By MINKA S. TIANGCO
Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian suspended on Monday the business permit of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corporation after it failed to submit an action plan to solve the traffic jams reportedly caused by its radio-frequency identification (RFID) toll collection system.
Gatchalian personally served the executive order to the managers of six toll plazas in the city on Monday night.
“Considering the holiday rush, coupled with the lifting of truck ban and number coding scheme give rise to the heavier volume of vehicles on the road, the abysmal state of NLEX Corporation’s RFID system contributes to the chaos and exacerbates the traffic situation in the City,” the order read.
“Since time is of the essence, losses of the general public and businesses essential to our fledgling economy, were piling up enormously every single moment, which is wasted in heavy traffic caused by the unreliable RFID system and therefore causes severe and irreparable damage to the general public and the economy,” it added.
Gatchalian noted that the employees of the toll operator willingly complied with his order and turned off the RFID sensors and opened the barriers.
With the Valenzuela mayor’s executive order, NLEX Corporation will not be allowed to collect toll fees from motorists entering through Valenzuela City.
“Hindi tayo dapat nagbabayad sa isang serbisyo na hindi makatarungan,” Gatchalian told reporters.
“It (toll holiday) may not be the cure to all but we addressed one of the major traffic issues,” he added.
The cashless toll collection system was fully implemented on December 1 to promote contactless transactions amid the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Earlier, the local chief executive rejected the toll operator’s appeal for a 15-day extension to allow them to reply to the concerns raised by the local chief executive.
This after he gave the NLEX Corporation a 72-hour deadline to explain why the city government should not suspend their business permit in light of its “miserable failure” to comply with its obligations in a letter dated December 3.
He also gave the toll operator 24 hours from the receipt of the said letter to provide them with an action plan to solve the “RFID fiasco,” which NLEX Corporation failed to do.
The Valenzuela mayor also demanded NLEX Corporation to take full responsibility for its reported “shortcomings and mistakes” in the RFID toll collection system.
He also wanted the toll operator to issue a public apology and offer concessions to the public “in the form of toll holiday”.
Gatchalian also asked for the lifting of its toll boom gates or barriers to ease the traffic situation in the city.
