MCX Management acknowledges issues in RFID scanning; Vows to improve their services asap

If you pass by MCX then you have experienced being stuck in traffic especially by the toll gates, and even more recently when the RFID-only order from the Department of Transportaion was implemented.

Although we don’t pass the area frequently, a lot of our followers have been sending us photos and videos of them being stuck in the turtle-like crawl that is the MCX toll booth.

“We take note of what motorists are saying and they are right that there are occasions that our scanners are not able to automatically read the RFID of some vehicles,” said MCX Operations Manager Joseph Canlas in an exclusive interview with Alabang Bulletin yesterday.

He then began narrating some of the developments, starting with the DoTr informing them about the conversion of toll booths to strictly RFID.

“The deadline was supposed to be November, so we were told about it around August,” he explained, saying they immediately converted most of their toll booths and added to comply with the order.

Prior to the deadline, they had two RFID lanes from Daanghari to SLEX (Entry) and three from SLEX to Daanghari (Exit).

“Now, there are four RFID booths at our Entry point and six booths for our Exit point,” he said, adding that there is still a Cash booth at both toll gates — one at the Entry and two at the Exit booths.

He also said that they have more or less identified why there are delays in the scanning of the sensors.

One is account-related. These are motorists without load, insufficient load or invalid load.

Second is the physical condition of the stickers. Sometimes, the stickers are in the wrong position, he said. Sometimes, windows are heavily-tinted. Some are exposed to the elements and become unreadable. For those issues, Canlas said they refer them to the Autosweep management.

He also mentioned that the RFID stickers being issued sometimes have their own quirks as well as not all were produced by one manufacturer so sensors sometimes have a hard time reading them.

Canlas was also quick to remind that they only run the toll booths but the RFID system is being managed by Autosweep, which includes loading, subscription, charging issues, etc.

“When problems regarding those arise, we refer motorists to Autosweep,” the MCX operations manager mentioned.

With regard to the issues with their sensors, Canlas said they are doing the best they can to make the upgrade to RFID as seamless as possible.

Aside from assigning more people in the toll booths to do manual scanning when their sensors can’t automatically detect the RFID in vehicles, they are also doing other things to improve the experience of motorists.

There are also certain regulatory matters that contribute to the scanners sometimes not working.

Canlas said they are currently waiting for an approvel of their request from the National Telecommunications Commission to upgrade the signal of their antenna and they are also in the process of procuring more sensors and other peripherals for better scanning, but that getting them from suppliers is taking more time than usual because of the pandemic.

“We’re seeing some challenges, which is usual when you launch an update, usual glitches but rest assured we are working 24/7 to sort these issues out,” said Canlas.

He said his team will be doing a series of tests this weekend so rest assured, there all motorists who pass by MCX will have a better experience.

“Medyo konting hassle, we apologize, but please believe that we’re doing our best,” expressed Canlas, saying there are many moving parts and they are working to connect all these parts and hopefully improve on the scanning issue within the quarter.