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MANILA - Motorists soon can enjoy the convenience of passing through the tollgates of the Manila-Cavite Expressway without having to grope for peso bills and loose change, as the tollway operator rolls out electronic payment cards on July 16.
Concession-holder Cavite Infrastructure Corp., Malaysia's RTS Technology Sdn. Bhd. and the Toll Regulatory Board on Thursday signed an agreement to adopt the E-TAP card for toll payments along the 14-kilometer CAVITEX.
“We are proud to unveil this project in cooperation with CIC. CAVITEX is a good starting point in helping us realize the inter-operability of all toll expressways,” said Edmund Reyes Jr., TRB executive director.
The E-TAP is a reloadable smartcard that uses the technology of credit cards, such that motorists need only tap the card on a reader at the tollgate and the payment is electronically deducted from the card's stored value.
CIC said 3,000 E-TAP cards will be given out to motorists for free on July 16, after which they can buy the cards for as much as P25 each.
“Compared to other toll operators that charge P1,700 per card, the E-TAP card costs very little only. Right now the penetration rate of e-toll payment system is very low so there is a big opportunity for the market to grow. The technology embedded on this card is universal which means that other toll operators can follow suit. If and when it happens, then it would be very easy, faster, convenient to all motorists who ply the country’s expressways,” said Reyes.
Andrew Deyto, CIC president, said use of the E-TAP cards would speed up traffic flow through the tollgates.
"The transaction will take two to three seconds only. The motorists just have to tap the card on the card reader. The load balance can be viewed also upon tapping so the amount left in the card is easily tracked and reloading can be done by the teller also," he said.
Last May, Standard & Poor's Rating Services cut its rating on the outstanding $15.06 million Series 2010-1 notes issued by Manila Cavite Toll Road Finance Co. to 'CCC' from 'CCC+' and withdrew its rating at the company's request. At the time of rating withdrawal, the outlook was negative.
S&P said it cut the rating "because traffic volume of 11,000-11,500 vehicles a day on the extension road continued to be below our expectation of closer to 20,000 vehicles a day by end of first quarter 2012."
"The lower rating also reflected our view that the creditor and bondholder protection structure in the project is weaker after the Series 2010-1 bond tender exercise," said S&P credit analyst Allan Redimerio.
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