Ang assures 'no more long lines' as SMC tollways go full cashless by Jan 11

See the full list of all of SMC's 156 installation sites
Jan 5, 2021

RAMON S. Ang is confident that the tollways under the San Miguel Corporation will be able to go full cashless by January 11.

“Even as we were preoccupied with soft-opening our Skyway 3 and then had a long New Year’s break, I’m happy to report to the public that we also reached our target 156 Autosweep RFID installation stations last December 29,” the SMC president and chief operating officer said in a statement released today.

SMC operates the STAR Tollway, the SLEX, the NAIAX, and the TPLEX.

As a result of the multiple installation sites set up over the past few months, “we’re no longer seeing long lines at the stations,” he added.

RFID stickers on vehicles became a sticking point when traffic jams greeted motorists on the first day of cashless implementation on major Luzon expressways last December 1. This became especially evident in the North Luzon Expressway (operated by NLEX Corp. under the MVP Group of Companies) to the point that Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian suspended NLEX Corp.’s business permit on December 7.

(It should be noted that tollways under SMC did not experience the same level of traffic during that day, according to a report from Top Gear Philippines.)

In today’s statement, SMC acknowledged the long lines that came as motorists, hoping to beat the December 1 deadline, rushed to have the stickers installed in October and November. It cited “ a shortage of RFID stickers—manufactured by suppliers abroad who also had to contend with pandemic restrictions in their countries” as one of the reasons for this.

However, Ang is confident that will no longer be the case moving into 2021, “with our continuous rollout of additional RFID stations which started November, and the completion of our target 156 stations by end-December.”

The company now operates 9 RFID centers, 18 gas station installation sites, 11 local government and Land Transportation Office sites, and 44 mall sites. It also has stickering sites in 3 major transportation terminal hubs, 2 Home Builders Depots and 3 showrooms. Eleven out of 156 installation sites are by appointment to manage traffic congestion in the areas.

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RSA emphasized that installation activities will still continue even after January 11.

For a full list of Auto Sweep RFID installation sites, see the images below.

Autosweep RFID installation sites

Autosweep RFID installation sites

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