AutoExpreso users have until July 1 to catch up on toll payments
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
The island’s highway toll system began to phase in its range of services to drivers Monday after several weeks of inactivity as a result of a cyberattack last month.
Highways and Transportation Authority (ACT by its Spanish acronym) Executive Director Edwin González Montalvo on Sunday announced the return to service of the AutoExpreso system, which is under the charge of operating company Professional Account Management (PAM).
“From … Monday until Wednesday, there will be no automatic recharge. This is so that citizens can enter the system, where they can see if they would like to make a change,” González Montalvo said at a press conference. “Citizens can pause the automatic top-up or eliminate it; he/she can remove the credit card, because perhaps they do not trust the system, or if they want to change the credit card, the payment frequency.”
“After those 48 hours, a recharge per day will be made to the balance that the citizen has stipulated,” he added. “Why? Because maybe there was someone who traveled a lot and owed $100 and had a $20 recharge. Well, instead of that person having 20 debits on the same day, one per day will be done so that they have the least necessary debits.”
Users will have until July 1 to catch up on balances owed since April 16. However, the ACT chief said no fines will be imposed “indefinitely.”
“For an indefinite period of time there are no fines of any kind; the citizen can be completely relaxed,” he said.
To make payments, drivers can use the AutoExpreso application, the website, recharging lanes, AutoExpreso customer service centers and CESCOs, the latter two options by appointment through TurnosPR.com.
The services will be offered during extended hours until June 30 to support drivers during the weeks following the restart of operations. Therefore, the recharging lanes will operate from Monday to Sunday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., while the Customer Service Center will be operating from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 2 p.m.