MANILA, Aug. 10 (PNA) — Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) stations will no longer be selling magnetic cards (Stored Value Tickets) to passengers starting on Wednesday, Aug. 12, the LRT Authority said on Monday.
This comes as the LRT-2 stations are set on the same day to transition to selling the new beep card ticketing system, also known as the tap-and-go system or the Contactless Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS).
“Starting Aug. 12, 2015, LRT Line 2 will no longer be selling magnetic Stored Value Tickets to give way to the full implementation of the Contactless Ticketing System,” LRTA said on its official Twitter account.
The authority, however, said that passengers with existing Stored Value Tickets can still use them until the balance becomes zero.
Beep cards may be used to exit from any LRT-2 station and may be reloaded at any of these locations as well. The minimum amount that the system requires to be loaded is PhP 12 and the maximum is PhP 10,000.
Concessionaire AF Payments has been given until September to complete rolling out the new ticketing system.
The beep card ticketing system is the Department of Transportation and Communications’ (DOTC) first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project under the Aquino administration.
To recall, LRT-2 was the first to pilot test the new ticketing system last month. All LRT-2 stations are currently selling beep cards.
LRT-1, for its part, is on its testing phase of the same ticketing system using coupons or paper tickets which are shown to security guards for inspection and collection. (PNA)