San Miguel Corp. and NLEX Corp. on Wednesday announced no toll fees at their respective expressways in the north and south of Manila for Christmas and the New Year.
This will be implemented in the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, Southern Luzon Expressway, Skyway, NAIA Expressway and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway in the north.
SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said the “toll holiday” initiative was a yearly tradition for the company to grant motorists temporary free access to the expressways to celebrate the holidays.
“From 10:00 pm on December 24 to 6:00 am on December 25, we will open all our expressways—STAR, SLEX, Skyway, NAIAX, TPLEX—for free to all motorists. We are doing the same from 10:00 pm of December 31 to 6:00 am of January 1. This is an annual tradition that we do for the benefit of motorists, especially those who have to see family in other parts of the city or have to go home to the provinces,” Ang said.
He said in the previous years, many motorists would use the opportunity to travel and spend time with family, friends and loved ones from other parts of the city or nearby provinces.
Motorists passing through NLEX, SCTEX, CAVITEX, C5 Link, and CALAX will enjoy toll-free travel on Christmas and New Year.
No toll fees will be collected on all MPTC expressways from 10:00 p.m. of December 24 to 6:00 a.m. of December 25 and from 10:00 p.m. of December 31 to 6:00 a.m. of January 1, 2021.
“This simple treat is part of our group’s initiative to give back to our customers especially this holiday season,” said Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. president and CEO Rodrigo Franco.
Franco also said that all MPTC expressways were ready for the expected surge in traffic with the implementation of the “Safe Construction and lane closures along the expressways’ mainline, which have been suspended until January 5, 2021, unless safety repairs were necessary. At NLEX-SCTEX, free 24-hour towing service to the nearest exit for Class 1 vehicles will also be available on December 26 and 27 and Jan 2 to 3, 2021.
The traffic situation will be relayed to motorists through variable message signs and via regular updates on the social media accounts of NLEX Corp., CAVITEX, and CALAX.