Sen. Grace Poe yesterday said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) should explain the shortage of “beep cards” sold at light railway stations but can be bought at almost double the price in online shopping sites.
Poe asked for an explanation after reports said there are only limited stored-value tickets being sold in Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light RailTransit (LRT) stations but are available in online stores such as Lazada, Shopee and Facebook Marketplace.
Reports said the stored-value tickets can be bought for a minimum of P188 excluding shipping fee in online stores, when the price when bought in the rail stations is only P100 and comes with an initial load balance of P70.
“The lack of beep cards is a step backward to our goal to digitalize our transportation payment scheme as a safer and convenient mode. We have allocated billions for the development and modernization of our railways system. Our people must feel the fruits of their hard-earned taxes,” said Poe, chairman of the Senate public services committee.
Ronald Gustilo, Digital Pinoys national campaigner, said the DOTr should look into the “inappropriate practice” of selling the beep cards at a much higher price when there is a shortage of supply at MRT and LRT stations.
The DOTr, in an earlier statement, said beep card provider AF Payments Inc. “cannot fulfill the delivery of 75,000 stored-value cards vis-í -vis the card forecast demand of Metro Rail Transit 3 for the month of July 2022 despite its repeated and diligent coordination with card suppliers abroad.”
Cesar Chavez, DOTr undersecretary, has urged users to instead share their beep cards with others to mitigate the effects of the shortage. He said the availability of the beep cards is expected to normalize in the first quarter of 2023.
Poe said the limited supply of beep cardsadds to the burden of commuters who resort to buying online.
“The Department of Transportation should explain the scarcity of beep cards that burdens our people using trains. The time spent lining up for every single-journey ticket is moment wasted for our already weary commuters. The department should also shed light on reports that many have resorted to buying the cards online at a steeper price,” she said.
