NLEX Corp. says traffic solutions agreed upon during meeting with Valenzuela LGU

NLEX Corp., the operator of North Luzon Expressway, and the city government of Valenzuela have agreed on several measures to resolve traffic jams resulting from the RFID cashless payment scheme along toll plazas within the city.

“NLEX Corp. thanks Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian for the opportunity to present our concrete solutions on improving local traffic conditions by reducing toll plaza congestion, managing RFID sticker issues, and responding to motorist reloading requests,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Monday, NLEX Corp. and Gatchalian had a meeting and decided that the tollway firm would finish first upgrading its system by January 2021 before the suspension order on the company’s business permit will be lifted.

With this, NLEX Corp. said it had earlier reopened cash lanes in all toll plazas of the expressway network in anticipation of an influx of holiday travelers.

“Among the immediate operational traffic solutions agreed include the transfer of RFID sticker installation and account reloading transactions away from the toll gate,” it said.

For current RFID customers, NLEX Corp. said it committed to add new RFID toll lanes in both Karuhatan and Mindanao toll plazas.

“This will allow existing current RFID users to have better access to the RFID lanes and improve their travel time,” it said.

To service other motorists still needing RFID stickers, the tollway firm said the installation site at Karuhatan toll plaza will be relocated to the Santolan overpass area inside the expressway.

Similarly, the installation site in Mindanao toll plaza will also be relocated about 500 meters inside the expressway near the Que Grande overpass area.

Motorist requests for accounts reloading will be entertained after the toll gates and will be transacted after entry, NLEX Corp. said.

“It was agreed that these measures will minimize the bottlenecks at the Karuhatan and Mindanao toll gates and achieve a more efficient use of the limited road space specially during rush hours,” the company said.

In response to customers complaints regarding their RFID stickers, NLEX Corp. said it committed to accelerate the ongoing sticker replacement program and will boost the implementation through a targeted text blast to better reach out to customers

“Additional traffic solutions are the further enhancement of traffic management operations, improvement of customer assistance at the toll lanes, as well as accelerating the customer communication campaign on RFID reloading,” it said.

To address potential traffic queuing at the toll gates during rush hours, NLEX Corp. said it also offered to implement “barrier up” operations in all Valenzuela city toll gates.  

“The agreed traffic solutions address most of the concerns being raised by the City Government, and we commit to work closely with the office of the Valenzuela City Mayor from hereon,” it said. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News