The retailing of compatible Metro Manila train passes

• Main Authors: de Jesus, Amado Miguel, Polancos, Ronaldo
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Local transit—Philippines; Railroad travel—Philippines; Engineering; Industrial Engineering; Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/12385
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores the possibility of improving the structure of the payment system in use at the Metro Manila mass transit lines. The current system of selling train passes almost immediately beside the turnstiles is actually an obstacle for the many people who already have train passes and yet cannot enter easily. It also favors buying cheap single- journey passes over the relatively more expensive stored valued card, which is almost one-third of the average factory worker's daily wage. Further, it also requires passengers riding different trains to queue at least twice, further increasing the difficulties caused by the queues and congestion which is due to the varying train passes being used across the mass transit lines. Therefore, the payment system has room for greater efficiency through changes in the payment system. Solutions include the decentralized distribution of train passes by third party vendors, compatibility and rate parity across the three lines, and a contact less smartcard technology upgrade. The recommended smartcard technology is based on NEDA's study on Integrated Ticketing System, Hong Kong's Octopus Card System and Singapore's EZ-Link Card System. The benefits are: improved service, less congestion at train stations, decreased transactional complexity, shorter process time and increase in ridership.