(Eagle News) — The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) said that over 90 percent of toll transactions in the country are through radio frequency identification (RFID) sticker use as a result of the implementation of the cashless transaction since Dec. 1, 2020.
Still, the Senate is set to probe how this cashless toll transactions are being implemented amid reported problems that had resulted in traffic gridlocks that had affected motorists, according to Senator Grace Poe.
Poe announced that the Senate public services committee is set to hold a hearing on Thursday, Dec. 17, regarding the decision to implement the cashless system in the major tollways.
On Sunday, Dec. 13, in a release, TRB Executive Director Engr. Abraham Sales said that based on the AutoSweep and Easytrip daily report, as of 08 December, more than 3.7 million RFID stickers have been installed, compared to 1.4 million when the program just started.
“Nasa 80-90% ng payment transactions ay cashless or RFID. Ang ibig po sabihin, almost 100% na ng mga motoristang dumaraan sa tollways ay nakikipag-cooperate sa paggamit ng RFID,” Sales said in a TRB release.
He noted that the number of motorists queuing daily for RFID installation is also decreasing, from over 34,000 on December 1 to less than 28,000 on December 8.
But Poe said her committee will dig deeper into this, and convene on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 1:30 p.m. to tackle three resolutions seeking to look into the implementation of the contactless transaction through the RFID.
The senator said the panel wants to be enlightened on how government regulators would fix the procedure in the toll plazas to address congestion.
Poe said that they would like the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to explain how they will fix the current difficulties in the implementation of the cashless transactions in tollways.
“Unang-una, nais nating maayos ang sitwasyon para sa ating mga kababayan, na hindi naman sila napeperwisyo at nahihirapang pumila doon at nakababad ng matagal. Pangalawa, nais nating malaman ano ba talaga ang naging dahilan kung bakit hindi maayos ang pagpapatakbo nito?” Poe said.
“Gusto nating tanungin ang DOTr, maganda kasi ang pakay ng pagkakaroon ng cashless system… pero ang problema dito, kahit naman sa ibang mga bansa na maayos ang sistema kaysa dito, hindi naman ganu’n kabilis nagagawa ang mga ganyan. Matagal ‘yan, may proseso ‘yan,” she explained.
The cashless system should also be seamless for all tollways so that motorists do not have to get separate RFID stickers for each.
The committee will also look into complaints that some RFID readers are malfunctioning.
Poe said the cashless system should offer motorists ease of travel along the expressways while keeping them away from the possibility of the coronavirus transmission when using cash payment.
“Cashless nga dahil may pandemic para ‘di maghawahan. Kung pipila ka naman at kukuha ng sticker dahil nagmamadali lahat eh ‘di nagkahawahan din,” she said.
(Eagle News Service)
