that SMC sent to TRB indicated that vehicles opting to use the elevated toll road linking Buendia to Balintawak would have to pay a maximum of P274.
Those headed to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) would have to pay a P168 toll fee from
Alabang to Buendia.
The proposal would mean that using the length of Skyway Stage 3, back and forth, one motorist will have to shell out a total of P442, not including the NLEX fee.
Meanwhile, those from the north headed south to the airport would have to pay P274 for the length of Skyway Stage 3 and an additional P45 when entering the NAIA Expressway.
However, it should be noted that any toll rate increase may be affected by inflation rate adjustments, legal fees, and especially right of way (RoW).
An agreement between SMC and the TRB allows the extra RoW cost to be recovered through future toll rate adjustments.