No more toll holiday for the City of Valenzuela as of December 16, 2020

After more than a week, the toll holiday imposed by the Valenzuela City government was lifted Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at 12:01 PM. This was made possible all because of the agreement settled by the two parties, namely the City Government of Valenzuela and North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corporation. Now, NLEX Toll plazas will be able to collect fees once again.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian has ordered the conditional lifting of NLEX’s business permit suspension. Both parties have agreed on several points which should allow motorists to cruise the major highway seamlessly and with better ease.

The first condition involves all RFID lanes in Valenzuela, wherein the following booths will be raised from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily, as toll fees will be collected during these hours. The barriers will then be down in all RFID lanes once 10:01 PM strikes up to 4:59 AM for safety reasons. Moreover, cash lanes in strategic locations will also be restored in the toll plazas of the city.

Now, most importantly, the RFID system and account management should upgrade in order to properly address the growing consumer complaints. This is to be done on or before January 30, 2021. 

Lastly, they’ve also agreed on creating a technical working group (TWG) that composes of the city government and some NLEX personnel who shall constantly meet and innovate traffic and account management.

Perhaps, after lifting the previous suspension, traffic along NLEX in Valenzuela city might lighten. As both parties believe that this is a suitable solution which should ease the burden among local motorists. That said, further improvements on its cashless system as well as the overall NLEX experience shall indeed occur in the near future.