Off-site reloading of Beep cards pushed

A more comfortable commute can be achieved by simply reloading e-payment cards outside the train stations, the Department of Transportation said on Friday.

The DOTr encouraged commuters using Metro Rail Transit Line 3 as well as the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and LRT-2 to reload their Beep cards in off-site locations.

It said this would shorten queues in ticketing stations and reduce their commute time.

Specifically, the DOTr said MRT-3 and LRT commuters may reload their “tap-and-go” cards in 76 sites in Metro Manila, 16 of which are “within walking distance” from stations. Commuters may reload at Bayad Center and its partner outlets, Tambunting, Villarica, and SM Bills Payment centers.

The DOTr also hoped that commuters would shift to using stored value cards to avoid the frequency of queuing to reload.

As of June this year, 45 percent of passengers were still using single-journey tickets.

The move comes as the new government moves to ease congestion in the transportation system.

The MRT-3 in particular, which became the face of neglect during the Aquino administration, is a key part of this plan, since it serves the key Edsa corridor in Metro Manila.

MRT-3 carries over half a million passengers per day alone, against its design capacity of 350,000 passengers.

Since its introduction in April 2016, the off-site ticketing system has generated over 50,000 top-up transactions, the DOTr said.

By September, commuters will also have the option to reload in over 1,100 Metro Manila branches of 7-Eleven, Mini Stop, and Family Mart. This is on top of over 300 more Bayad Center branches that will allow top-up transactions.

Meanwhile,  AF Payments, the company that operates the Beep card system, expanded the use of the card to pay for rides in select routes of Froehlich Tours, one of the premium point-to-point (P2P) bus systems in the metro.