Senator Sonny Angara called on the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to exert more effort in improving the experience of commuters by making their daily commute more convenient.
As chair of the Committee on Finance, Angara addressed DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade during a recent hearing on the proposed 2021 budget of the agency and expressed his support to the actions taken to transition to cashless payments for public transportation.
The veteran legislator said the DOTr is moving in the right direction by making the stored value contactless cards usable in the MRT and LRT lines, EDSA buses and some e-jeepneys.
“Maganda yung ginawa na pwedeng gamitin sa bus, pwedeng gamitin sa tren, at later on baka pwede din sa mga jeepneys, sa mga e-jeepneys,” the seasoned lawmaker stressed.
“Hopefully we could further push the envelope for consumer convenience.”
“I appreciate the efforts made for interoperability of the different modalities by the Department and they deserve the credit for that but hopefully we could further push the envelope for consumer convenience,” the senator added.
He noted how far the Philippines has to go in terms of convenience for commuters when compared to other countries.
Unlike other countries where a commuter can just walk to his or her destination after alighting from a bus or train, Angara lamented that Filipino commuters have to take another ride or two on jeepneys or tricycles after getting off the MRT, LRT or bus.
“Look into how to make the contactless cards more affordable for the commuters.”
He also tasked the DOTr to look into how to make the contactless cards such as the Beep card being used for the trains and now buses more affordable for the commuters.
Angara noted how many commuters have been complaining about the high cost of the Beep cards, which commuters were forced to purchase now that buses on the EDSA busway are using the contactless payment system instead of cash payments.
Commuters were furious after they had to pay P180 for the Beep card, which consists of P80 as cost of the card itself and P100 as credits.
He challenged the DOTr to push the envelope further in terms of affordability dahil sa panahon ng pandemiya ang daming naghihirap.”