Metro Pac, SMC willing to integrate tollroad networks for ease of travel

MANUEL V. Pangilinan’s Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) and conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) are open to talks aimed at integrating their tollroads north of Metro Manila.

The plan would involve linking MNTC’s 90-kilometer North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and 94-km Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) with SMC’s Tarlac Pangasinan La Union Expressway (TPLEx), which would span 88.5 kms once fully completed by the end of 2016.

Rodrigo Franco, president of MNTC, a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said on Friday the company would open integration discussions with San Miguel, which would pave the way for seamless and convenient travel for passengers using the tollroad networks.

SMC president Ramon S. Ang separately said the firm was open to the plan.

“That would be the next natural step, to talk to the [TPLEx] conces- sionaire and operator to see if an integration was possible,” Franco said.

“That has always been an option. In fact, it was being encouraged by the TRB [ Toll Regulatory Board],” Franco said. He said the plan would still need to be “studied” further, noting it was a complicated process.

Franco spoke at an event yesterday marking the integration of the NLEx and SCTEx, which he said was fast-tracked ahead of the busy Holy Week exodus.

The P650-million project involved the conversion of NLEx and SCTEx toll collection systems into a single system, thus reducing toll collection stops to two instead of five from Balintawak to Subic and back and instead of four stops from Balintawak to Tarlac and back. Motorists using SCTEx can also pay electronically through the Easytrip platform.

“The integration speeds up the queues on toll plazas. Motorists driving from Manila to Subic would just have to stop for toll payments at Balintawak and Subic or Tarlac. This would save them up to 40 minutes of travel time,” Franco said.

Sen. Franklin M. Drilon, who pushed the integration of the two toll systems, said the move “would surely create a faster and more efficient traveling experience at the NLEx and SCTEx especially this coming Holy Week.”

MNTC estimated vehicle traffic on its tollroads can increase up to 15 percent during the Holy Week. The integration is expected to benefit about 200,000 vehicles that use the NLEx and the over 30,000 vehicles that ply the SCTEx daily.

To unify the NLEx and SCTEx systems, the company built seven new toll plazas. These include toll plazas in Tarlac, Subic-Tipo, Sta. Ines, and the northbound and southbound sides of Dau and Mabiga.

Motorists would no longer need to stop at the existing NLEx Dau and SCTEx Mabalacat barriers as these were converted to pass-through lanes. By April, the said barriers would be removed to provide motorists with more comfortable travel.