LRT tickets with Arroyo face gone soon

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) said Monday it will start accepting proposals for the supply of new magnetic cards for Lines 1 and 2.

LRTA spokesperson Hernando Cabrera invited interested parties to get further details from the agency’s business development office at the Line 2 depot in Santolan, Pasig City.

Starting June 2012, some 3.3 million new magnetic cards should be in circulation on both lines. They will replace all old tickets bearing the picture of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the LRTA said.

“The new design of the ticket is generic and will bear the logo of DoTC

[Department of Transportation and Communications] and LRTA,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera said the LRTA is required to continue using the old tickets until their expiration. The “useful life” of a magnetic card is two years and current stocks are expected to reach their maximum use in the second quarter of 2012, he said.

He said the LRTA can only replace the old tickets once these are declared unserviceable under the rules set by the Commission on Audit.