DOTr defers penalties for delinquent toll road users to Oct. 1

Jaime Bautista 

DOTR Secretary 

New tollroad guidelines that would penalize motorists for not having an electronic toll collection (ETC) device or insufficient RFID balance were postponed from Aug. 31 to Oct. 1 this year, the Department of Transportation announced.

The guidelines, outlined in Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) no. 2024-01, were signed on August 1 by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, LTO assistant secretary Vigor Mendoza II, and TRB executive director Alvin Carullo.

“We hope the concerned agencies and tollway operators would use the 30-day deferment to finetune expressway operations and further intensify the public information campaign to enable tollway users to comply with the new guidelines,” Bautista said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“These revised guidelines should significantly improve traffic along expressways through cashless or contactless toll plazas,” he added.

The JMC updates the roles of the LTO, TRB, DOTr, tollway operators, and users. It also enhances LTO’s oversight of tollway enforcers.

Since 2021, most toll lanes have been cashless, with only one lane accepting cash at toll plazas, following a DOTr order. Bautista urges tollway users to comply with the new guidelines.