No Easytrip or Autosweep RFID? Insufficient load? Pay expensive fines, penalties starting August 31, 2024
By this time, every motorist should know that an RFID tag from Easytrip and/or Autosweep is required to enter and exit tollways. The shift towards cashless payments kicked into high gear early last year and soon, the Toll Regulatory Board sees all vehicles using the expressways using valid tags to be able to use them. In a bid towards the urgency of installation, a notice of revised guidelines including penalties for violations was published and will take effect on August 31, 2024.
Make sure you have RFID tags installed and that they have enough load
Photo: NLEX Corp.
Earlier this year, SMC, the operator of expressways including Skyway and NAIAX, identified a major cause of traffic buildup at tollgates, and that’s because of vehicles that have valid RFID tags but do not have sufficient load. At that time this made up 15% of all vehicles entering the tollways. This is just for SMC-operated tollways and does not include those lining up at the Tag Only lanes and not at the installation booths. We can only imagine how many motorists have done that, inadvertently or not.
This said, the Toll Regulatory Board via Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2024-001 so titled “Revised guidelines for all vehicles traveling on toll expressways” announced fines and penalties for erring motorists. These are as follows.
Photo: NLEX Corp.
I. Entering a limited access highway without the required valid electronic identifier (ETC Device), including dilapidated ETC Device, shall be penalized as “No Valid ETC Device” with a penalty of:
- First offense = PHP 1,000
- Second offense = PHP 2,000
- Subsequent offenses = PHP 5,000 per offense
II. Exiting the toll expressway with insufficient account balance to pay the required toll fee shall be penalized as “Insufficient Load” with a penalty of:
- First offense = PHP 500
- Second offense = PHP 1,000
- Subsequent offenses = PHP 2,500 per offense
III. For public, road safety, and security purposes, the use of fraudulent, tampered, or fake ETC Device and E-Card upon entry and exit on toll expressway shall be penalized as “Fraudulent or Falsified ETC” with a penalty of:
- First offense = PHP 1,000
- Second offense = PHP 2,000
- Succeeding offenses = PHP 5,000 per offense
Any violation of these RFID policies will entail an entry into the tollway’s Daily Violation Report to be filled out by an LTO or deputized traffic enforcer/personnel. A Show-Cause Order (SCO) will then be issued for the Driver-Violator if his or her information is available. If not, the SCO will be issued to the registered owner/operator of the vehicle that violated the RFID policies.
Should there be a failure in identifying a Driver-Violator (AKA it was not the owner driving the vehicle at the time of “apprehension”), the owner/operator will be fined PHP 2,000 per violation and the vehicle logged in violation of RFID policy/policies will be put on alarm until such time that a name is provided.
A similar alarm will be placed on vehicles whose owner/operator/driver refuses to replace his/her ETC Device or RFID sticker despite notifications to do so. This alarm will remain in place until this has been complied with.
For any same vehicle or Driver-Violator who will have logged three (3) instances of any violation of these RFID policies within a 12-month period, the vehicle may be put on alarm by the LTO or the Driver-Violator’s Driver’s License may be confiscated by Deputized Transportation Regulation Officers. A 90-day License suspension of the Certificate of Registration of a vehicle in constant violation of these RFID policies may also be meted out following a recommendation by Law Enforcement Services and the approval of the LTO Assistant Secretary. This will require the immediate surrender of the vehicle’s License Plate.
Photo: NLEX Corp.
Outside of these policies or new laws, there remains the issue of malfunctioning RFID readers that also cause traffic. That’s currently being reviewed following a Senator’s call to allow toll-free passage should this happen, but as of now, no update on this proposal has been mentioned. But that’s a different issue pertaining to RFIDs altogether.
Should you need to have RFID tags for Autosweep and/or Easytrip installed 13, you can refer to our handy guide to their installation sites.
All these said, consider yourselves warned, ladies and gentlemen. August 31, 2024, will see these new penalties and fines implemented and enforced, so don’t be caught unaware. Or with an insufficiently loaded RFID account.
They should first improve their system before they impose fines. That’s passing the buck to the public and owners of vehicles. There are times that their machines cannot read the installed RFID, so the drivers have to look for their cards and present them. I have experienced this a lot of times. It’s their incompetence and they want the vehicles owners/drivers to pay for or relieved them of such incompetence. They will blame the machines/computers, the drivers/owners, but not THEMSELVES. That sucks 😡😡😡