Implementation of cashless, unified toll collection system seen 'within the year' — TRB

The government’s plan to establish a unified or “interoperable” electronic toll collection system across all expressways is expected to be implemented simultaneously with the adoption of full cashless tolling within this year, according to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

In a chance interview with reporters Tuesday, TRB Executive Director Alvin Carullo expressed optimism that the cashless toll collection in all expressways, which was supposed to take effect March 15, will happen “within the year.”

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon earlier ordered the TRB to suspend the cashless toll system’s implementation this month, pending further review.

“The secretary is studying the present situation … specifically with respect to the account management system and also the, of course, RFID issues,” Carullo said.

The TRB chief said Dizon directed the toll regulator to resolve issues hounding the implementation of cashless toll collection “as soon as possible.”

With this, Carullo said, “We will simultaneously implement cashless together with the interoperability… for the interoperability, our target is also within the year.”

Toll operators have earlier voiced that the adoption of a cashless tolling system is needed for the full interoperability of electronic toll collection across all expressways.

Carullo said both the TRB and the toll concessionaires are working to resolve issues such as “account management system, like for example the real time charging of loads…”

“For interoperability, we will be conducting what we call the proof of concept (POC)) testing. We will conduct it somewhere around August-September… [then] we can have a dry-run in two months,” he said.

“Hopefully within the year, we can implement both the contactless and interoperability,” he added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News