I just got back from a trip up north. And what could have been a smooth and amazing Christmas journey given the infrastructural marvel of the highways that used to take several hours to traverse and now whittled down to a few, was unfortunately hampered by the long lines at the toll gates. It’s unfortunate that our tollways, despite the roads being interconnected now, remain to be inefficiently not interoperable.
It should not be so. Announcements made as early as 2017 by the government, in particular the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works and Highways, which proudly heralded that the interoperability of the different expressway operators will soon become a reality. A Memorandum of Agreement was even signed between the government and the tollway operators, proudly indicating that such interoperability will commence six months from signing, with the DOTr in its press statement saying such a common and unified toll system is an “exercise of both political will and common sense.” Up to now, it remains to be still in the works; its realization will mostly likely drag on to the next administration.
It is true that such integration of different systems is not a walk in the park, with different systems from not just a few different operators—San Miguel Holdings Corp., Skyway O&M Corp., South Luzon Tollways Corp., Vertex Tollways Development Inc., Star Infrastructure Development Corp., Nlex Corp., Tollway Management Corp., Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Cavitex Infrastructure Corp., PEA Tollway Corp., MPCALA Holdings Inc., Ayala Corp., and MCX Tollway Inc.
As there was really no standard set at the onset, such integration will take time as well as equate to have some substantial costs. Initially borne by the operators themselves, this will presumably be passed on to the motorists and the riding public.
But considering the time saved and the convenience offered through a seamless toll transactions, such unification of tolls will be worth its costs and will translate to its eventual contribution to the economy. Think of the increase of commerce transport that will happen daily as well as the convenient temptation to visit the provinces that will all contribute to our grossly underachieving domestic tourism. So we wonder, when will we ever have that interoperability?
Still on the tollways. Admirable is how speeding laws are enforced in these areas with many over speeding motorists being flagged down by LTO-deputized enforcers at the toll gates. These over speeding motorists are caught on camera by the CCTV networks of the tollways. It would, however, be better if sometimes over speeding enforcement is done by actual enforcers to have more weight and additional effectiveness. Besides, overall enforcer presence is already there, mostly assisting those who encounter vehicular problems. Actual apprehension by enforcers on the long stretches, similar to the CHiPs in California, are proven to result in better deterrence to over speeding.
On another note, gas stations on tollways seem to be destinations in themselves with more non-gasoline offerings getting even bigger, grander and in some cases, comparable to shopping malls that we Filipinos are endeared to. But in some cases, basic gasoline services such as vehicle troubleshooting is kept minimal or are left out to give more room to commercial ventures. Also, it will do us good if we can have basic medical services, especially for travel-related illnesses or accidents, in these places. After all, should this not be part of the services that government should have in the first place and which they require from operators in their concession contracts? We do wish that the toll regulatory agency will monitor the over-commercialization of these gasoline establishments.
So much for my travel musings. Thank you for such a wonderful year traveling with you, my readers. I look forward to another exciting year of travel, transport and commuting with all of you as we journey towards 2022.
Thomas “Tim” Orbos is currently a transport policy advisor for an international organization and worked in government on transport and urban development matters. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail—tmo45@georgetown.edu /thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu