MANILA — The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) on Monday said it has scrapped the policy of requiring motorists to keep a maintaining balance in toll payment accounts so that motorists can still use the cashless scheme even on a per-trip basis.

Motorists had to keep a P100 balance in their toll cards or RFID accounts to avoid it from being deactivated.

“Nag-devise po ang Toll Regulatory Board na from now on, hindi na po natin iri-require na may maintaining balance,” TRB Executive Director Alvin Carullo told Palace reporters.

“Puwede po silang magkarga kahit exact toll basta po may RFID sila… kahit tamang-tama lang po iyong i-load nila RFID load para makatawid po sa ating mga tollways,” he said.

As of May 2024, there are about 100,000 vehicles without toll RFIDs, the TRB chief said, noting that this accounts for 4.8 percent of motorists in the country.

Of the 95.2 percent that have installed toll RFIDs, 3.6 percent are not properly reloading their RFID accounts or wallets, leading to delays and long queues in toll plazas, data from the TRB showed.

“Mayroon talaga sa ating mga motorista na parang ang pananaw nila ay kapag nagkaroon sila ng RFID, iri-require na silang magkaroon ng maintaining balance,” Carulla said.

“Iyon pong ating mga kababayan na kakaunti rin ang kita, umiiwas po silang matengga iyong pera nila doon sa load,” he said.

The TRB has deferred until 2025 the issuance of penalties against motorists who have yet to install RFIDs and those who would have insufficient balances upon exiting a tollway, saying that toll operators also need time to perfect several issues in the payment system.