If you travel from South to North or vice-versa everyday via the Skyway, then you’d know they tried to implement a new payment scheme earlier this week and it led to an EDSA-like traffic jam.
Under the new payment scheme, motorists need to stop at two toll booths: the payment booth and the new booth where they need to surrender their payment slips. The Skyway management stated that the new scheme was implemented to facilitate faster toll collection and handle increased traffic volume. This wasn’t what happened, though, and people took to social media to vent their anger.
See some of the tweets below:
Whoever decided to put the tollgate in the middle of the skyway deserves an award for "genius" of the year 🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼
— MLLN (@marcissy) January 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/duchannesgirl/status/957800787131842560
Skyway is the new EDSA. 😑 such a bad idea to move the toll in the middle of the skyway. #REFUND
— Andi Manzano Reyes (@andimanzano) January 29, 2018
Congratulations on your new skyway traffic scheme! @SkywaySOMCO Project of the Year!!!
— Josh (@JJoshP) January 28, 2018
To skyway management, am just about to miss my flight. Over 2 hours to get to terminal 3, double usual time due to a skyway toll booth relocation that messed up whole of slex NB. How can you do this & without fair warning? Anyone accountable? @SkywaySOMCO
— Anthony Pangilinan (@apangilinan) January 29, 2018
Are you serious? If you guys are really trying to improve ways to make traffic better, please discontinue and scrap out the new toll system you just implemented because it is causing massive inconvenience to thousands people who supposedly uses skyway for “convenience”.
— Shenna KM (@shennakudo) January 29, 2018
To the idiot who oversees and executes the plans for Skyway, I thought your single lane Alabang exit was pure myopic jackassery, but clearly you've outdone yourself with that toll gate in the middle of Skyway. Bravo, you cretin.
— Coños of Manila (@ManilaConyos) January 29, 2018
Even Rep. Ruffy Biazon of Muntinlupa City said that the new system “actually made things worse” and that the experience was like “being thrown into the lower basement of hell.”
Just read the public outrage against @SkywaySOMCO at #skyway . I share the sentiments of fellow skyway users. The new system actually made things worse. It's like being thrown into the lower basement of hell.
— Ruffy Biazon (@ruffybiazon) January 29, 2018
The Congressman immediately wrote to Mr. Manuel Bonoan, the President and CEO of the Skyway O&M Corporation to request a dialogue regarding the new toll collection system that was implemented.
My letter to Skyway O&M Corporation, drafted and signed as soon as I got to the office. Now sending it to them electronically, hard copy to follow. @SkywaySOMCO pic.twitter.com/kKA3IM4l0b
— Ruffy Biazon (@ruffybiazon) January 30, 2018
After four days of public outrage and severe traffic jams, the corporation was forced to return to their old “pay as you enter” scheme and issued the following statement:
— SKYWAY SOMCO (@SkywaySOMCO) January 30, 2018
“As always, we continue to adjust to our motorists’ needs and that includes exploring better ways to implement this transition to a new toll collection system in the future. We still believe the new system can benefit a greater number of people over the long term,” they stated.
DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade has also ordered the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to scrap the new payment scheme and said that no new scheme may be put in place until the public can be assured that it will be implemented smoothly.
Traffic soon returned to normal after the new scheme was scrapped, with motorists telling the corporation: “don’t fix something that is not broken.”
Northbound skyway today, after @SkywaySOMCO reverted to old collection procedure. In the past two days under their new system, it was EDSA-like flow at this same time in the morning. pic.twitter.com/BFKT6XKQKb
— Ruffy Biazon (@ruffybiazon) January 30, 2018
We won!!!! https://t.co/xrfv9J9WGJ Skyway reverts to old toll payment scheme amid public outrage
— Erik Matti (@ErikMatti) January 30, 2018
@SouthSnippets @SkywaySOMCO @alabangbulletin Sucat to Buendia exit 20mins. Now that is the skyway we know and pay for. Don't fix something that is not broken 😉
— chefgrazie (@graziekitchen) January 31, 2018
