Philippine Daily Inquirer reports, as his first official act, the new Philippines Transportation Secretary, Vivencio “Vince” Dizon, suspended a national toll agency directive that required all expressway operators to implement cashless toll collection in March. After being sworn in today, Dizon announced that the nation’s tollways would not go cashless for the foreseeable future. He maintains that the electronic toll system still needs to be “perfected” to eliminate technical issues, such as transponder detection failures. Dizon also characterized all-electronic tolling as “anti-poor” because financially stressed motorists lack the time to replenish their accounts. “The need to regulate should not result in making the lives of people difficult,” Dizon said. “I think this cashless thing is torture, so I don’t believe in it.”
ABS-CBN News also covers this story.
The Philippine Toll Regulatory Board issued its AET transition directive last Friday, February 14, in the interest of facilitating traffic flow at expressway toll points. The Philippines has a history of unsuccessful attempts to implement cashless collection.