BOCAUE — As Christmas and New Year holidays approach, NLEX Corporation reactivates “Safe Trip Mo, Sagot Ko” (SMSK) motorists assistance program in preparation for the expected increase in traffic volume starting December 22, 2023 up to January 2, 2024.
SMSK aims to enhance expressway services during peak periods for a safer and more convenient trip. During its implementation, the tollway company will be deploying over 1,500 traffic, toll, and systems personnel for increased patrol visibility and toll plaza assistance.
Emergency medical services and incident response teams will also be fielded and positioned at strategic areas of the expressways while the customer service hotline 1-35000 and NLEX Corporation’s social media pages @NLEXexpressways will be fully manned to address customer concerns 24/7.
“This is the first Christmas and New Year where Filipinos will be able to celebrate without a state of public health emergency. Please plan your trips well as we expect high traffic volume during these days,” said NLEX Corporation President and General Manager, J. Luigi Bautista.
High traffic volume is being anticipated in the following major toll plazas:
- Balintawak, Mindanao, and Tarlac on December 22 around noontime until late in the evening of December 23 and noontime of December 29 until late in the evening
- Tarlac on December 25, 26 and January 1
- Bocaue on early afternoon until midnight of December 25 and 26, morning of December 27, afternoon to midnight of December 29, and January 1 noontime until late in the morning of the following day
Aside from additional manpower, NLEX-SCTEX also assures the availability of all its lanes on the said dates. Construction and lane closures along the mainline road of the NLEX-SCTEX are suspended, unless emergency safety repairs are necessary, from December 15 up to January 2, 12 noon. Traffic management teams will also closely monitor the chokepoint areas such as the Harborlink, Meycauayan, Bocaue, Candaba Viaduct, San Simon, San Fernando, Dau, Mabalacat ramps, and the TSFs.
To complement the traffic management measures, free towing to the nearest exit for class 1 vehicles will be available on the following dates: from 6:00 am on Dec. 22 up to 6:00 am on Dec. 24; 6:00 am on Dec. 26 up to 6:00 am on Dec. 27, 2023; and 6:00 am of Dec. 30 up to 6:00 am of Jan. 2, 2024. Regular traffic updates will also be posted on NLEX Corporation’s social media pages together with a 24/7 streaming of live traffic situations at key areas on Facebook.
Furthermore, NLEX reminds its motorists that all its toll plazas are still 100% RFID as part of the Toll Regulatory Board’s dry run for cashless toll transactions. All motorists are advised to get their Easytrip RFID for faster toll transactions and remind RFID users to ensure that they have sufficient load balance before they travel to avoid inconvenience.
NLEX Corporation is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation. (UnliNews Online)
