Beep card used on entire LRT1 starting Sept. 20

THE TAP-AND-GO payment system will be implemented on the entire Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 starting Sept. 20, according to AF Payments Inc., the company implementing the project.

The company, which is backed by Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and Light Rail Manila Corp. announced that starting on Sunday all stations in the northbound direction of LRT1 can accept its Beep payment card.

Earlier, the system was rolled out on the southbound line of LRT1 as well on the LRT2.

“Over the past six weeks, our technical and operations teams, together with the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Light Rail Transit Authority, have been working round the clock to complete equipment installation and end-to-end testing so that LRT1 riders can benefit fully from the Beep card and use it on both directions at the soonest possible time,” said AF Payments chief executive officer Peter Maher.

“We are pleased to say that we are now ready to activate the new ticketing system on Sunday,” he said.

This development will put to a stop the selling and use of paper coupons at all LRT1 stations, the company added.

AF Payments expects to launch the Beep card in the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 on Edsa in the coming weeks.

The beep card is the new noncontact payment solution developed to make the payment process more convenient across all three train systems in Metro Manila, allowing seamless transfers from one line to another.

Light Rail Manila is a joint venture company of Ayala Infrastructure, Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure for the operations, maintenance and construction of the Cavite Extension for LRT1. Miguel R. Camus