San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora. Screengrab from the mayor’s FB page
MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of the single ticketing system in Metro Manila will begin on May 2, said Metro Manila Council president and San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora on Thursday.
Zamora announced the signing of the memorandum of agreement between Metro Manila mayors, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) regarding the rollout of the single ticketing system and the integration of LTO’s IT systems, or the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS).
“After today, what will happen is we will prepare now for the launch. I have discussed earlier with [MMDA] Chairman [Don] Artes, and we’re looking at May 2 as the launch date,” said Zamora.
“Palipasin muna natin ang May 1 holiday para ‘pag simula ng May 2 dire-diretso na po siya,” he added.
(Let’s first allow the May 1 holiday to pass so that when May 2 starts, the implementation will be continuous.)
However, the ticketing system will only be implemented in seven cities first, specifically Manila, Quezon City, Parañaque, Caloocan, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, and San Juan, before spreading out to the rest of Metro Manila.
“Sisimulan muna natin sa pitong lungsod upang makita natin na [iyong] mga bagay na dapat pang ayusin,” said Zamora.
(We will begin with the seven cities to verify what we need to check and fix first.)
“Basically this would be a pilot testing first among the seven cities in the launch on May 2, para pagdating nga kabuuanan ng 17 LGUs [local government units], maging seamless na po ang implementation natin,” he further explained.
When asked why the seven cities were chosen to be the first to begin the single ticketing system’s implementation, Artes explained that it is because they were determined to be the most prepared to do so, specifically in interconnecting with the LTO’s IT systems.
“Iyong seven cities kasi unang una, prepared na sila, mas magiging madali ‘yung pag-interconnect. Kaunti na lang gagawin as compared to other cities,” said Artes.
(The seven cities are first because they are already prepared; interconnecting will be easier. There will be little to do as compared to other cities.)
“At the same time kaya ipa-pilot muna para mag rollout sa ibang cities at makita na natin kung ano pa ‘yung kailangang adjustments, ano pa ang kailangan gawin, para dirediretso ang pagrollout nito at walang magiging problema,” he added.
(At the same time, we will have a pilot run before rolling out to other cities to see what adjustments are needed and what else needs to be done so that the implementation will be seamless and there will be no problems.)
The single ticketing system centralizes traffic fines, allowing them to be paid online, regardless of where they are.
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