NLEX to spend P1.2 billion for road improvements

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. subsidiary NLEX Corp. is spending P1.2 billion for capital expenditures this year to enhance and maintain the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) system.

NLEX said the investment would be used for various initiatives to upgrade the expressway’s infrastructure, toll collection system, and account management system.

The projects, which involve the upgrading of its core system and equipment, are seen helping improve the processing of lane transactions.

With these developments, NLEX said radio frequency identification (RFID) users, who constitute 70 percent of expressway motorists, could expect faster recording of passages, balances, and reloads, as well as easier tracking of individual and corporate accounts.

“We keep on investing in innovative solutions to make our processes more efficient and most importantly, make the experience of our motorists more pleasant and comfortable as possible,” NLEX president and general manager Luigi Bautista said.

Aside from conducting software upgrade and system migration, NLEX is also set to replace its toll system equipment within the year.

The tollway firm said close to 100 toll system equipment along the NLEX would be upgraded such as toll fare indicators, lane status indicators, traffic control gates, automatic vehicle classification devices, and loop detectors.

The project covers toll plazas in Balintawak, Karuhatan, Paso de Blas, Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Tabang, Sta. Rita, Pulilan, San Simon, San Fernando, Mexico and Angeles.

According to NLEX, the new equipment will boost operational efficiency as these will enable faster and more accurate transactions and guide motorists better at the plazas.

Since last year, Bautista said the company has been equipping the toll lanes with new technology devices and implementing system enhancements.

He said the upgraded system has significantly improved the RFID transactions from reloading to checking of account balances after passing at the lanes.

The improved data transmission between the Easytrip and NLEX toll collection systems allows real-time recording of lane entries and exits as well as immediate reflection in the RFID accounts of motorists their account balances and reloads done through quick reloading channels.

NLEX constantly reminds RFID users to be responsible motorists by maintaining sufficient balance in their account before traveling.

The tollway company has observed that a number of motorists repeatedly pass the RFID lanes without load or without enough load to cover their trips.

To avoid inconvenience, NLEX urged motorists to check their load balance through the MPT DriveHub mobile app, or via SMS.

Motorists with insufficient balance should top up either by using the DriveHub app or via online reloading partners or reloading stations.