Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 23) — The North Luzon Expressway will raise toll fees starting November 25.
In a disclosure, NLEX Corporation through its parent firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said the previously-approved hike by the Toll Regulatory Board will be enforced beginning 12:01 a.m. of Wednesday.
The increase for class 1 or regular cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) is at ₱4 in the “open system,” where a flat rate is charged upon entry to the expressway. This covers Quezon City, Caloocan City, Valenzuela City, Malabon City, Navotas City, and Meycauayan and Marilao in Bulacan.
Buses and small trucks will pay an additional ₱10 while the biggest vehicles will pay ₱11 more.
In the “closed system,” which starts from Bocaue, Bulacan all the way to the Sta. Ines interchange and connection to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway or SCTEX, the increase is at six centavos per kilometer.
End-to-end travel from Metro Manila to Mabalacat, Pampanga will cost ₱9, ₱20, or ₱25 more depending on vehicle type.
The toll rate adjustment was due to the opening of the NLEX Harbor Link segment, an elevated extension of the expressway between the Caloocan Interchange at C3 Road and the Navotas Interchange along Mel Lopez Boulevard. This elevated road worth ₱7 billion opened to motorists on June 15, and is currently catering to 30,100 vehicles per day – mostly trucks.
Travel time from the Mindanao Avenue toll plaza to the Port Area in Manila is down to 20 minutes since the NLEX segment opened, with the toll operator saying some 7,200 vehicles have diverted their routes from the EDSA Balintawak Cloverleaf road.
NLEX earlier reported an 80-90% dip in toll road users due to COVID-19 lockdowns. More cars are back on the roads after travel rules were relaxed by the government.
NLEX is also in the middle of migrating to electronic payments via the installation of EasyTrip RFID stickers on vehicles ahead of the shift to fully cashless fee collections by December 1.
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