Talk Stir: Mandatory Cashless Toll Payments Moved to December 1--And Why It's a Pointless Exercise

 

Motorists have been given more time to have radio-frequency identification (RFID) stickers installed on their vehicles after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) pushed the start of the mandatory cashless transaction in all toll expressways from November 2 to December 1.

"Sa ngayon, pwede pang magbayad ng cash but after that, patatabihin sila paglagpas ng toll at i-install-an sila ng RFID (For now, they can still pay the toll using cash but after that, they will be asked to park on the side of the road and have an RFID installed on their vehicle)," DOTr Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope Libiran said in a message.

The extension is to prevent the long queues currently experienced at toll roads "in the rush to get RFID stickers," Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) Executive Director Abraham Sales said in a media bulletin.

Sales, however, noted that the deadline would no longer be extended beyond December 1.

"Secretary (Arthur) Tugade allowed the extension in order to give motorists, especially infrequent toll road users, more time to comply with the department order," he said.

Motorists who enter toll expressways with no RFID by December 1 and beyond "will be apprehended and issued a citation ticket," the TRB said.

DOTr Assistant Secretary Mark Steven Pastor asked motorists to make use of the extended deadline and have RFIDs installed on their vehicles as early as they can.

"Iwasan natin 'yung kung kailan isang linggo na lang, saka tayo magmamadaling magpunta sa installation sites para magpakabit ng RFID. Now, we are extending the deadline to give further consideration. Let us use the extension wisely," Pastor said.

Earlier, the TRB assured that the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and the San Miguel Corp.--the two operators and maintenance providers of the country's toll expressways--are equipped and ready to implement mandatory cashless transactions and have extended the installation of RFID stickers beyond November 2.

The DOTr earlier issued Department Order 2020-012, directing the implementation of cashless toll collections at all expressways and major toll roads to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in road transportation. 

While the government's desire to transition to cashless toll payment is understandable--social distancing for the short-term under the shadow of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, faster travel through the expressways in the long-term provided they fix the issue of the RFID tags not being read properly and promptly by the RFID scanners which seems to be the problem nowadays--the system is pointless.

I, for one, hardly use the north and south expressways. At most, probably once a year, both ways. So do I really need to get two RFID tags and immediately part with PHP1,000--PHP500 for each system--just so I can go both ways sometime in the future?

What if the DOTr used its efforts instead to have both expressway operators use just one RFID system, which is its plan anyway for the long-term? Shouldn't that be its immediate concern since it benefits everyone immediately?

And then there's also the hassle of--because the RFID tag is in the form of the sticker--you're stuck to having a tag installed for each and every car you have if your household--or company--has more than one car. So that's PHP500 multiplied by how many cars or vehicles you need to install the RFID tag on. The only other way to go about it "economically" would be to only use one vehicle for crossing expresssways--which could be impractical if the vehicle the RFID tag is stuck on is not suited for the journey, like you have a Class 3 vehicle with the tag but your trip only requires a Class 1 vehicle. Will you take a cargo truck to go on a vacation to Baguio or Batangas?

The things is, the government has or had the solution on hand already in the form of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) on-board units or the e-Tap cards. 

Either system covers both the short-term and long-term goals of the DOTr AND it solves the problem of being able to use any vehicle available on-hand.

Or the government can allot one or two lanes for cash payment at the  toll gate, much like how it used to allot a few lanes for cars equipped with RFID tags in the 'old normal.'