The House of Representatives will look into the operations and maintenance of the Radio Frequency-Identification (RFID) system after motorists experienced glitches in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) tollways during Holy Week, House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo said on Monday.

“I was instructed by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez to look into the operations and maintenance of RFIDs of tollway operators and why the system lags and fails resulting in heavy traffic,” said Tulfo, ACT-CIS party-list representative.

He said Romualdez received reports and complaints on malfunctioning RFID systems in NLEX which caused long lines at toll plazas and heavy traffic congestion last Holy Wednesday.

“In fact, this has been a long-standing complaint not only during holidays or high-demand events but is actually recurring on an everyday basis as suffered and endured by our citizens,” he added.

Tulfo said it is disheartening that during a time when travelers seek ease and convenience in their journeys, they are instead met with long hours of delays and inconvenience due to the very automated systems designed to provide seamless toll collection.

“This also undermines the riding public who pay a premium to avoid traffic in other major thoroughfares but are met with heavy traffic in NLEX, SLEX (South) and Skyway anyway,” he said.

Tulfo said officials and executives of the concessionaires of tollway facilities such as the NLEX Corporation and San Miguel Corporation Infrastructure, among others, will be invited to shed light on the causes of these recurring system malfunctions, the mechanisms they have in place to resolve such system failures, and “what we can collectively do to improve our tollways moving forward.”

He said the Toll Regulatory Board and Department of Public Works and Highway officials will also be invited to give a comprehensive background and solutions to this problem. (PNA)