This week, public utility buses plying the EDSA busway route have begun collecting cashless fares through reloadable Beep cards. The cards can be used in rail systems and point-to-point buses with a one-time card fee of P30 in train stations and P50 in other areas.
Netizens, however, have called out bus stops for selling overpriced Beep cards. In some areas, the stored value cards are being sold for P180 but only with P100 load. The card by itself is priced at P80 sans credit.
Based on the maximum possible fare of the route, Beep cards for EDSA buses also require a P70 maintaining balance.
This, combined with the long queues for Beep card loading stations, saw communters finding alternative means of transport when cashless payments for buses were first implemented on Oct. 1.
LOOK: Commuters use beep cards to pay fare as they board EDSA Carousel buses at the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange on October 1, 2020, first day of implementation of cashless payment for buses that take the EDSA route. | 📸 Richard A. Reyes/Philippine Daily Inquirer pic.twitter.com/wDf1s5nVmj
— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) October 1, 2020
In response to public clamor, Department of Transport (DOTr) officials ordered consortium AF Payments to waive the payment for Beep cards and give commuters the option to load only the amount they need for the fare.
“We are still under quarantine measures. Workers who have just returned to work are the main users of the rail system and the EDSA busway. They should be spared from the burden of having to pay the price of the Beep card on top of their fares,” said Transportation secretary Arthur Tugade.
AF Payments, however, said that waiving the card fee was not possible and that the P80 fee is for production cost. “This amount goes directly to the card manufacturer and not to AF Payments,” the company said in a statement.
Header photo by Richard A. Reyes for Inquirer.net
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Writer: ANGELA PATRICIA SUACILLO
