RFID system on Holy Wednesday malfunction based on reports received by Speaker Martin Romuladez , Act CIS Partylist Representative Erwin Tulfo said.
According to Rep. Tulfo , “In NLEX which caused long lines at toll plazas and heavy traffic congestion last Holy Wednesday. In fact, this has been a long-standing complaint not only during holidays or high-demand events but is actually recurring on an everyday basis as suffered and endured by our citizens. Thus, I was instructed by Speaker Romualdez to look into the operations and maintenance of RFIDs of tollway operators and why the system lags and fails resulting in heavy traffic.”
“It is disheartening that during a time when our citizens seek ease and convenience in their journeys, they are instead met with long hours of delays and inconvenience due to the very automated systems designed to provide seamless toll collection. This also undermines the riding public who pay a premium to avoid traffic in other major thoroughfares but are met with heavy traffic in NLEX, SLEX and Skyway anyway “, he said.
In light of these concerns, Speaker Romualdez instructed Tulfo to invite the officials and executives of the concessionaires of tollway facilities such as the NLEX Corporation and San Miguel Corporation Infrastructure, among others, to shed light on the causes of these recurring system malfunctions, the mechanisms they have in place to resolve such system failures, and what collectively do to improve our tollways moving forward. For this purpose, the officials of the Toll Regulatory Board and DPWH are also invited to give a comprehensive background and solutions to this problem.
“On the other hand, if the heavy traffic congestion in expressways cannot be resolved, a review of the respective concession agreements of these tollway facility operators and grantees may be done by Congress to ensure that these entities are fulfilling their obligations to the government and the Filipino people.” Tulfo added.
Speaker Romualdez and the House of Representatives are committed to upholding the highest standards of infrastructure provision and service delivery. We urge the cooperation of stakeholders involved to work towards swift resolutions and the continuous improvement of our tollway operations for the benefit of all.