Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon knocked some sense into private tollway operators recently by suspending the ‘no RFID, no entry’ policy being pushed haphazardly.
It has to be stressed that tollway operators have yet to perfect the cashless collection system that causes delays in entry and exit points. Numerous expressway users have complained that their RFID is not being read or not being read correctly.
And whatever happened to their pledge to interconnect their systems? The technology is there, being used in other countries. What’s keeping them from using this technology?
As pointed out by armchair observers, it’s not even a question of technology but the constitutionality of the policy — because it violates the freedom of abode and travel enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 constitution.
‘So what’s keeping the tollway operators from keeping the cash lanes or interconnecting their systems for the convenience of the public?’
The constitution says: “The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, ad may be provided by law.”
Is there an issue of national security, public safety, or public health being invoked here to deny the public whose vehicles don’t have RFID stickers access to expressways? Absolutely none!
It must also be stressed that there is no law or an order from the court that gives tollway operators the right to impose their senseless policy down our throats. It won’t surprise us a bit if, one of these days, somebody asks the Supreme Court to throw out this policy.
Toll operators insist that RFID stickers are free and are very easy to install in vehicles. Yeah, but what if a motorist lives in a faraway place and uses the expressways only once or twice a year? It would not be practical to get an RFID and load it with funds that you can use for many other things.
The practical and convenient way is to use the cash lane and pay the toll. But in pushing for the “no RFID, no entry” policy, they want to eliminate the cash lane.
Let’s get back to technology being used in other countries. European travelers like to regale us with stories of passing through various countries and not being stopped at tollways. If you don’t have RFID stickers, photos of you passing through tollways are taken and then sent to you. along with the bill.
Even in the United States, this is the practice.
So what’s keeping the tollway operators from keeping the cash lanes or interconnecting their systems for the convenience of the public?
The technology is there, waiting to be tapped. Or is everything due to greed?
