Highway Service Plazas and Rest Areas

[cropher]

There is a proliferation of spacious gas station plazas of SHELL/PETRON/CALTEX etc. on SLEX and NLEX(?) of which along with the gas station are convenience stores , fastfood outlets , cafes and even restos are present. Which in particular are your favorites to dtive thru for a load of gasoline or even shop or dine ? and why so?

[renell]

here's the sites to check out where and which
http://www.pncc.net/pncc/pncc_south.asp
http://www.pncc.net/pncc/pncc_north.asp

anyways, i like the Petron Stations in NLEX. northbound or southbound, they have heaps of fast-food joints which suit my taste

i don't go in long-distance travel in SLEX. just up to Sucat and Alabang nowadays

[federal]

There's a big one which just opened at SLEX... forgot which station though.. very big! with searchlights pa at night! mala-Hollywood hehe

[Kiel]

Originally Posted by federal

There's a big one which just opened at SLEX... forgot which station though.. very big! with searchlights pa at night! mala-Hollywood hehe

ooh, I know one!! CALTEX Shell is opening one too, (the one that comes back to Manila) Every morning I stop by Petron to buy some hot choco so yea Will supply pictures. Right timing; I took pictures of Caltex just a while ago.

[Kiel]

here's a picture of the newly opened McDonalds in Caltex. I'll have more pictures soon

[mysaong03]

i like the shell gas station near d skyway magallanes ramp, its always crowded tho. may alam ba kayong self-service gas stations here in MM?

[renell]

i doubt there is, given the lack of trust between customers and the retailers in MM.

where in SLEX is this new Caltex?

[Kiel]

ako wala akong alamg self-service stations here; doubt there is din. lol

@renell It's in the Southwoods part of the SLEX.

[ryanr]

yeah..i've been to these gas stations/rest stops. They are really cool...makes me feel like im in the states, some of them are even better!

In NLEX:

Petron has Pizza Hut, Jollibee, Gloria Jean Coffee, etc...
Shell has Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, etc...
And i think Caltex has McDonalds.

[Kiel]

In this caltex it has mcdonalds, hen lin, pancake house, and starbucks too.

all of the stations I've seen have starbucks opened. (Petron, Caltex, and Shell)

[mysaong03]

i see, m stil hopin we could finaly hav our 1st ever self service station in d country hehe....maybe the retailers can experiment that near or w/in the makti/ortigas cbd, but those office workers might dont wana get a bit dirty...

the new caltex is just in front of the petron slex near the manila southwoods exit, i also noticed gas statiuons in slex r usualy much bigger than in nlex. pero i find one thing all of them lack, lodging services... some travellers who might be very tired & exhausted can check -in 4 even just a few hours to take a nap or what ever pero puro fastfood naman yung extra services ng gas stations, sana merong lodge or microtel suites din kahit papano...

it's a bit not practical to have a microtel at our slex and nlex because it's such a short time travel unlike interstate highway in the states....it would only take less than a day to reach the farthest destination---say, from manila to baguio----so, why would people even bother to take a lodge if they can reach their destination in less than a day

[federal]

point noted... and actually, i think it's true! Plus, there are a lot of motels or 3-star hotels already...

[renell]

self-servicing stations.. that's not impossible. how about a "pay first, gas later" scheme

i dunno where i've ate in those gas stations

[JudeD]

There were actually several self-service gas stations in Manila during the late 80s to early 90s, this included the Shell station in Magallanes (which is where we'd always gas up back then, the food you could buy in their shop was always interesting imported stuff, they even had Twinkies). I'm surprised nobody else remembers this. I guess self-service didn't catch on. Labor costs are really cheap here naman so I don't think it's really necessary yet. Besides, Filipinos like being waited on.

The huge Caltex and Shell stations in San Pedro Laguna along SLEX are really close to where my parents live so we're trying to figure out how to get to them without having to exit to the highway. :-)

[bagel]

Self-serve in RP? I remember. In the 80s... We used to think "Feeling Stateside tayo ngayon! Let's fill up ourselves!" The one I remember was a Shell station on Sucat Rd, between SLEX and Loyola Memorial Park, back when the road was less crowded. I remember how spacious it was and how well-lit it was and how my friends and I competed to press the buttons on the pumps. I also remember how excited I was to squeegee our own windshield! This was also the time when KFC was called Kentucky Fried Chicken and you can get legitimate biscuits with gravy there-- none of this chicken and rice weirdness.

But it really doesn't make sense. As Jude said, labor is so cheap here and Filipinos are used to having people do menial tasks for them.

[Æsahættr]

What do you guys think is better (gasoline quality + service), Petron, Caltex, Shell or other?

[apiong]

Originally Posted by JudeD

There were actually several self-service gas stations in Manila during the late 80s to early 90s, this included the Shell station in Magallanes (which is where we'd always gas up back then, the food you could buy in their shop was always interesting imported stuff, they even had Twinkies). I'm surprised nobody else remembers this.

I remember... back late 90's (good old college days)... during the bulk of the construction of the skyway, we always stopover there at Shell Magallanes to eat and let the traffic "dissipate" itself... we kind of made it a habit of stopping over there... maybe that's why the name of the store there (before they changed it to Select) was "Bad Habit"

[apiong]

Originally Posted by lotrfan55345

What do you guys think is better (gasoline quality + service), Petron, Caltex, Shell or other?

we find Petron the best!

as much as possible, we try to fill-up with XCS... on long haul journeys, Blaze.

(our engine seems to have this weird reaction to Caltex Gold lately... quality issues?... also, Shell Velocity's high price for a 95+ octane rating seems unjustifiable... it was 96+ before.)

btw, they're building a Petron station at the northbound stretch of the STAR tollway (near Lipa City interchange, just after the Pusil overpass)

[federal]

Am really surprised at our fuel grades here in Manila... in the US, when I fill up my tank, i see octane grades at 89+ only! But despite our high fuel grades here, polluted pa din... why?