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Define irony: It’s when the ticketing system promises to be more advanced than the transportation system that it’s part of.
“The Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) — the common ticket system for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 and the Metro Rail Transit-3 or MRT-3 — is expected to be implemented this year,” reports Jaymee T. Gamil in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
According Robert Siy — who’s from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Undersecretary for Planning Office — under the department’s agreement with private concessionaires, the AFCS should be activated by September.
The report noted: “Last March, the DOTC and a consortium of the Metro Pacific Investment Corp. and Ayala Corp. signed a 10-year concession agreement to build and implement the PHP1.72-billion AFCS project.”
The report further explained that “under the AFCS, the old magnetic-based train cards will be replaced by a microchip-equipped contact-less ‘smart’ card, which can be used in all three rail transit lines.” It will be similar to Hong Kong’s Octopus cards and the EZ Link system in Singapore.
Siy revealed, “There will be new cards and there will be new machines, and you will just be able to tap your card then walk through [the turnstile]. You’ll be able to [get] into the train station [faster].”
Siy pointed out that “the DOTC’s vision was for the new cards to also be sold in convenience stores and other outlets to shorten the lines for tickets at train stations.”
Photo: Philippine Railways (WikiCommons)
