NLEX Corp. reports ‘light traffic’ despite spike in figures

NLEX CORP. on Tuesday said the traffic flow at its toll plazas has improved after it carried out some measures to help control the congestion.

In an e-mailed statement, the tollway company reported that its average daily traffic had reached 323,000 from Dec. 18, 2020 to Jan. 4, 2021, or higher by 3,000 versus the traffic volume it saw in the first two weeks of December.

“We are delighted that even with the recent spike in traffic figures, we have not seen our toll plazas getting jampacked,” NLEX Corp. President and General Manager J. Luigi L. Bautista was quoted as saying.

Mr. Bautista attributed the improvement to the ongoing refinements the company is employing.

To recall, the Valenzuela City government suspended the business permit of the tollway company on Dec. 7 over the heavy traffic caused by the implementation of its cashless toll payment system.

Valenzuela City Mayor Rex T. Gatchalian lifted the suspension on Dec. 16 after both parties agreed to keep the toll barriers up on all lanes for vehicles with RFID stickers.

The tollway company said it is currently “working on some upgrades involving radio-frequency identification (RFID) antennas and account management systems.”

It added that it has already carried out some “enhancements in the RFID system for faster reading, repositioning of RFID installation sites, and relocation of cash and reloading lanes at the right side of the toll plazas for better traffic flow.”

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.’s (MPTC) tollways, including NLEX, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Cavite Expressway, and Cavite-Laguna Expressway, have so far installed a total of 2,076,252 RFID stickers as of Jan. 10, the tollway firm said.

MPTC is a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is one of the three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. The two others are PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Article and Photo originally posted by Business World last January 13, 2021, 12:05am. Minor edits have been made by REBPH to cater to its own readers.