Toll Regulatory Board apologizes for traffic jams caused by RFID system issues

An official from the Toll Regulatory Board on Friday apologized for the Thursday morning traffic jams in some parts of the SLEX, Skyway, NAIAX, and STAR tollways caused by damaged fiber optic cables in the radio frequency identification (RFID) system.

"Ang aming tanggapan ay humihingi muna ng paumanhin sa inyo sa aberyang nangyari kahapon... Makikipag-ugnayan ang toll operators sa amin tungkol diyan sa pangyayaring 'yan sa hangarin po na wag na maulit ang mga ganyang bagay sa darating na panahon," TRB Spokesperson Julius Corpuz said in a public briefing.

(Our office apologizes for the disruptions that happened yesterday. The toll operators will be coordinating with us on this issue to prevent this from happening again in the future.)

As the body regulating all tollways in the country, Corpuz said they are holding regular audits in all toll systems to ensure that these are always functional.

"May regular checking po kami, audit sa mga toll collection systems nila. Lahat ng expressway na sakop namin, may regular audit po kaming ginagawa to ensure na ang mga makina, ang mga systems are always functional," he said.

(We have a regular audit on all toll collection systems. We regularly check these systems to ensure that all the machines and all the systems are always functional.)

"Dahil sa 'di maiiwasan, kung anumang kadahilanan-- ay dapat may intervention measures silang ipatupad kaagad nang sa ganon hindi naman po ma-inconvenience ang ating mga motorista na gumagamit ng ating mga expressway," he added.

(Though unavoidable, whatever the reason-- intervention measures should be implemented immediately so motorists using the expressway are not inconvenienced.)

On Thursday, San Miguel Corporation, which manages the SLEX, Skyway, NAIAX, and STAR tollways, said damaged fiber optics in their radio frequency identification system caused disruptions and traffic jams in some parts of the thoroughfares.

SMC apologized for the inconvenience and vowed to prevent this incident from happening again in the future. — DVM, GMA Integrated News