NLEx to reopen PH Arena Interchange but tells motorists: Cash not accepted

The Philippine Arena Interchange in Bulacan will reopen on Aug. 1 but motorists will have to use RFID cards and won’t be allowed to pay in cash for contactless passage. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BOCAUE, Bulacan—No contact.

The North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Corp. will strictly enforce this policy when it reopens the Philippine Arena interchange on Aug. 1, reminding motorists that cash toll payments would not be accepted.

Motorists were told to use the radio frequency identification (RFID) payment technology when passing through the interchange.

RFID allows contactless passage through NLEx’s toll plazas through machines that detect RFID cards in vehicles loaded with funds and automatically deducted each time the card is read in toll plazas.

In a statement, NLEx Corp. said reopening the interchange would ease the bottleneck at Bocaue Toll Plaza following the influx of southbound motorists from Metro Manila unleashed by relaxed quarantine restrictions.

It was closed in April after the national government used the Philippine Arena Complex as a quarantine facility. The new Medical Laboratory Testing center across Philippine Arena was recently inaugurated.

J. Luigi Bautusta, NLEx Corp. president and general manager, said the company would implement a “No RFID, No Entry/Exit” in the Philippine Arena.

Also, as part of NLEx Corp.’s effort to help motorists transition to cashless transactions, the tollway company will put up RFID installation sites at strategic areas of the Philippine Arena Interchange.

Cash-paying motorists, who will pass through the toll road, will be required to sign up for an RFID account and have the RFID installed on their vehicles before entry or exit.

TSB