Star Tollway fees up by 8%

Lipa City, Batangas–Highway developer Star Infrastructure Development Corporation (SIDC) has implemented an eight percent increase on toll fees extracted from motorists plying the 42-kilometer Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) Tollway in Batangas.      SIDC General Affairs Department Administrator Louie Turgo said the increase took effect at 10 pm on July 10.

     The fees for Class 1 vehicles or cars and jeepneys passing the highway were raised from P55 to P60, while drivers of Class 2 vehicles or light trucks and buses who used to pay P109 will now have to pay P120 for toll fees.
     Class 3 vehicles or heavy trucks weren’t spared too, as they have to pay P179 from the original P164.
     SIDC made the announcement in the weekly Balitaan sa Tinapayan forum with the media held in a restaurant in Dapitan, Manila, held some two weeks ago.
     In a press conference, Turgo was quoted as saying that the toll fee increase – to be implemented in two schemes - was meant to recover the P132 million the company spent for the rehabilitation of the highway, which runs from Sto. Tomas town to Batangas City
     He said that eight percent toll hike was only interim and that they are planning to petition the Tollway Regulatory Board for an additional eight percent increase, which they expect to enforce once the petition was granted.
     He also claimed that the toll fee increase was agreed upon by the Star Tollway’s stakeholders, including the Batangas provincial board, in a multi-sectoral forum called by the SIDC, where the developer explained the reasons for seeking a 16 percent increase on toll fees.
     Turgo however said that they will revert back to the old toll rates once the SIDC fully recovers its investment for the project.
     The SIDC administrator said they expect to fully implement the 16 percent increase in toll fees by January 2012.
     Jeepney and service van drivers are opposing the tollway fee increase, saying it will only mean an added cost for their daily expenses.
     “I’m not in favor (of the increase) because we’re already suffering from the minuscule income we have now, with the less passengers and soaring prices of gasoline,” said driver Rolando Argame, who earns an average daily income of P200 to P500 in transporting passengers from Lipa City to the Crossing Terminal in Calamba City, Laguna.
      Of the said income, he said he already spends P300 for gasoline, P40 goes to the payment for the queue in the jeepney terminal, and P58 for the tollway fee.
     Since the tollway fee increase took effect, Argame said that he now pays an additional P6 for the toll fee, which is already a huge blow, with the little amount of income that an ordinary driver like him earns.
     He also thinks it was unfair on the part of SIDC to impose additional fees on the motorists just to immediately recover their capital from the project.
     “It’s their business and it will forever be theirs. Everyday, we always pass that highway and they will eventually recoup their investments,” said Argame, father of four children and head of the Lipa Bus Stop Calamba Jeepney Drivers Association.
     Donato Perez, a van driver plying the Lipa City – Sta. Rosa route, said he’s also not in favor of the tollway hike as it will not only be an added cost on his daily transportation expenses but the highway’s low infrastructure quality makes it not worth the price.
     “The roads in the Star Tollway haven’t changed anyway. Ask all the drivers and they will tell you that the roads are poorly built. Our vehicles tremble whenever we pass through (the highway),” said Perez, who earns an average daily income of P300 from transport.
     “Those investments can be recovered in time. They will not close the highway anyway,” he added. (Marlon Alexander Luistro)