A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives proposing to centralize stored-value payments and transactions for public transportation in Metro Manila into a single “beep card”.
House Bill 4913, also known as the “Universal Beep Card Bill,” by Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas aims to provide a one-card-fits-all system for public transportation in Metro Manila to address the inconvenience and unnecessary costs of paying for multiple contactless smart cards or “beep cards”.
Beep cards are reloadable contactless smart cards introduced in 2015 for the payment of fares for rail-based rapid transit transportation through Metro Manila railway lines such as the LRT Line 1, LRT Line 2, MRT Line 3, and select bus lines among others.
The Beep card was created, implemented, and operated by AF Payments Incorporated, and is also used in lieu of cash in some convenience stores and other businesses.
However, in 2016, a different contactless smart card was issued for yet another public transportation project called the Bagong Jeep (BEEP) program which was launched in Metro Manila coinciding with the implementation of the national government’s PUVMP.
The BEEP Program has utilized the “BeepRides” card, a different contactless smart card from the “Beep” card used by rail-based rapid transportation systems.
This unnecessary delineation has confused the riding public to the point that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) released a statement on the difference between the two smart cards in 2020.
It was clarified that PUV operators are the ones who choose which automatic fare collection system (AFCS) they will use for their operations if it is in line with the DOTr’s directive to utilize contactless transactions in public transport.
“As the country faces a looming shortage of Beep cards, technological advancement must be coupled with ergonomic solutions. These circumstances pose an opportunity to further develop our policies, especially commuter transactions in public transportation,” Vargas said.
Amidst the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, cashless transaction systems have been mainstreamed as part of public health and safety measures and to curb the spread of the coronavirus by avoiding or minimizing physical contact.
In October 2020, the DOTr has also implemented the “No Beep Card, No Ride” policy for passenger buses in the EDSA Busway.
“By centralizing stored-value payments and transactions into a “universal beep card”, we remove barriers of expensive and unnecessary costs of public transportation,” the Quezon City solon said.
Vargas, also a member of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, cited that the use of universal beep cards to centralize fares for multiple public transportation systems has been adopted in cities like London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Seoul, which all displayed an increase in the number of the commuting public. “This convenience in public transportation would incentivize Filipinos to commute and hopefully minimize congestion in the region, ultimately promoting sustainable transportation and transit-oriented development,” Vargas added.