Skyway Stage 3 expressway motorists nearly halved from an average of 100,000 to around 60,000 as its operator started charging toll
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Monday (July 12).
Skyway 3 has a capacity for 200,000 vehicles per day.
However, Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corp. officials expect the numbers will return to pre-toll collection level in time, once other routes become congested.
After all, the Skyway 3 cuts travel time between Makati and North Luzon Expressway to around 20 minutes.
Using Skyway 3 also slashes travel between Alabang and NLEX to half an hour.
Operator San Miguel Corp. (SMC) allowed motorists to use Skyway 3 for free in the past seven months, since it opened last December, foregoing close to P3 Billion revenues.
When toll collection started this Monday, heavy traffic built up near toll booths of the expressway and on EDSA.
Instead of using Autosweep, some motorists used the wrong brand of RFID. Others had insufficient load.
Also, a number of motorists shunned the expressway to avoid paying the P264 toll from Buendia, Makati to Balintawak, Quezon City.
Regular motorists can always opt to use public roads instead of Skyway 3.
SMC maintained they can still benefit from the elevated expressway which is capable of diverting half of Edsa’s daily traffic volume.
“With more private vehicles diverted to Skyway 3, our public roads will be decongested,” SMC president Ramon S. Ang noted earlier.
“This will benefit public transportation, commuters and transporters of goods, who can opt to use the at-grade sections of the Skyway system where tolls are lower, as well as public roads which are free, as they are subsidized by government.”
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