Tollroads ready for ‘Undas’

ENTRY POINT Provincial buses pass through the toll plaza of the North Luzon Expressway on Wednesday. Operators of the expressway will keep a close watch as motorists are expected to return to their home provinces. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) said its expressways in the northern and southern parts of Metro Manila are ready to handle increased vehicular volumes during the All Saints’ day holiday or “Undas.”

The company operates the North Luzon Expressway, Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway and Cavite Expressway.

The three tollroads handle combined 470,000 vehicles per day. Traffic usually increases by 10 percent as motorists leave Metro Manila in the days leading up to Nov. 1. Traffic will again pick up after Nov 2.

“In preparation for the expected 10 percent increase in traffic volume this ‘Undas’ season, MPTC is again implementing “Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko” (SMSK) along the NLEx, SCTEx, and Cavitex to enhance traffic management and toll collection services,” MPTC said in a statement.

Measures were put in place as early as Oct. 25 and these will run through Nov. 4.

It said NLEx and SCTEx traffic operations personnel will closely monitor and manage the expected influx of motorists in Balintawak, Mindanao Avenue, Bocaue, Sta. Ines, Tarlac and Tipo toll plazas.

Additional patrol and incident response teams will be stationed in strategic areas to assist motorists. Speed and lane management teams will also be on alert.

On certain days, including Nov. 1 and 2, the Balintawak Toll Plaza will open a maximum of 24 toll collection points while Mindanao Avenue, Tarlac, and Tipo toll plazas will open a maximum of 10, 15, and 6 toll collection points, respectively to lessen motorists’ waiting time at the toll plazas.

From Nov. 1 to 4, the Bocaue Toll Barrier will have a maximum of 55 collection points for Manila-bound motorists. Toll tellers at the Tarlac Toll Plaza will be ready to issue pre-encoded transit tickets to motorists for faster transactions.

During the same period, Cavitex will also deploy more patrol teams to manage the traffic and assist motorists.

MPTC and its partners will also set up SMSK Motorist Camps and provide free calls, Wi-Fi, drinking water, basic mechanic services and first aid treatment at designated locations along the expressways.

The SMSK will also offer 24-hour free towing services to the nearest exit for Class 1 vehicles from Oct. 30, 6 a.m., through Nov. 4, 6 a.m.