By Lorenz S. Marasigan
A LIMITED public trial for Manila’s overhead railway lines’ tap-and-go fare-collection system will start on Monday, marking another important phase to the end-to-end testing of the new transport-payment scheme.
Peter Maher, AF Payments Inc. CEO, said on Friday that the trial of the highly anticipated contactless beep card will pilot in Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2’s Legarda Station in Manila, where train riders can purchase the beep stored-value card (SVC), as well as the new contactless single-journey ticket (SJT).
“Our team has conducted rigorous technical testing to assess all operational aspects of the new system,” he said.
While the new tap-and-go SVCs and SJTs can only be purchased initially at the Legarda Station, the card will be accepted at any of the new exit gates in LRT 2. The beep cards can be reloaded in any of the train’s stations.
“We now enter a crucial phase, which is to generate more volume to test the equipment and to assess the public’s ability to use the new system. We want to observe the user experience, and see whether any improvement is necessary. We hope that, as we roll out the limited public trial, we are able to address any concern that may come up to ensure a smooth transition to the new payment system,” Maher said.
The new fare-collection scheme—similar to those of Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore—will run simultaneously with the old magnetic- stripe ticketing system.
The beep card will be sold for only P20. The card can be loaded and reloaded with a minimum of P12 to a maximum of P10,000.
AF Payments is a joint venture led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp. It won the bidding for the implementation of the new system under the government’s Public-Private Partnership Program.
The firm, under its concession agreement, will supply and install a total of 731 gates, 138 ticket-vending machines, 221 point-of-sale devices and 44 station computers across the three rail lines: the LRT Lines 1 and 2, and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.
Upon its completion, commuters can expect faster payment processes and reduced queuing time for buying tickets, as well as seamless transfers from one rail to another.
All three railway lines will fully transition to the new system by September.