Beep cards should be free upon fare load payment, says Tugade

Department of Transportation (DoTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade has recently ordered key officials on the department’s road and railway sector to give commuters free beep cards upon fare load payment. The department has recently required the mentioned stored value card to commuters in line with its implementation of an automatic fare collection system on the EDSA Busway. The ‘No Beep, No Ride’ policy on the EDSA Busway starts today.

According to Secretary Tugade, lifting the additional PHP 30 to PHP 50 on top of the beep card’s standard price that will be a huge help to commuters which are mostly composed of workers who have just returned to work.

“…Malaking bagay para sa mga ordinaryong manggagawa ang P30-P50 na ikakaltas para bayaran ang card ng Beep. Pasahe din ‘yun. They should be spared from the burden of having to pay the price of the beep card on top of their fares,” Sec. Tugade said during a meeting with the DoTr senior officials. Among the topics discussed during the meeting includes the beep card cost which is being passed on to commuters, on top of the fare, or the stored value on the card.

The department ordered AF Payments, Inc., the company behind beep cards, to just give the cards for free. It also suggested giving commuters the option to load the card with whatever amount they need for the fare.

Local republic transport such as LRT-1, LRT-2, MRT-3, some P2P buses, and modern public utility vehicles also use beep cards for its automatic fare collection. beep cards are valid up to four years from the day it was purchased.

The latest addition to adapt the system is the EDSA Busway which covers bus stops along the middle lanes of EDSA. It runs from Monumento, Caloocan to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).

Passengers may purchase beep cards in LRT and MRT-3 stations,  Metro Manila branches of FamilyMar, and bus terminals such as HM Transport in Alabang Town Center and Market! Market!; BGC Bus in EDSA, Market! Market! and Bonifacio One Technology Tower; and RRCG in Alabang Town Center, Greenbelt 1, Greenbelt 5, Star Mall Alabang, and Starmall Shaw. They can reload their beep cards in LRT and MRT-3 stations, FamilyMart and Ministop branches, outlets of Bayad Center and their affiliates, or via Over-the-Air or OTA loading partners such as BPI, Eon by Unibank, Akulaku, and Justpayto.

Source: DoTr Facebook