The distribution of free beep cards begins today, October 9, following the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte to make the cards used in cashless payment free for commuters.
At the EDSA busway station in Monumento, it is necessary to fill up a valid ID with a form asking for personal details such as name, contact number, birth date, and at which station the card was obtained.
The passenger only needs to load the card. Up to 125,000 Beep cards without load were issued at the Monumento bus station and PITX.
The minimum fare is P65 because it is the maximum fare of the EDSA busway route from Monumento to Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.
Those who bought the card can still use it because there are buses on the EDSA busway that only use Beep, and they do not have a conductor.
The Department of Transportation will discuss how to refund those who buy a beep card with a card fee.
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Department of Transportation to make the beep cards free for commuters amid the implementation of a cashless payment system in public transportation.
Duterte, however, clarified that the beep card would be free of charge, but the passengers would need to pay for the fares or the load.
Distribution of free beep cards begins
“Give the card free,” Duterte said in the late-night briefing on Monday.
“I would like to talk to [Transportation] Secretary [Arthur] Tugade’s next meeting because I would raise with him the possibility of giving it free,” he added.
DOTr implemented the “no beep card, no ride” policy at EDSA Busway on October 1 but suspended it on Monday, October 5, after commuters complained of the expensive beep cards.
A passenger would need to pay P80 for the card, P65 pesos for the minimum maintaining balance, and a P5 convenience fee, P150 in total.
The President said it was “heartbreaking” to see commuters burdened in paying for a Beep card.
“Card lang naman ‘yan, ibigay na ‘yan libre. Bakit pabayaran pa ‘yan? We have been wasting so many billions to corruption tapos ‘yan hindi mabigay?” he said.