By The Star Staff
The New Progressive Party minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, on Wednesday chided the directors of Professional Account Management (PAM), the private operator of the Autoexpreso highway toll system, for acting with insensitivity toward citizens who demand services.
The veteran lawmaker also demanded the hiring of more staff to serve the thousands of citizens who daily flood the system’s central offices in Guaynabo.
“Drivers seeking services at the Autoexpreso system facilities should not have to go through what is happening,” Méndez Nuñez said. “The endless lines, the lack of timely action on requests for review and the lack of empathy toward people who wait hours and even days to present their situations is unacceptable.”
Méndez Nuñez pointed out that the complaints of drivers are associated with the undue charges that have increased in recent weeks, as well as allegations of charges for passing through toll plazas that they have not passed through, and serious discrepancies in drivers’ balances. In addition, citizens must endure long waits, on average almost five hours in line, most of the time outdoors, without receiving service.
“PAM has to improve its service and do it now. There is no staff to handle the number of people who visit its offices every day,” the former House speaker said. “There is also no orientation program for drivers, not only regarding fines, but also with the implementation of the electronic sticker platform. We are not seeing corrective actions; on the contrary, the chaos is getting worse every time. Meanwhile, the private operator of the Autoexpreso system has no awareness of how to help our elderly population, which is more than 770,000 citizens and is growing.”
The legislator added that “PAM must change its behavior immediately; our people do not deserve this.”
“I expect concrete, transparent and immediate actions from the operator,” he said. “These corrections must be made in a matter of days, not weeks.”
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