RFID: Seamless travel, cashless payments, interoperability, long installation queues

Romar Fernando

October 28, 2020

• Everyone dreams a smooth and seamless travel most especially when we are out of town for a family gathering, vacation, or recreation.

  In connection to this, it is great that the past weeks and months are filled with good news about our metropolitan’s infrastructure developments, even in the middle of COVID-19.

  How does it feel to have an expressway linkage for La Union to Batangas with the completion of Skyway stage 3? Isn’t it great that you can travel to Baguio City for just three hours? And isn’t it wonderful that our tollways are converting into cashless system?

  

  Photo Credit: Sharleen Banzon

  The recent policy on the use of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) stickers is surely a game changer and will serve motorists seamless travel they have wanted all their lives. Because payments become electronic, motorists will not be knocked off by long queues anymore.

  For everyone’s information, there are two RFID providers in our expressways. These are the Easytrip RFID by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation and the Autosweep RFID by San Miguel Corporation Infrastructure.

  

  Photo Credit: Cavitex Facebook Page

  Easytrip RFID serves motorists traversing Cavite Expressway (CavitEx), C-5 Link, Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CaLaX), North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx). Meanwhile, Autosweep RFID serves motorists crossing South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), Skyway, Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway (NAIAX), Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) Tollways, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), and Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX).

  A common concern that you can see in the comments sections either of both corporations, government agencies and news portals is, “Do motorists need to provide themselves with both RFIDs?” “Why not make it unified?”

  According to a reliable source of Top Gear Philippines, the interoperability issues of both RFID systems, on its failure of sensors to read tags, boil down to the type of USB systems used by MPTC and SMC.

  Easytrip uses an older type of USB system, and because of this, Autosweep is more capable and effective at reading and processing transactions. Easytrip also leaves the subscriber more prone to being stuck at payment lanes. Say you got an Autosweep sticker and account first, then you proceeded to an Easytrip installation site to apply for an Easytrip account that’s linked to your Autosweep sticker. So, you have two accounts under one sticker. In this case, the Easytrip scanners at payment lanes sometimes have difficulty reading your Autosweep sticker, and the barrier only opens after an attendant manually scans your Easytrip account card. Top Gear Philippines wrote in an article dated October 19, 2020.

  

  Photo Credit: Asian Development Bank

  As of this writing, the November 2 deadline of getting into fully cashless transactions was moved to December 1 by the Department of Transportation. This will surely give motorists ample time to register and make installations. In complying with the Department Order No. 2020-012, motorists expressed frustrations and now are cramming and herding in long queues at installation stations.

  Well, it is a basic truth that things surround us always have its advantages and disadvantages.

  Maybe at this stage, we’re on the realms of drawbacks but sooner or later we’ll get its benefits and gains.

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