LRTA to hold public trial of beep cards on Monday

Infographic on the advantages of the new beep card over the old tickets. Infographic from the Philippine Information agency

The Light Railway Transit Authority (LRTA) will conduct a public trial of its tap-and-load card, also known as the beep card, on Monday, July 20.

Hernando Cabrera, spokesman of the LRTA, said the public trial of the Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) or the unified ticketing system would have its pilot testing at the Legarda station in Sampaloc, Manila.

“Line 2 lang muna ang ating testing tapos with Legarda station as a pilot station (We will conduct the testing at the Legarda station as the pilot station),” Cabrera said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

The LRT Line 2 runs from Recto to Santolan.

He said that starting on Monday, commuters may buy their single-journey or stored value tickets only at the Legarda station.

Commuters with single-journey tickets may only enter at the Legarda station and exit at any of the other stations.

Those with stored value tickets may buy their tickets at Legarda, and enter and exit at any of the other stations.

A stored value card, he said, could be loaded up to P10,000 and does not have an expiration date.

The physical card, however, expires after four years but the load remains.

“Unti-unti po nating gagamitin ‘yung bagong ticketing system (We will gradually implement the new ticketing system),” he said, adding the beep cards would be available at other stations if the pilot testing is successful.

“Kapag okay na, two days after ay mag-oopen tayo sa isa pang istasyon (If it’s okay already, we will test it at another station),” he added.

He said the new beep cards would be available at the LRT Line 1 by August, citing that installation of the ticketing machines are still ongoing.

The integrated ticketing system, he said, would be available by September, which means a single ticketing system for the LRT lines 1 and 2 and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) would be operational.

“By September in place na lahat. Integrated na, pwede mo nang gamitin (ang beep cards) sa Lines 1 at 2 at sa MRT,” he said.

(Everything should be in place by September. When it’s all integrated, commuters may use their beep cards in Lines 1 and 2 and the MRT.) IDL