To those who work in Manila, and thankfully, that isn’t any of us here at Go Flat Out, who all live in Cavite and Laguna, knows the “carmageddon” caused by the new toll system of Skyway O&M Corporation.
To those who are unaware, Skyway’s toll booths at the Northbound direction, near NAIAX on ramp, are now completely built, and Isaac first experienced it last Sunday morning when he passed through their ETC toll booths where traffic is basically non-existent. At least it’s supposed to be, as this new system has caused the traffic flow to slow down by Sunday afternoon.
The new system has made the toll plaza at the Nortbound Alabang-Sucat area a pass-through for those with an RFID, while those with cash must pay at that toll. Afterwards, those who have RFID has counterflow lanes during the rush hour, leading to the 3 exclusive ETC lanes at the new toll booths just before the NAIAX on ramp, and those who paid cash at the Alabang-Sucat area toll plaza must surrender the QR Code ticket to the 4 cash lanes with 5 tellers at the newly-opened toll booths just before the NAIAX on ramp.
What used to be a one-step process for those who pay cash, which is the majority of Skyway users, has now become two, and in a bid to reduce traffic, what one must do is simplify the system and reduce the number of queuing, not complicate it with an additional step.
If it was enough for the new toll system to slow down traffic on a Sunday afternoon, imagine it on a Monday morning rush hour. Almost everyone hates Mondays, so imagine the hatred and chaos it caused to motorists, with even CNN Philippines’ host Anthony Pangilinan missing his flight out of NAIA Terminal 3.
Congressman Ruffy Biazon shows a video of two cars, a Honda City, and a Hyundai Tucson, not letting each other into the lane, and ending up colliding with a Honda CR-V. While the temperament of these two may be worsened by the intense traffic caused by the new toll system, it is however, something that is totally unavoidable in the first place.
Celebrity Andi Manzano also showed her frustrations as she experienced EDSA-like traffic on Skyway, supposedly the road that was designed to avoid the traffic situation down below.
Joining these three people are thousands of motorists who showed their frustration on social media. As expected by the humorous nature of Filipinos, memes popped all over social media.
Saying that Skyway O&M received a beating yesterday was an understatement, as it created backlash among Filipinos. Because of this, they have released an official statement, and by tomorrow, all will be returning back to normal. Everyone will now be paying just as they enter Skyway.
“To our motorists, we acknowledge your sentiments regarding the new toll collection system on the elevated Skyway.
While we exerted every effort to lessen the impact of the transition, which we anticipated and communicated early on, we recognize that at this point, full implementation may not be feasible, without severely affecting our motorists.
In light of this, effective 10:00 pm, January 30, we will temporarily revert to the old “pay as you enter” scheme for private vehicles coming from Alabang, Sucat, and Bicutan.
For the time being, only Class 2 vehicles such as buses and delivery vans will be required to utilize the Runway Toll Plaza for cash payments.
As always, we continue to adjust to our motorists’ needs, and that includes exploring better ways to implement this transition to a new toll collection system in the future. We still believe the new system can benefit a greater number of people over the long term.
Solving traffic congestion is not an easy task but we are fully committed to finding a solution to it with your help.
Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and patronage.”
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