The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has ordered the free use of stored value cards that facilitate cashless transactions on public transportation, so that commuters would only have to pay for their fare.

The LTFRB ordered this through Memorandum Circular 2020-057 which it signed on Tuesday, October 6, and announced to the media on Wednesday, October 7.

Under MC 2020-057, the LTFRB ordered all public utility vehicle (PUV) operators and automatic fare collection system (AFCS) providers to remove all the costs imposed on commuters related to topping up and purchase of the cards.

The Beep card is the most popular stored value card for public transportation. Other cards – such as Pearl, TripKo, and Beep Rides – are being used by commuters for road transport modes, as the Department of Transportation has allowed PUVs to choose their own contractor.

Under the LTFRB directive, PUV operators and AFCS providers that faiy to comply with the order will lead to the suspension of their cashless transaction scheme.

MC 2020-057 is effective immediately after publication in a newspaper. The LTFRB said the target effectivity date of the circular is this Friday, October 9.

Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddes Libiran said that the LTFRB order does not cover the railway systems because of an ongoing concession agreement with AF Payments.

On Tuesday, the LTFRB met with AFCS providers to discuss the matter, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that PUV cards should be distributed for free.

Commuters were shocked with the steep price increase of Beep cards at P80 after the DOTr ordered the “no Beep card, no ride” policy for the EDSA Busway on October 1.

The DOTr suspended the policy when AF Payments, Incorporated, the provider of Beep cards, refused to waive costs. AFPI earlier said that it had “zero profit” from the fees imposed on Beep cards which, it said, were “still partially subsidized” by AFPI.

AFPI later said that it would give out 125,000 cards for free.

In an interview with reporters, LTFRB Technical Division chief Joel Bolano said on Tuesday that they are ironing out the details on how to make the various cards interoperable in other transport modes and among other AFCS providers.

In other countries, commuters use only one card for different modes of transport. – Rappler.com