Four years ago, the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) announced that cash lanes would remain on expressways until further notice after both the TRB and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) agreed to suspend the full implementation of cashless toll collection via RFID.

All of this came about after motorists experienced difficulties at toll plazas due to glitches and bugs. This then caused a buildup of traffic at toll plazas and motorists becoming stuck on the expressway. Since then, tollway operators have worked on improving their systems to avoid unnecessary downtimes for motorists using their expressways. In addition, tollway operators began adding more RFID lanes on their toll plazas while still accepting cash payments on select lanes via dry-runs to test their new and improved systems.

Fast forward to 2025, the TRB has announced that cashless/contactless toll collection will be fully reimplemented on March 15. This comes after the DOTr's issuance of Department Order No. 2024-022 which lifted D.O. No. 2021-003, or the Addendum to D.O. No. 2020-012, “Requiring Cashless or Contactless Transactions for All Vehicles Travelling on Toll Expressways”.

As a result, all motorists traveling along toll roads are required to have valid ETC or RFID stickers installed on their vehicles. Motor vehicles without valid RFIDs or ETCs will still be allowed to enter the expressway or toll plaza but will be required to have an RFID installed at a designated space near an installation site.

However, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), through its deputized personnel, will issue motorists without valid RFIDs on their vehicles either a Temporary Operator’s Permit or a Show Cause Order for violating the “No Valid ETC Device, No Entry” Policy under the DOTr/LTO/TRB’s Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2024-001. They will then be met with the corresponding penalty/penalties.

With that, all motorists who have yet to secure an RFID on their vehicles are encouraged to get one before entering an expressway and incurring any type of penalties.

Since the full implementation will take place a month from now, the DOTr, LTO, and TRB have directed tollway operators and RFID service providers to put up more RFID sticker installation sites and loading stations in and out of expressways. Moreover, they are also ordered to have different methods of loading RFID accounts through digital means, as well as simplifying the application and installation of RFID stickers on vehicles.

The DOTr, LTO, and TRB seek the cooperation and assistance of all the stakeholders to achieve efficient and smooth transactions; and faster, safer, and convenient travel, along all toll expressways.

The only question now is, have the tollway operators already ironed out the bugs and glitches that caused the full implementation to be suspended in the first place? We're also curious if the DOTr will continue to defer the “Insufficient load” penalties and if the TRB is serious about banning installing RFID stickers on headlights.

Update: New DOTr Secretary suspends "No RFID, no entry on expressways"