Skyway paved with cash

By 1 October this year, motorists who pass by the elevated road systems and the expressways without a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or those with insufficient account balances will face hefty fines under a directive of the Department of Transportation (DoTr).

The government’s move was apparently in response to Skyway operator San Miguel Corp. (SMC) blaming the long vehicle lines at the toll gates on top-ups, either the vehicles do not have the automated toll card installed or the balance in the Autosweep wallet is not enough.

SMC, however, misleads both the government and the public by making the obvious excuse regarding motorist negligence for the frequent inconveniences at the premium roads it operates.

The Autosweep RFID system for SMC-owned speedways is archaic compared to those systems used by the country’s neighbors.

A good example is Thailand whose toll system is impressive and simple to use, mocking the SMC payments scheme.

Motorists using Skyway with an installed RFID card have learned to employ certain vehicle movements that effectively “swipe” the tiny RFID card to the detector before running out of space to coax the barrier to spring up.

Still, the technique is not a 99 percent guarantee that the barrier raises, as an SMC press statement claimed. Vehicle owners usually end up showing their cards to gate tellers to pass through the gate.

Of course, using the card would mean a 99 percent entry for motorists, as the SMC statement would claim.

Thailand’s system called M-Flow, on the other hand, uses artificial intelligence (AI) in tandem with video-toll cameras for seamless travel.

Similar to the SMC claim, the Thai transportation ministry said that the system the country uses matches vehicle license plates with their owners with 99 percent accuracy.

“Vehicles can pass the toll gates without slowing down at a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour” through M-Flow, according to the Thai agency.

Other toll systems used in Thailand are the Easy Pass and M-Pass systems with almost similar efficiency.

The systems can be postpaid, which means that motorists are not subjected to the rigors of checking the balance of their account before passing through the cash highways or facing hefty penalties.

DoTr said that it deferred the policy of fining vehicles using the expressways and the Skyway to allow “tollway operators time to fine-tune expressway operations and further intensify the public information campaign.”

DoTr, aside from pouncing on motorists through another source of road expenses, should similarly subject the road operators to punishments if the inconvenience is caused by defects in their collection systems.

Two years ago in November, a road mayhem happened due to a glitch in the SMC system resulting in RFID cards not being read.

In a fantastic spin, SMC gave the excuse that the traffic situations in Skyway and NAIAx were “worsened by motorists who keep an inadequate or zero RFID balance.”

SMC Infrastructure said the confluence of “tens of thousands of motorists with low RFID balance delayed the passage of other travelers in Skyway and NAIAx.”

Those inconvenienced by the breakdown in the system for the automatic payment cards had salt rubbed into their wound with the blatant alibi.

Thus, it became a canned response of SMC each time it was confronted with the glitch-infested system.

Blaming motorists, who are too negligent with their top-ups, would be the implied meaning of the Toll Regulatory Board order fining drivers who use the SMC infrastructure jewel.

The policy shifted the blame to the public from the operator since SMC appears not willing to spend more in improving the toll system.

Paying already the astronomical toll on the Skyway, motorists are being lined up to shell out more cash through the RFID fines. The Skyway soon enough would be a road leading to a pot of gold for its operator by milking the public dry.