Complaints greet new Skyway toll plaza

A queue of northbound vehicles forms at the newly opened Skyway toll plaza near Naia Expressway on Tuesday. —Contributed photo by Pia Valencia

A newly opened toll plaza intended to speed up payments on Skyway has ironically slowed traffic, irking motorists and drawing comments describing the elevated roadway as “the new Edsa” because of the congestion.

An earlier advisory by operator Skyway O&M Corp. (Somco) said the new toll plaza near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Expressway on-ramp was expected to “facilitate faster collection” when it was opened on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The plaza consists of Runway A, which has three lanes and up to five tellers for cash transactions; and Runway B, with three lanes for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC).

For ETC users, northbound vehicles (going to Makati or Manila) from Alabang, Sucat and Bicutan are to continue using ETC lanes upon entry, and exit at the new ETC lanes at the runway toll plaza.

For motorists paying in cash, those coming from Laguna and Filinvest are directed to the new toll plaza’s dedicated cash lanes.

Vehicles coming from Dr. A. Santos (Sucat), Doña Soledad (Bicutan) and Bunye (Alabang-Zapote) will pay upon entry and, upon reaching the new plaza’s cash lane No. 1, hand over the QR-coded stub attached to their receipt.

But complaints mounted during the first few days of the plaza’s operations, with some motorists taking to social media. They included northbound travelers who said spent about two more hours on the road, arrived late for work, or missed their flights at Naia.

‘Basement of hell’

Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon, who said he got stuck in the morning rush hour on Skyway, tweeted: “The new system actually made things worse. It’s like being thrown into the lower basement of hell.”

Radio and TV host Andi Manzano-Reyes called Skyway “the new Edsa” and demanded a refund.

Biazon on Tuesday sent a letter to Somco, asking for a briefing on the new toll collection system. “As a resident of Muntinlupa, I personally experience the chaos and rigors of traversing the Skyway on my way to Batasan, Quezon City, nowadays. The horrendous traffic is apparently caused by the new toll procedure.”

In a radio interview, Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) spokesperson Bert Suansing said the TRB had been receiving similar complaints since Saturday. He advised Skyway users to use RFIDs as the lines on ETC lanes were much shorter compared to lanes for cash transactions.

In a statement on Tuesday, Somco issued an apology, adding: “We anticipated that this transition might initially cause some delay and confusion. We humbly ask again for your kind understanding and patience.”

“We are positive that once many have adjusted and adapted to the new toll collection system, the benefits of these enhancements of Skyway will be felt by a greater number of people.”

Not feasible yet

But in another statement later in the day, Somco announced that motorists would no longer need to queue again to surrender their QR-coded stubs to exit Skyway.

“Effective 10 p.m. of Jan. 30, we will temporarily revert to the old ‘pay as you enter’ scheme for private vehicles coming from Alabang, Sucat, and Bicutan,” it read.

However, Class 2 vehicles such as buses and delivery vans paying in cash would be required to stop at the toll plaza.

“We recognize that at this point, full implementation may not be feasible, without severely affecting our motorists,” Somco said.