The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) said Tuesday it expects a full implementation of cashless and interoperable toll system across all expressways in 2025.
TRB executive director Alvin Carullo said he is hopeful that the cashless transaction across all expressways would happen “within the year.”
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) previously ordered a suspension of the cashless toll system’s implementation, scheduled for this month, for further review.
“Right now, we are preparing the briefing or position paper that we will submit to the DOTr Secretary for their review and evaluation,” Carullo said.
“We will simultaneously implement cashless, together with the interoperability… Our target is within the year,” he said.
Carullo said the TRB and the toll operators were collaborating to resolve issues such as the account management system and RFID readability.
San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. earlier said that the cashless toll system is critical for the implementation of the full interoperability of electronic toll collection across all expressways.
The toll collection interoperability project was launched in 2017 with the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) among the DOTr, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Land Transportation Office, TRB, San Miguel Group, Metro Pacific Group and the Ayala Group.
The agreement requires the toll road companies to make adjustments in their systems to enable interoperability and an integrated toll collection. The average penetration rate of ETC transaction across all tollways is now at 90 percent.
San Miguel Corp., which operates Skyway, South Luzon Expressway, STAR Tollway and NAIAx uses AutoSweep RFID tag, while Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. which operates Manila Cavite Expressway, C5 Link Expressway and Cavite Laguna Expressway, uses EasyTrip RFID tag for electronic toll collection.
The Toll Collection System Interoperability Project is one of the three technology-driven programs that will be implemented by TRB to help improve the traffic flow on expressways.