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The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is temporarily suspending the mandatory use of sound cards for the Edsa busway, after AF Payments Inc. refused to waive the cost of the tap-and-go card currently in use. for various modes of transport.
“During their meeting with the Edsa Busway Consortia and the DOTr, AF Payments said that they cannot waive the card fee. They said they don’t win from it and they said they are making a loss, ”said Transportation Undersecretary Goddes Hope O. Libiran in a text message.
With this, he said, travelers can choose to pay for their Edsa Busway rides through a beep or in cash. Edsa Busway Consortia staff will collect payments in cash.
Libiran added that the DOTr is “saddened” by the refusal to waive the card fees, “despite constant pleas made by the government.” This, he said, “would have made a huge difference for travelers, mostly workers with daily wages who are the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“That is why we are pushing for card fees to be removed only during the pandemic. In addition, they have already made a profit from their years of operation in public transport. Also, there are cards that have charges that have already expired, whose charge returned as income for them. They also charge a recharge fee of P5, ”Libiran said.
Libiran said Edsa Bus Consortia “will look for another provider of an automatic fare collection system that can offer a better solution to the existing problem.”
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
An AF Payments official was sought for comment, but was not available at the time of writing.
DOTr recently implemented mandatory use of contactless payments for the Edsa Busway, which runs parallel to Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3. This was to decrease queues and reduce human contact on buses.
However, during the initial week of implementation, thousands of commuters were surprised by the fees, and many construction workers were said to have walked to work sites as they were not ready to shell out an initial P150 – P80 for the card. and P70 initial charge.
AF Payments recently said that P80 is only a fraction of the actual cost of the card, which means that each card is still subsidized by the company.
Travelers found the card fee too expensive; therefore, the transportation department sought waiver of card costs in the meantime to relieve travelers of an additional burden.
Currently, there are 7 million beeps cards in circulation. AF Payments is a company led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., which won the 2013 bid for the P1.72 billion automatic fee collection system agreement by offering a premium of P1.08 billion.
