MPCALA Holdings, Inc., the operator of Cavite Laguna Expressway (Calax) has installed automatic license plate recognition system (ALPR)  to provide motorists a more seamless and faster travel experience. 

An innovation in the toll road industry in the Philippines, the ALPR system allows barrier less entry of all vehicles plying the first segment of the CALAX, the 10.7-kilometer stretch that starts from the Mamplasan Entry and the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Interchange. 

As implementors of Republic Act 4136, also known as the “Land Transportation and Traffic Code”, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) reminds motorists, especially those passing the CALAX, to check their license plates before hitting the road. 

Section 18 of the said law states that: “The number plates shall be kept clean and cared for and shall be firmly affixed to the motor vehicle in such a manner as will make it entirely visible and always legible.”

Starting July 15, LTO deputized Patrol Crew assigned to the CALAX will strictly enforce the said law and will stop vehicles with dirty, dilapidated and/or damaged plates. 

Inconspicuous or unnoticeable plates, old vehicles with no license plates numbers, and those with improvised plates without a permit from the LTO, will also be flagged down.

Compliance to this rule ensures 100 percent readability of license plates as the vehicle passes through the ALPR system at CALAX Toll Plazas.

MPCALA also ensures that the information collected by the ALPR are processed, protected, and disposed in accordance with the Data Privacy Law, its implementing rules and regulations, and relevant issuances.

As part of efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 virus, CALAX constantly remind motorists to go cashless with Easytrip RFID.  

“We tirelessly inform motorists about the CALAX’s barrier less entry via the ALPR System and going cashless with Easytrip RFID as a means that enables quick pass through at the toll plazas, contactless, and convenient,” Arlette V. Capistrano, assistant vice president for Communication and Stakeholder Management of MPCALA said. 

“We will maximize all available technology and implement it not just here in CALAX, but also in CAVITEX, CAVITEX C5 LINK”, she added.

Before the implementation of the community quarantine, CALAX’s first 10.7-kms has served about 10,000 vehicles daily between SLEX Mamplasan Exit and the new CALAX Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Interchange. 

This was in the first three months of its toll-free operations. Partial operations started last October 30, 2019 in time for “Undas”, and commercial operations last February 2020.

The 45-kilometer CALAX is a 2×2 lane expressway that will soon connect the CAVITEX in Kawit, Cavite to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) at Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. CALAX has ten (10) interchanges, namely: Kawit, Open Canal, ProFriends, Governor’s Drive, Silang, Silang East, Santa Rosa-Tagaytay, Laguna Blvd., Technopark and Mamplasan.

Aside from the CALAX and CAVITEX network of toll roads, MPTC’s domestic portfolio includes the concessions for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), the NLEX Connector Road, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) in Cebu.