The 18-km elevated Skyway Stage 3 will be a no-truck zone dedicated to Class 1 vehicles with Autosweep RFID stickers starting Monday, July 12, 2021,
This should address safety concerns on the elevated expressway, at the same time, limit the risk of a spread of variants of the COVID-19 virus, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang announced this afternoon (July 7).
The toll operator made the announcement after the Toll Regulatory Board issued Skyway 3's Toll Operating Permit and Notice to Start Collecting Toll.
SMC pegged its total foregone revenues on Skyway 3 since it opened to the public for free late December 2020 at close to P3 billion.
“We continue to look for ways to improve safety and user experience on our expressways, especially the new Skyway 3," the SMC president noted.
"We have implemented a number of measures to ensure safety, prevent over-speeding, and facilitate the more efficient flow of vehicles while still providing motorists significantly reduced travel times,” he explained.
“Limiting Skyway 3 to regular or Class 1 vehicles will ensure safety for all users," Ang reasoned.
"With more private vehicles diverted to Skyway 3, our public roads will be decongested. 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.”
Regular motorists who will opt to use public roads instead of Skyway 3 also benefit from the elevated expressway which will divert 200,000 vehicles per day, half of Edsa’s daily traffic volume.
Meanwhile, the use of RFID minimizes the risk of Covid-19 infection among motorists and toll personnel, and ensures faster travel on the elevated expressway.
Currently, SMC estimates that around 80% of its motorists are RFID users since December 2020.