DURING the Lenten season, busy roads and jam-packed highways are common sights to commuters and motorists heading to different places to reunite with their families and loved ones.
Year after year, we expect a high volume of vehicles plying the roads of Metro Manila on their way to pile up in long queues at tollways. With the increasing surge of cars also come the higher figures in road accidents and mechanical breakdowns caused by a lot of factors, including unsafe driving practices and car maintenance problems.
With all these seemingly predictable scenarios, commuters and drivers alike have always longed for a pleasant road trip with a tremendous confidence in reaching their destinations fast, safe and sound.
Traveling with confidence
We’ve always thought of a hassle-free, fast, efficient, and, most important, safe trip to the North during these holidays. The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) managers and executives concurrently seem to think likewise when they launched the “Safe Trip Mo, Sagot Ko” (SMSK) motorist assistance program five years ago.
“We are implementing a more extensive SMSK starting this Holy Week to further improve our services for safe and convenient travel to our motorists,” said MPTC President and CEO Rodrigo Franco at a news conference recently, which was held at the Luxent Hotel in Quezon City.
According to Roberto Bontia, MPTC Chief Tollways Operations Officer, an average of 300,000 vehicles, with an increase of 10 to 15 percent during peak seasons, use the expressways every day.
Motorists traversing expressways of Cavite Expressway (Cavitex), North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (Sctex) can expect easier travel as MPTC devises ways to roll out the red carpet for motorists during the holidays such as the Holy Week.
Annually, the SMSK campaign comes with enhanced services for motorists traveling across Metro Manila and Central and North Luzon destinations. It will even be expanded this year as it not only includes Holy Week, Undas and Christmas seasons but also well-anticipated travel weekends such as Araw ng Kagitingan (April 7 to 9), National Heroes’ Day (August 25 to 27) and Bonifacio Day (November 30 to December 2).
With this program, there’s a promise to get rid of worries from long queues at the toll plazas as there will be 24 toll collection points at Balintawak Exit during peak hours of March 28, 29 and April 1. At Mindanao and Tarlac Exits, 10 and 29 collection points, respectively, will be in full operation as well.
Travelers going back to Metro Manila may expect faster and more convenient trips with around 62 toll collection points at Bocaue Exit on April 1. Adding to that are ambulant tellers on standby to further speed up the transactions.
During the Holy Week exodus, we easily become terrified by the stress of roadside breakdowns as much as we dread heavy and standstill traffic. But this year, SMSK leads the motorists to expect more patrol and incident response teams all geared up at interchanges and gas stations along the expressways.
In such times of mechanical malfunctions, Class 1 vehicles may also avail themselves of 24-hour free towing services to the nearest exits.
Motorists may also experience smoother drive along these MPTC-owned expressways with a more enhanced CCTV-equipped traffic monitoring and management system that is up and running in these busy seasons.
This 24/7 real-time traffic-monitoring scheme ensures that drivers along the expressways are well attended, as there will be more deployment of traffic patrol officers and security personnel with quicker response time of up to 20 minutes.
In addition to ensuring decongested traffic, vehicles traversing these expressways will have more breathing space due to zero roadworks from March 23 to April 2. Ongoing constructions except for safety repairs will be suspended so as to relieve traffic flow.
Comfort and convenience
As travelers, we always want to rest assured that these expressways will lead us to our destinations without hassle and stress. And on top of these, we could be more confident to hit the road while learning that there are other benefits that suit our convenience.
During these peak seasons, travelers could avail themselves of various services provided at SMSK Motorist Camps for free. Bringing about the joy in every ride, Nlex-SCTEx and Cavitex will offer motorists free calls and Wi-Fi access, free bottled water, as well as health assistance from free first-aid treatments.
Holiday seasons are also seasons of long drives where vehicles could really get exhausted, but car owners may get to enjoy more perks with 24/7 auto mechanic services at these motorist camps. Hydration and portalets with water refills are also available at these camps in case of overheating vehicles.
With diversified electronic payment options in North expressways, motorists can make the most of convenience in paying their tollway fees. Running in full operation in toll plazas are these payment schemes every consumer may choose from: Easy Trip RFID, Beep cards, Mastercard contactless debit, prepaid and credit cards, including Smart Mastercard powered by PayMaya.
Expanding ease and safety
Amid the increasingly high volume of vehicles plying to and from a lot of places in the North, MPTC, with its road assistance campaigns such as the annual SMSK, shares with the motorists and commuters a vision of worry-free and comfortable travel.
The managers and executives of these expressways seemingly guarantee us that they will carry out their mission to provide satisfying experience on our way to spending this Holy Week and other holidays with our families and loved ones in Metro Manila, Central and North Luzon.
In the coming days, we are yet to witness substantial improvements in our national road infrastructure, which will not only ease traffic woes but will also boost economic growths in communities connected by these expressways.
Several projects under MPTC are in full swing, which include the C5-Southlink, the 45-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway, and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.
With further enhancements and expanded services in our expressways, especially in this coming Semana Santa, traveling with confidence in road safety and convenience is an aspiration we could all together fulfill.