The Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation’s Easytrip system has been plagued with inefficiencies that came to light during the beginning of the RFID fiasco. Long queues of disgruntled motorists have often resulted from glitches such as malfunctioning barriers and unreliable scanners. In addition, customer service has been sketchy at best with unsolved user problems or unanswered client calls.

But the NLEX/SCTEX operator has promised to make amends for its past inadequacies by transforming the tollway experience into something a little more pleasant (or less infuriating, at the very least).

To solve the problem of slow scanners, 56 toll lanes will have their antennas tweaked for more efficiency. This is said to equip these lanes with an “advanced reading” capability, which could mean that the reader will be able to detect RFID stickers a lot faster. The project is slated for completion in the third quarter of this year. And as a backup measure in case of sensor or tag failures, more tollbooths will be equipped with wireless Easytrip card readers.

In order to boost traffic flow, select toll plazas are now equipped with automatic license plate recognition. The ALPR is an experimental system that makes use of cameras to quickly read license plates without having the vehicle come to a complete stop. Those have passed through Mindanao Avenue, Karuhatan and Paso de Blas tollbooths may have already seen the ALPR devices in action.

MPTC’s software will also get some upgrades to allow for faster data transfers. Transactions will now be reflected on user accounts in less than five minutes. Furthermore, there is a new online portal from which subscribers can generate statements of account and enroll in automatic debiting. This is on top of the various service providers that MPTC has partnered with for hassle-free reloading of RFID credit.