MANILA - The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution urging the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to suspend an order that mandates all toll plazas to operate using cashless transactions alone, saying that toll concessionnaires are not yet ready to fully implement the scheme.

Senate Committee on Transportation chair Grace Poe's resolution underscored the need to maintain several lanes for cash payments after motorists complained of faulty radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners as well as the slow and lengthy process for obtaining RFIDs.

"The resulting problem is not merely confined in the area where the electronic toll collection systems are located," Poe said in plenary.

"The traffic jams they cause extend to nearby cities and municipalities which, in turn, paralyzes local economies. Not to mention that the holiday season will surely exacerbate what is an already worsening problem," she said.

Poe said the DOTr and toll operators should first implement the following changes before resuming a purely cashless transaction scheme:

• Allow cash lanes in consideration of infrequent and first-time users of expressways
• Remove penalties for insufficient cash balances as this should not be a traffic violation and may be remedied at the next reloading opportunity
• Impose a deadline on interoperability before a deadline for cashless transaction is imposed
• Create a policy on dormant accounts and the accumulated amounts that is expected to pile up through time
• Resolve all other issues for a better cashless and contactless toll system

Other senators backed Poe's resolution, citing personal experiences the complaints of constituents heading to and from northers cities and provinces.

"We cannot allow them to continue this system which is inutile and faulty," Sen. Joel Villanueva, whose family lives in Bulacan, said.

"Kung hindi gumagana yung sistema, wag natin ipilit," he said.

(If it is not working, let's not force it.)

Sen. Richard Gordon noted that operators of the North Luzon Expressway only took time to correct technical glitches in its system after Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian suspended its license to operate after the inefficiency in its toll plazas cause heavy traffic in northern parts of Metro Manila.

"[After] backlash from the public after many days of bearing the congestion... that's the only time they acted," he said.

"We're not willing to take it anymore," he said.

Sen. Francis Tolentino questioned toll operators' plans for tellers who may lose their jobs due to the cashless system.

"Kung lahat cashless na, saan mapupunta yung mga kahera na nasa booth?" he said.

Sen. Pia Cayetano said the Senate should clarify that the chamber is not against digital payments, but is only looking to improve the system.

"Obviously going cashless immediately is futile," she said.

"We are not trying to change the objective of going cashless... we just want them to do it well," she said.

Poe said most of the questions raised in plenary would be asked during the Senate's hearing on RFID issues later this week.

Poe earlier said that Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade would be summoned to the hearing to answer queries about the issues in the RFID system.

The said hearing is scheduled on December 17.

• 'System isn't ready': Senate panel to summon DOTr chief Tugade over RFID mess

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv