naptu2:
Cash will no longer be accepted as a means of paying tolls at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge from today. Motorists will now have to use the e-tag, the swiftpass cards or vouchers as a means of payment at the toll plaza on the bridge.

Read the next post to find out how to pay at the bridge.

naptu2:
I went back to the bridge a while ago. The queue of cars outside the LCC office is back. Some of the cars are parked at Diamond Bank, while others are parked as far away as Olateju Crescent. I overheard a man at the Diamond Bank car park angrily telling an LCC agent, "I paid through my bank".

There are a few more policemen on the bridge and (I was right) there are LCC agents selling vouchers at the foot of the bridge.


LCC has set up canopies and chairs in its compound and I assume that they are registering people for e-tags and swiftpass cards under the canopies.


There's no traffic jam on the bridge.

naptu2:
I went to the bridge a bit late today because I was working on something and it gave me a chance to see the new system in action. I now know what those people on foot were applying for. They don't only sell vouchers, they are human billboards!

There were a lot of them on the bridge at daybreak. Some of them were standing in between the lanes and there were a lot of them on the sidewalk. Their faces were painted and there were posters attached to their bodies. They were educating motorists about the new policy and selling vouchers.


There were lots of mobile policemen and Man O' War officials at the foot of the bridge on the Lekki side. They were initially turning away people that did not have e-tag stickers (that was before daybreak), but they later let them through (after daybreak).

There were no Man O' War officials or mobile policemen at the Ikoyi end of the bridge, just the usual RRS policemen who were not getting involved in what was going on.


The weather was absolutely perfect.

erifeoluwasimi:

I just passed through the lekki ikoyi toll gate and cash was received from buses and cars. What happened

muyibabs:


I guess they were overwhelmed by the number of vehicles without e-tag or card.

naptu2:
I was right. This is exactly what I said would happen with the vouchers (we've already had this system on the bridge for a long time, but it doesn't exist on the expressway).

You can buy either the prepaid cards or vouchers at our customer service centres at any of our toll plazas or from our Roving Toll Collectors in the lanes on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge Toll Plaza.

My only problem now is that the scanners at the bridge are a little slow. I don't need to slow down at the expressway. The scanner can read my e-tag while I'm doing 40kmph, but the scanners on the bridge often need me to come to a complete stop before they can read my e-tag. I once paid cash because it couldn't read my e-tag.

naptu2:
I did only 8.06 Km this morning.

Things were slightly different at the bridge today. They turned a lot of cars back at the toll plaza. There were no policemen or Man O War officials at the roundabout and the human billboards were not there. Instead, policemen and LCC officials were turning people back at the toll plaza.


One of my theories appears shaky. Around 80% of emergency vehicles do not pay tolls. Instead, they drive up to the toll gate and stop and then the toll collector registers their plate numbers. However, I saw a pickup truck with flashing lights and it was turned back at the toll gate. However, I couldn't see its license plate to know whether it was actually a police vehicle or if it was one of those pickup trucks that companies and individuals buy to make up part of their motorcades.

I had been thinking that it would be better if there was a means of registering all vehicles plying Lagos roads and then fining vehicles that do not have e-tags or swiftpass cards, instead of turning them away.

naptu2:
My experience this afternoon.

I looked ahead as I approached the roundabout and I noticed that there was no traffic, which was surprising. There's usually traffic at that time of day. Was it because of the new rule? Well. . .

As I got to the roundabout I noticed an odd kind of obstruction. There was traffic on one side of the roundabout, but not on the other. The cause? Man O War and LCC officials were searching for cars without e-tags, talking to drivers to find out if they have swiftpass cards and directing those without the cards back to Admiralty Way.


I drove onto the bridge and noticed that the queue was shorter than usual. Did that mean that things were better? No. Traffic was slower than normal even though it seemed that there were fewer cars. I noticed that some cars were being turned back at the toll plaza and wondered if that was the reason that it was slower.

Then I got near the toll plaza and noticed that my lane was the cause of the problem. It was slower than the other lanes. I indicated that I was changing lanes, then changed my mind since I was already close to the gate.

I drove up to the gate and expected the boom to rise, but nothing happened. I waited for a second and still nothing and that's when it occurred to me. Luckily, I had put my swifpass card on the centre console, where I usually put cash for the toll, so I gave my card to the toll collector and he swiped it and the boom rose, so I took my card back. The E-tag sensor on that lane was not working, which is why it was slower than the other lane and which is also why some cars had switched lanes at the toll gate.


I got to the Alexander Avenue Roundabout and there was another traffic jam. This was caused by the fact that mobile policemen, Man O War officials and LCC officials were checking to see if cars had e-tag stickers before allowing them onto the bridge.


I expected that I would meet another traffic jam at the Alexander Avenue Roundabout on my way back, but there was none. Instead the traffic jam was at the foot of the bridge. There were cars parked on the lane that was closest to the median and I saw angry people gathering around a man. Policemen and LCC officials were trying to pacify other angry people that were standing around near the foot of the bridge. My guess is that they were people that were waiting for vouchers and the man that people gathered around was the person that had just brought the vouchers.


I didn't have any problems at the toll gate, but I saw that some people were being turned back.

naptu2:
Two things I forgot to mention above. There was a little bit of Traffic on Five Cowrie Bridge (heading into Victoria Island). That's unusual for a Saturday Afternoon. I don't know if it's because many people are using the expressway instead of the bridge.


They have finally fixed Ahmadu Bello Way! I don't mean that they have resurface it (like Bola Tinubu did), i mean that they have patched it (like Buba Marwa did), but it's a million times better than the way it was.