'Seamless Southern Tollways' projects aims to lessen stops in expressways

MANILA: This December, San Miguel Corporation has implemented its "Seamless Southern Tollways" initiative in the expressways it operates, which will save drivers time in traveling in both directions from having to make several toll stops on the toll highways.

Previously, drivers heading to Southern Luzon had to stop for tolls and deal with traffic jams at Calamba, Greenfield, and Sto. Tomas toll plazas on the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) exit near Tomas in Batangas.

Jaime Bautista, Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DoTR), said the Seamless Southern Tollways promogram came just in time for the busy holiday travel season and would be beneficial for regional economies in the long run.

“This is a welcome development for so many of our countrymen who will be heading home to the provinces this December. Usually, our expressways experience the heaviest traffic particularly in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Fortunately, it seems we will all have some relief starting this December, as our private partner toll operator, SMC Infrastructure, has successfully completed the work needed to make travel through SLEX, Skyway, and STAR, more seamless,” Bautista said.

“Beyond the holidays, this initiative will make the transportation of people and goods to and from Southern Luzon provinces much faster and more efficient, with no impact or change in toll rates. I commend SMC for continuously looking for ways to minimize traffic and improve people’s travel experience along its expressways, and for investing in sensible and more sustainable solutions to traffic such as this,” he added.

Ramon S. Ang, president of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), stated that the initiative, on which the infrastructure division of the company has been working since early this year, will effectively speed up travel on STAR, SLEX, and the entire Skyway system (Stages 1, 2, and 3).

In an ongoing attempt to reduce traffic and improve motorists' experiences along SMC's tollways, the corporation has built the Seamless Southern Tollways.

“Our goal when we started was to cut down toll stops from five to just two — entry and exit — whether for electronic RFID or cash payments, for both southbound and northbound vehicles across all our southern tollways. With this, we can make trips for motorists faster, more seamless, and less stressful, as they will no longer need to endure long queues at multiple toll plazas within the expressways,” Ang said.

The current plan requires southbound drivers traveling from the north to Batangas to stop five times: once at the Del Monte Skyway 3 toll plaza, once each at the Calamba, SLEX Greenfield, and Sto. Tomas toll booths before arriving at the exit.

According to Ang, the new scheme will only have two toll stops and require stops at the entry and exit points. The Skyway main plaza and the exit point are the only places where payment pauses are allowed in the new northbound toll arrangement. Toll plazas in the middle will be pass-throughs.

No toll rates have changed, according to SMC, but the fees that were previously collected at the toll stops that were deleted will now be added to the total fees that will be collected at the exit point.

“Some motorists may find this confusing at first, and they might wonder why the toll fee is higher. This may even lead to traffic buildup at some exit points as some motorists will inevitably take longer to make inquiries,” Ang illustrated.

“We want to make sure, as much as we can, that all motorists understand that there are no toll fee increases, and that we still also have to pay for use of the various expressways. It’s just that all the remaining payments will be collected in one go at the exit,” he clarified.

Despite the fact that the new Seamless Southern Tollways program for southbound traffic began on December 1, the setup for northbound traffic must start by December 15. The first quarter of 2023 is slated for the integration of the Seamless system to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Expressway.

The wide acceptance of the Autosweep RFID electronic toll collection system by drivers, according to the company's chief executive, is the significant advancement that allowed SMC Infrastructure to improve the procedure.

ETC penetration increased from 45% to 80% since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Through its Autosweep RFID technology, SMC successfully conducted a scheme to waive toll payments for approximately 10,500 medical front-line workers during the pandemic, saving more than P246.5 million.

Also included in the plans, according to Ang, is SMC Infra's effort to fully interoperate with other expressways, a goal the company has been promoting and collaborating on with the government and other tollway operators.

“This improvement in the southern tollways will enhance the upcoming interoperability project, as it will contribute to the overall seamlessness of travel across all expressways,” he said

“At the end of the day, what we want to achieve is to minimize traffic and the time our countrymen spend on the road. That is why we constantly invest to improve our infrastructure and the systems that help run them — so we can make sure trips are efficient, seamless, and as safe as possible for the public,” Ang added.

Photos from San Miguel Corporation

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