QUEZON City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas has filed a bill seeking to centralize stored-value payments and transactions for public transportation in Metro Manila into a single beep card.
Vargas’ House Bill 4913, also known as the “Universal Beep Card Bill,” 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 the fare 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 that was launched in Metro Manila coinciding with the implementation of the national government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (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) has to release a statement on the difference of 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, as long as it is in line with the DOTr’s directive to utilize contactless transactions in public transport.
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 through avoiding or minimizing physical contact.
In October 2020, the DOTR also implemented the “No Beep Card, No Ride” policy for passenger buses in the EDSA Busway.
Vargas said that by centralizing stored-value payments and transactions into a “universal beep card,” the barriers of expensive and unnecessary costs of public transportation will be removed.
The lawmaker, a member of the House committee on Metro Manila development, said the use of universal beep cards to centralize fares for multiple public transportation systems have been adopted in cities like London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Seoul, which all had an increase in the number of the commuting public.
