Lower the expensive Skyway Stage 3 toll rates, urges House Committee leader
The Skyway Stage 3 may be the greatest way to avoid EDSA traffic. Being an expressway, of course, it comes with accompanying toll fees, toll fees which the chairperson of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development believes are “unaffordable to the average motorist”. Having come to this assessment, Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano calls on San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and the Department of Transportation to cut the tollway’s rates.
Skyway’s rates are too high, it seems
As if continuously increasing fuel prices aren’t difficult enough to deal with, using tollways such as the Skyway to avoid the normally-clogged EDSA adds to the expenses, and that can’t be a good thing. Yes, the operators of these tollways and expressways need a source of income for the upkeep and maintenance of the roads, but apparently, the existing toll fees are a bit high.
The business group Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has asked the government to declare a “state of traffic calamity” in Metro Manila and in line with this, Rep. Valeriano suggested the lowering of Skyway 3’s rates.
“Skyway 3’s impact on EDSA traffic was strongly felt when it was toll-free from December 2020 to July 2021, but after that most motorists chose to endure EDSA traffic because they could not afford the rates on Skyway,” Valeriano said.
“Buses from PITX, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas going to Central Luzon and further north should be taking the Skyway 3 instead of EDSA but the toll fee should not be exorbitant,” he added.
As we speak, SMC, the tollway’s operator, charges PHP 264 for Class 1, PHP 528 for Class 2, and PHP 792 for Class 3 vehicles from Buendia to North Luzon Expressway, and vice versa.
Aside from a toll fee reduction, Valeriano also proposed that the DPWH build elevated multi-level and multi-purpose parking facilities in strategic locations. “Elevated parking will clear roads of vehicles obstructing traffic and vendors that occupy sidewalks and lanes of roads. Elevated parking can be built on both private and public lots, abandoned lots, and expropriated lots,” Valeriano explained.
Fuel price hikes, horrendous traffic, and expensive toll fees, all have taken their toll on motorists’ wallets, there is no doubt about that. Do you think that Rep. Valeriano’s suggestions will work, though? Are these long-term solutions that can alleviate the already-aching pockets of the motoring public?
In any case, and until the toll fees are reduced, those who already have RFID tags and those who plan to have Autosweep (and Easytrip) RFIDs installed will just have to feel with the current fare matrix. That, and the traffic jams that have become a staple along Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare.
Will there be a quick resolution? We hope so.
