After serving over 119 million motorists last year, NLEX Corporation is enhancing its systems for better customer service in 2022, the toll operator announced.

The initiative includes installing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) early detection feature, along with software upgrades of RFID card readers or contactless terminals, system servers and replacement of toll lane equipment, the company said in a statement.

NLEX said it will equip 29 more toll lanes with enhanced scanners for faster RFID detection.

An additional 50 toll lanes will have new contactless terminals where customers can tap their Easytrip card to process their RFID transactions.

Once completed, a total of 217 toll lanes will now have RFID early detection features and 258 toll lanes with contactless terminals.

The toll operator is also upgrading its system servers and replacing traffic control gates, as well as lane status and toll fare indicators in 187 toll lanes.

“It is imperative for us to serve our customers well," said Luigi L. Bautista, president and general manager of NLEX Corporation.

Tollway personnel assisted more than 63,000 motorists who used the NLEX-SCTEX system last year when their vehicles broke down or when they got into accidents.

"We are improving our operations so we can provide them with a quick and seamless experience both in our expressways and digital channels,” he explained.

As part of its digital transformation, the tollway firm, together with other business units of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), will also launch an interactive chatbot system on its website and Facebook Messenger this year.

In addition, tollway frontliners such as lane associates, customer service personnel, and patrol crews continue to undergo specialized training to level up their customer service.

Stakeholder relations programs such as regular dialogues, consultations, and surveys and other customer touchpoints will likewise continue to get feedback from customers to understand their needs and address their concerns.

NLEX Corp. also reduced the average clearing time of obstruction during traffic incidents to 40 minutes from 42 minutes in 2020.

The increased visibility and prompt response of patrol crews significantly eased the traffic flow during peak periods as traffic incidents were swiftly cleared.

During last year’s Undas, NLEX-SCTEX emergency teams attended to 787 requests for assistance with an average response time of nine minutes.

Aside from these, the company completed the installation of RFID early detection features in 56 toll lanes and RFID card readers in 76 toll lanes.

Last year, the entire MPTC group launched an improved customer account management system for RFID subscribers, enabling them to generate their own statement of account for monitoring and self-enroll in the automatic debit arrangement for easier load replenishment.

More quick-time reloading options were also introduced including the rollout of the country’s first toll top-up using mobile load in partnership with Smart Communications.

Easytrip RFIDs can be reloaded just by sending a text message using Smart and TNT mobile numbers.

The company also launched the RFID account balance checking via SMS to further simplify customer access to their accounts.