THE operators of the island’s first toll road reported a smooth first day of operation yesterday.

“We began operations at 12 midnight and everything is going just fine, without incident,” said Philippe Lassauce, the general manager of Jamaica Infrastructure Operators, the company that operates the toll road on behalf of TransJamaican Highway.

“Motorists are paying the toll with smiling faces, I guess in appreciation of the facilities and the quality of service they are getting. We have not been experiencing any major problems since we began collecting,” added operations officer, Desmond Levy.

However, Levy said two motorists who came early yesterday morning and claimed that they were not aware they had to pay were “politely asked to turn back and go through Old Harbour”.

There was also an incident where a motorcyclist was hit from his bike when he tried to beat the system.

“This morning at about 5:15 am a motorcyclist came to the toll booth behind a motor car when he tried to go through the gate at the same time with the motor car and was hit from his bike,” Sergeant Delroy Casanova told the Observer.

“We are encouraging the motorists that they must be mindful that only one vehicle is permitted at time to pass through the gate,” the police sergeant said.

One motorist told the Observer that he travelled from his home in Portmore, St Catherine just to test the toll system, while a truck driver complained that the $50 toll fee for motorcycles was too high and suggested that the authorities review the fee.

Between midnight and 7:00 yesterday morning, 1,140 motor vehicles had passed through the toll plaza at the Vineyards in Bushy Park, St Catherine, paying fees ranging from $50 for cars and to $120 for trucks and buses.

The road, which is phase one of Highway 2000 — a 13-kilometre stretch from Bushy Park to Sandy Bay in Clarendon — actually opened on Monday, but motorists were given three free days to familiarise themselves with the highway, without paying the toll.

But, yesterday a number of motorists who opted not to use the toll, travelled through the town of Old Harbour, causing heavy congestion — one of the problems that the highway was created to solve.

Some said they were not prepared to pay a toll to use the new highway, but they kept officers from the Old Harbour traffic department busy throughout the morning and into the late afternoon, controlling the traffic flow along East and West Street in the town.