CLARK FREEPORT -- The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to require motorists to avail cashless transactions offered in expressways.
The move is aimed to contain the spread of Covid-19 and protect the public from the infectious coronavirus disease, the transportation department stressed.
This contactless tollways transactions, with the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) electronic tags, will complement other health protocols being enforced by the government, such as physical distancing.
Cashless payment in tollways limit human intervention and remove the traffic queuing and congestion at the toll plazas, the DoTr stated.
Under Department Order 2020-012, which was signed on August 13, 2020, by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, concerned agencies of the transportation department were ordered to formulate new processes and procedures within three months to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy.
The DOTr order covers the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), which was ordered to promulgate rules and regulations requiring concessionaires and operators of toll expressways to fully shift to an electronic toll collection system.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) was directed to submit a study exploring ways and means to allow for a full cashless and contactless system along expressways.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) was also directed to monitor the compliance of all public utility vehicles (PUVs) on the mandatory use/installation of electronic tags or use of other cashless systems in their units.
"We carry with us the burden of ensuring that our transport facilities will not be a transmission vector of the disease, while at the same time, providing an efficient system of public transport. With both tasks at hand, there is a need to strike a balance. Requiring contactless transactions is one of our ways of doing it. And in achieving the balance, naiintindihan natin na hindi laging magiging madali sa umpisa. If there will be initial inconveniences, let us look forward to the long-term benefit of it," Tugade said.
Contactless transactions will be implemented at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (CAVITEx), North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), South Metro Manila Skyway, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star) Tollway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax).
