DOTr target: Stored value fare card compatible with all PUVs by yearend

TAP, TAP, TAP – A commuter uses a stored value fare card upon bording a public utility bus along EDSA – Taft Avenue in Pasay CIty. The Department of Transportation said it is eyeing the rollout of a single card for all types of public utility vehicles by yearend.  (INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES)

MANILA, Philippines — Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade is eyeing the rollout of stored-value cards that can be used in different modes of transportation by the end of the year.

“‘Yan po ‘yung sa tren, may beep card ngayon. ‘Yung sa sea ports po inumpisahan na namin i-test ‘yung electronic ticketing. Nandito po tayo ngayon sa road transportation. Lahat po ‘yan pagtutugmain natin at gagawin nating inter-operable,” Tugade said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday. 

(Stored value / Beep cards are being used in trains. We are also starting to test electronic ticketing in sea ports. Now, we are talking about road transportation. We want all of these cards to become inter-operable.)

He said the DOTr has been planning for this even before the start of the coronavirus disease pandemic. 

Asked when he wants this plan to materialize, Tugade replied: Kung ako ang masusunod, end of the year.

(I want it done by the end of the year.)

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade. INQUIRER.net file photo / Ryan Leagogo

“Marami po ang magsasabi na mahirap, baka meron pong magsabi na imposible, pero ganyan po ako magset ng timetable eh, talagang itinutulak ko sa maximum,” he also said. 

(Many people may say it might be difficult or impossible, but that’s how I set a timetable. I push it at the maximum.)

Tugade added that as much as possible, he would like to welcome multiple players for the contactless payment system in transportation.

“Even before the pandemic, the DOTr, with attached agencies have been exploring possibilities of cashless transactions. What is the system all about? You use one card, it can be operable with the other modes of transportation. In fact, ang plano ko po dyan, maraming cards na pwedeng gamitin (my plan is there will be many cards that can be used) and there will be a clearing house,” he said.

“As much as possible I’d like to open it up, welcome multiple players, have a clearing house, para sa ganoon, walang kontrolado, para sa ganoon, kung anong card ang gagamitin ay nasa pasahero,” he added.

(As much as possible, I’d like to open it up, to welcome multiple players and have a clearing house, so that the choice of which cards to use will be up to passengers.)

Tugade bared this plan after the DOTr suspended on Sunday the mandatory use of stored value / Beep cards for buses on Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue, after AF Payments, Inc., provider of the automatic fare collection system, refused to waive the cost of the cards despite consistent pleas made by the government.

The suspension takes effect this Monday.

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