Banco Nacional Proposes Automatic Tolls
If the Banco Nacional's proposal is approved, drivers can put away they change used to pay tolls and use their bank card instead.

Pedro Castro, vice minister of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), said that they have received a proposal by the Banco Nacional to automate the toll booths in the country.

The new system would replace the coins now used by drivers to pay toll for a card that is swiped before a reader which opens the gate bar, similar to that used in parking lots, and deduct the amount of the toll from the account.

The bank said it has the technology in place and is ready to make the financial investment to convert the toll booths in exchange for being the exclusive issuer of the prepaid cards.

Castro said that the MOPT will begin study on the proposal in the coming weeks to see if the system is viable. Castro said that a decision on the proposal can come next month.

The vice-minister that a toll will be added to the Tempisque bridge and all collections will go towards maintaining the structure that was built by a donation of the Taiwanese government.

Automatic tolls have come and gone. In 1994 automatic tolls, a system of throwing change into a receptor basket, was installed and eliminated in 2003, when the system became obsolete.

In February 2002, perhaps the best automatic type of toll was when the no charge of tolls at all toll booths between 5:00pm and 7:00pm during weekdays was instituted.

However, earlier this year, that plan was cancelled at the Florencio del Castillo (en route to Cartago) toll booth when the MOPT decided it was losing too much money.

The free tolls program continues on the General Cañas (airport) and the Fernando Prospero (Escazú) routes.

And, as many drivers have found, the traffic bottleneck on the Cañas at certain hours runs to the Cerverceria, prompting the MOPT to selectively open the toll booths at times during the day to relieve pressure on the country's busiest highway.