PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCASTHE Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) said it has set a target of up to three years to roll out barrierless toll plazas.
“For barrierless, we are looking at a two to three year period… Right now, we are drafting the policy document,” TRB Executive Director Alvin A. Carullo told reporters recently.
The regulator also wants to make toll road ticketing systems cashless and interoperable within the year in the face of opposition from the Department of Transportation, which has called cashless systems anti-poor.
Mr. Carullo said that once the toll concessionaires introduce cashless systems and interoperability, barrierless would be the next step.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan has said that the company remains optimistic about the potential of barrierless despite the suspension of the cashless system.
In 2024, MPTC announced that it is planning to allocate up to P10 billion for a barrierless toll system.
Tollway operators have said that cashless is needed to enable interoperability among toll wallet systems and the eventual shift to barrierless.
MPTC is the tollway subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., alongside Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
