Toll holidays

LAST December 1, all toll expressways in the country started implementing cashless toll transactions to motorists using their highways. This is in consonance with the government's effort of preventing the spread of the corona virus and easing the flow of vehicles passing through toll booths.

The directive to tollways companies to implement such cashless scheme using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) came from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in coordination with the Tollways Regulatory Board (TRB).

Tollways corporations expressed their support to the new normal in toll fees collection and expressed their willingness to abide by the DOTr's order. They streamlined their workforces that some of them were replaced by sensors that give the go signal to open toll barriers.

Prior to the December 1 deadline for its full implementation, there came heavy traffic of vehicles on roads leading to booths where RFID stickers are installed. To date, there are still quite a number of motorists queuing for the said stickers that are with sensors for tollgates to read.

While there are already a great number of RFIDinstalled vehicles cruising our expressways, traffic jams do still prevail on toll booths, generating the ire of motorist as well as politicians who had wasted time too due to heavy traffic build ups.