STAR Tollway Toll Fee Increase : Pabor Ka Ga?

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Today, January 1, 2009, the STAR Tollway Corporation (along with Coastal Road management) has increased the toll rates to about 18-25%. The STAR Tollway (Southern Tagalog Arterial Road) is the alternative way most Batanguenos use coming from and going to Manila. The main stops of STAR, also known locally as CALABARZON, are Lipa City and Batangas City.

Here are the new Toll Fees in case you will be using the Star Tollway soon.  If you would like to join a petition for the rollback of the Toll Fees, please read on.

	Class 1	Class 1	Class 2	Class 2	Class 3
	Old Rates	NEW RATES	Old Rates	NEW RATES	NEW RATES
Sto. Tomas-Batangas City	44	55	88	109	164
Sto. Tomas-Lipa City	24	29	47	58	87
Lipa City-Batangas City	20	26	40	52	77

 

I am a frequent user of Star Tollway and these new toll rates do not sit well with me.  According to ABS-CBN’s report, the main reason for the increase is that the management haven’t changed their toll fees for 3 years now.  Is this reason good enough for you? 

I don’t think so. Toll fee dormancy should not in any way be the reason to increase the rates.   In the real world, especially the products business, you only increase your asking price if 1) the price of your raw materials increased considerably and 2) you improved your service immensely.  Both of course does not apply to the STAR Tollway.   

I thought of several reasons why they should not  be even raising the rates right now.

1.  Fuel prices are down.  The P33 per liter of gasoline was almost the price of gas three years ago. 
2. The newly opened route from Lipa City to Batangas City uses only one two-way tollway instead of two.   I believe this is one of the most dangerous sections of the tollway, because there are too many cars overtaking on too many blindsides.  Slow delivery vans chugging at 50 km/h run alongside and opposite the Toyota Fortuners going at 120 km/h that sometimes I wonder how many accidents actually happened in that section since its opening on April 2008.   If they have built and opened the other tollway, it might justify the current increase.
3. Service has not been improved.  There are rush hours (especially in the morning) when only one toll gate in Sto. Tomas is open, causing delays for motorists.
4. The traffic caused by the improper entrance and exits at Lipa City takes precious money and time from helpless motorists.  The management should do something about their traffic implementations in Lipa before they can think of raising the toll fees.  I have never seen Lipa City this congested.  (This is indirectly related to the topic at hand but says something about the STAR Tollway management).

I can think of other reasons why the increase is not justifiable, but I would be stopping here. Now, I am asking you to leave your comments and your experiences with STAR Tollway and tell us if you are in favor of or against the increase.

Ayon din sa report ng ABS-CBN, may tatlong buwan daw ang mamamayan upang magpasa ng petisyon sa pagpapabalik ng dating Toll Rate.  Bilang mga responsableng Batangenyo, pag-usapan natin kung tama lamang ba ang nasabing pagtataas na sadyang makakapagbago ng ating pamumuhay.  Iwanan nyo sana ang inyong mga reaksyon sa ibaba.