P44 toll cut on SLEx pushed

MANILA, Philippines — The toll that Metro Manila-bound vehicles pay for using South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) should be cut by at least P44 because of the daily kilometers-long traffic jam caused by the Skyway extension project in Muntinlupa City, a member of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) on Sunday said.

Raymundo Junia, who represents the private sector on the five-member board, said he would formally recommend the toll reduction at the meeting of the TRB scheduled for Tuesday.

The adjustment, he said, was based on the average toll covering the northbound stretch of SLEx from Susana Heights exit to Sucat exit — both in Muntinlupa — a distance of 8.3 km.

He said this stretch was the most affected by the traffic gridlock, which became worse after the closure of the outermost portion of Skyway at-grade level, just after the Alabang viaduct, starting on the evening of Sept. 24 to give way to the P10-billion Skyway extension project.

An adjacent lane of the two-lane east service road was also closed.

It’s only fair

“For me, that discount is fair for both the consumers, composed of the motorists and commuters, and the toll concessionaire, which is San Miguel Corp. (SMC) Tollways,” Junia said in a phone interview.

“It’s still up to the other TRB members if they would approve it or not,” he told the Inquirer.

The TRB is chaired by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade. Other members are Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.

Private cars, buses, trucks and other vehicles using the northbound lane of SLEx are being charged an average of P49 from Susana Heights to Sucat, according to Junia.

He said 10 percent of this amount would not be included in the discount since it was allotted for the operations and maintenance of the 40-km toll road from Magallanes in Makati City to Calamba City in Laguna province.

Motorists support cut

Motorists welcomed the proposed cut.

“The TRB and the toll operator should consider the economic loss that commuters and vehicle owners have suffered because of the monstrous traffic jam on SLEx,” said lawyer Roentgen Rabe, who uses SLEx twice a week in traveling from his house in Lucban, Quezon province, to his work in Quezon City.

Coke Gonzales, 43, a sales and marketing supervisor, said the toll reduction would be a big help to her and people from the southern part of Metro Manila and Laguna who cough up hundreds of pesos for a supposed fast drive on SLEx.

A liter of diesel

“The discount would be enough to cover a liter of my diesel, which I burn while stuck in traffic on SLEx,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales travels almost every day from her house in Tunasan, Muntinlupa, to her office in Quezon City, a trip that used to take about two hours on most days, but has gone to more than three hours over the past month.

Before construction of the Skyway extension project started last month, Gonzales said her travel via SLEx and Skyway from the southernmost part of Muntinlupa to Makati took less than an hour.

“But now, that one hour is only from Susana Heights to Alabang. And that’s only 5.5 kilometers. Then I have to endure an hour more of heavy traffic on Edsa,” she complained.

Class 1 vehicles, which include cars and jeepneys, pay P214 for the end-to-end use of SLEx from Calamba to Magallanes (or vice versa) while Class 2 vehicles, such as medium-sized delivery trucks, are charged P429.

Container trucks and buses under Class 3 pay P644.

Ang apology

SMC president Ramon Ang has spurned calls to lower the toll or temporarily suspend its collection on SLEx’s northbound portion despite the massive vehicular bottleneck caused by the project.

Ang, nevertheless, apologized for the inconvenience as he promised that traffic flow in the affected areas of SLEx will return to normal by Dec. 1.

He said the construction of the additional 4-kilometer elevated highway (from Barangay Cupang to Barangay Putatan), which will run parallel to both sides of SLEx, would ease the traffic gridlock on the Alabang viaduct.

Junia said his decision to push for toll reduction was not intended to undermine SMC Tollways, arguing that it was his duty to protect public interest.

According to TRB data as of June 2019, at least 370,000 vehicles used SLEx per day, while around 196,000 plied Skyway daily. —With a report from Dexter Cabalza