(Eagle News) — The Department of Transportation has lauded the decision of AF Payments Inc. to give away 125,000 beep cards.
The provider of the automatic fare system made the announcement after the DOTr suspended its no-beep card, no ride policy following complaints from commuters about having to pay P80 for the card on top of the minimum required load of P65.
“We thank AFPI for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and for considering the plight of our commuters who have just started to rebuild back their lives after a series of strict quarantine measures that put pressure both on their social lives and livelihoods. For them, every centavo counts,” the DOTr said.
It said it “appreciate(s)” the plan of AFPI to “set aside the prospect of profit for the meantime, to answer the call of need from our commuters and to give them free beep cards until a QR-based electronic ticketing system becomes operational.”
The 2015 public-private partnership program that replaced the old magnetic card-based ticketing system in the three light railway lines in Metro Manila with the beep card, though, it said, “is an issue best reserved for discussion at a later date, with the parties involved.”
“Let us first focus on our goal to make the commuting experience of passengers on the EDSA Busway convenient and affordable, in the light of compassion,” the DOTr said.
As for the use of a QR code-based electronic ticketing system on the EDSA Busway, the DOTr noted that “the system has always been one of our options for cashless transactions.”
In fact, it said the department had considered the use of this “long before the outbreak of the pandemic.”
“With the use of a smartphone app and/or through online, passengers of vessels can now buy virtual tickets. As this is a contactless technology, commuters are best assured of proper social distancing needed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus,” the DOTr said.
Citing a study by Statista, a German company specializing in market and consumer data, the DOTr said that as of 2019, there were approximately 74 million smartphone users in the Philippines, and it has continued to rise since 2015.
The research company forecasts that by 2025, there would be around 90 million smartphone users in the Philippines.
“Thus, we believe that the use of QR technology for electronic ticketing on the EDSA Busway remains one viable option for commuters,” the DOTr said.
“Finally, we also wish to note that the government welcomes proposals from other automatic fare collection system (AFCs) providers, as long as their systems are ready for integration, and will not place additional charge or burden to commuters,” it added.
On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte said the beep cards should be given free of charge to commuters.
He noted that it was “heartbreaking” to see that some commuters were unable to ride public transportation because they didn’t have enough money to buy the cards.
