San Miguel tollways ready to go cashless by Jan. 11

The San Miguel Group on Tuesday said its tollways are ready to go fully cashless by the government-set deadline January 11, after reaching 156 radio frequency identification (RFID) installation sites for its Autosweep system.

In an emailed statement, San Miguel said it converted all but one of its 66 dedicated "onsite" or toll plaza stations into 24/7 stickering stations.

It also operates nine RFID centers, 18 gas station installation sites, 11 local government and Land Transportation Office (LTO) sites, and 44 sites, on top of stickering sites in three major transportation terminal hubs, two home builders depots, and three showrooms.

San Miguel Corp. currently operates the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) Tollway, the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Skyway, NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).

"Back in November, and again in mid-December, we committed to open over 100 new RFID stations in various locations before end of the year. 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 Dec. 29," said SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang.

"With our continuous rollout of additional RFID stations which started November, and the completion of our target 156 stations by end-December, we’re no longer seeing long lines at the stations. We will continue to serve and accommodate all motorists wanting to install their free Autosweep stickers as we approach the January 11 full implementation of cashless toll collection on all expressways set by government, and even after that," he added.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) earlier said it will not apprehend vehicles without RFID tags until January 11.

Both the Autosweep and the Easytrip systems — which cater to the expressways connected to Metro Manila — were earlier mandated to go contactless by December.

The Easytrip System covers the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), the Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEx), the C5 Southlink, and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX).

Under the first phase of the government's Toll Collection Interoperability Project, Autosweep tags will be readable at the Easytrip System, while the second phase will allow Easytrip RFID tags to be readable at the Autosweep System.—AOL, GMA News