Discounts will be identified based on the stretch of the expressway where there is heavier traffic.

Motorists experiencing heavy traffic along the northbound lane of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) due to the construction of the P10 billion-Skyway extension may finally have a discounted toll fee starting the first week of November.

Raymundo Junia, the private sector’s representative to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) said the toll discount is likely to get the approval of the board.

“The process of imposing the discount is ongoing. We will have our meeting today with the technical working group to finalize our numbers. We will have a decision by the first week of November, probably by 7 November,” Junia told reporters in a chance interview in Quezon City.

Junia said they are waiting for the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) to offer the discount, noting that it would be easier for them to decide if the discount is offered by the concessionaire.

As for the reduced rates, Junia did not disclose how much the toll discount would be.

“There is no number yet but what I can say is we might apply the discount on the stretch where there is heavy traffic. It cannot be for the whole stretch,” Junia clarified.

According to him, charges will be identified based on the stretch of the expressway where there is heavier traffic.

“For an instance, we’re looking at Alabang viaduct and Susana Heights, that stretch we want to put in the discount,” Junia said.

The ongoing construction of the Skyway extension has triggered the closure of the Skyway System’s Alabang viaduct, resulting in heavy traffic that at times stretches to the Malampasan Interchange.

The Skyway extension is expected to add an estimated 4,500 vehicles per hour capacity to the northbound expressway and 3,000 vehicles capacity to southbound. It will also serve as direct access to and from Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway.