Some solutions reached with Valenzuela City to ease toll plaza traffic – NLEX Corp.

MANILA, Philippines — North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. on Tuesday said it has agreed with the Valenzuela City government on some solutions to ease traffic woes at toll plazas and deal with motorists’ concerns about their radio-frequency identification (RFID) account balances.

However, the local government’s suspension of the toll operator’s business permit in Valenzuela City will still remain. NLEX Corp. operates the North Luzon Expressway – formerly North Diversion Road and Manila North Expressway, the turnpike that connects Metro Manila to Central Luzon provinces. Some of the expressway’s toll gates are located in Valenzuela City.

NLEX Corp. nevertheless thanked Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian for the opportunity to present solutions to improve congestion in the locality.

READ: Suspension of NLEX Corp’s business permit stays

The toll company said in a statement that among the traffic solutions agreed upon with the local government include the transfer of RFID sticker installation and account reloading transactions away from the toll gates.

For current RFID customers, the firm also committed to adding new RFID lanes in both Karuhatan and Mindanao toll plazas.

“This will allow existing current RFID users to have better access to the RFID lanes and improve their travel time,” it said.

According to NLEX Corp., the installation site at Karuhatan toll plaza will be relocated to the Santolan overpass area inside the expressway to service other motorists still needing RFID stickers. Meanwhile, the installation site in Mindanao toll plaza will be relocated about 500 meters inside the expressway near the Que Grande overpass area.

“Motorist requests for accounts reloading will be entertained after the toll gates and will be transacted after entry,” it added.

“It was agreed that these measures will minimize the bottlenecks at the Karuhatan and Mindanao toll gates and achieve a more efficient use of the limited road space specially during rush hours,” NLEX Corp. also said.

Regarding customers’ complaints about their RFID stickers, the toll operator vowed to accelerate its ongoing sticker replacement program and boost its implementation through a targeted text blast to better reach out to customers.

Aside from these measures, the toll operator also committed to the further enhancement of its traffic management operations, customer assistance at toll lanes, and customer communication campaign on RFID reloading.

“Still to address potential traffic queuing at the toll gates during rush hours, NLEX also offered to implement ‘barrier up’ operations in all Valenzuela city toll gates,” it added.

“The agreed traffic solutions address most of the concerns being raised by the City Government, and we commit to working closely with the office of the Valenzuela City Mayor from hereon,” the company likewise said.

NLEX Corp. earlier reopened cash lanes at all toll plazas of the expressway network to anticipate the rush of holiday travelers.

Officials of the Valenzuela City government and executives of NLEX Corp. held a meeting on Monday to discuss issues with the RFID system of NLEX, which Gatchalian blamed for the traffic buildup at toll plazas in Valenzuela City.

READ: Talks to ease NLEX traffic in deadlock

Gatchalian said the business permit of the company remained suspended despite the meeting since both parties failed to agree on the complete removal of barriers at toll gates. Gatchalian earlier said he wants the complete removal of barriers instead of only lifting them during select hours.

KGA