NLEx to reopen cash lanes to avoid queues at toll plazas

CARMAGEDDON Motorists build up traffic in North Luzon Expressway at Balintawak Toll Plaza on Dec. 1. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

NLEx Corp. will reopen cash lanes and will keep barriers raised even at radio-frequency identification (RFID) booths to prevent congestion from forming at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).

This followed talks among local government officials from Bulacan and Caloocan, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

The City of Valenzuela earlier suspended the company’s business permit due to heavy traffic at the toll plazas days after the cashless toll payment system thru RFID was implemented on Dec. 1.

“We will be opening cash lanes in all toll plazas during this transition toward 100-percent cashless transactions. For the smaller plazas, where there are limited lanes, we will have an exclusive RFID lane beside a combined cash/RFID lane,” NLEx Corp. president J. Luigi Bautista said in a statement on Saturday.

Following a dialogue with the TRB, the company will implement a “barrier up” procedure in the RFID lanes.

This means RFID subscribers need not stop and go during their passage even as the scanners/readers continue to operate and record the toll transactions.

NLEx Corp. earlier announced the transfer of the ongoing RFID sticker installation and reloading activities away from the toll plazas.