BY JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
Planning to introduce various measures and the replacement of defective radio frequency identification (RFID) stickers, NLEX Corporation has reportedly vowed to reduce the motorists’ waiting time at Balintawak Toll Plaza in Caloocan City by 25 percent within this week.
This was what the top executives of NLEX promised in a meeting with Caloocan Mayor Oca Malapitan on Wednesday afternoon as they are committed to lessen the queuing time of motorists at toll booths “within a week.”
Among the ways NLEX is going to put up are the following:
– Installation of additional handheld readers to speed up toll payments and traffic flow
– Relocation of sticker installation and reloading sites
– Improvement of equipment maintenance and replacement program, and
– The establishment of more reloading sites.
NLEX officials, the local government added, also vowed to expedite the replacement of defective RFID stickers, increase subscriber updates and notifications on their remaining account balance, and reduce toll congestion caused by insufficient account balances.
Meanwhile, as there are about 24 toll booths in the city’s Balintawak Toll Plaza that serve about 52,000 vehicles daily, local government officials also promised that even they would “closely monitor the traffic situation… daily assess whether NLEX is complying with their commitments.”
“We are expecting a surge of vehicles, both private and public, that will traverse the Balintawak tollways. Thus, the concerted efforts to improve the current system.”
Malapitan said as city officials also agreed to immediately conduct a joint ocular inspection of the Balintawak tollways to better understand the problem and seek better solutions.
Aside from Malapitan, NLEX Corp. chief operating officer Raul Ignacio, Assistance Vice President AVP) for Toll Operations West Dionisio, AVP for Corporate Communication Kit Ventura and VP for Asset Management Jennifer Jane Go, among others, attended the meeting.
Reimbursement starts
Meanwhile, less than a day after Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian on Wednesday afternoon gave the company 24 hours to reimburse all toll fees charged during toll holiday, some motorists who passed through the Valenzuela City segment started getting their dues.
Gatchalian, in a Twitter post, thanked NLEX Corporation for complying with his request to reimburse the fees “accidentally charged” while the business permit of the company in Valenzuela City is still suspended.
Gatchalian, in another tweet, said that once he meets NLEX officials, he would “really push for the idea of no more barriers for their entire highway system.”
“They should be confident enough that their scanners can scan the vehicles coming in and charge accordingly…I’m no expert but I think it will help,” he said.
