Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 27) — A Department of Transportation (DOTr) official said there is no shortage of beep cards used by rail commuters anymore, as the global chip supply chain returns to normal.
“Based on our checking and monitoring, at this point, we don’t have any shortage,” Randolph Ian Clet, DOTr’s Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) project manager, told Traffic Center.
Clet said the projected demand for the beep cards has been delivered to public transport operators.
He added that the cards are available at all stations of the Light Rain Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2, Metro Rail Transit-3, and in bus terminals at the Bonifacio Global City and Ayala One Terminal.
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The DOTr announced the looming shortage of beep cards in August last year due to problems in the global chip supply chain amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency is eyeing to establish a unified fare system through the AFCS national standards and promote interoperability across transport modes — enabling commuters to choose payment modes such as through smart cards, QR codes, and bank cards.
“There could be some other challenges as to the traditional jeepneys, tricycles, but technically they will be resolved and the operational concerns and possible policies are being evaluated, to check, to allow our AFCS to be used in these traditional jeepneys and tricycles,” Clet said.
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