PNR wants automated ticketing system in place to cut losses from freeloaders

The Philippine National Railways (PNR) plans to implement an automated ticketing system by 2015 to make fare collection more organized and stop freeloading passengers from taking advantage of the present system in place.

 

PNR General Manager Joseph Allan Dilay told GMA News Online in an interview the agency has asked interested parties to submit proposals for the automated ticketing system so the state-run railway company can study them.

 

“We would definitely want [the automated ticketing system] to be implemented by next year. We cannot allow... [freeloading] to continue. We’re losing money,” he said.

 

Dilay told lawmakers during a hearing of the House committee on transportation Tuesday that the agency has been losing P7 million monthly due to freeloading passengers who either do not buy tickets when boarding the train or simply “cheat” when paying their fares. 
 

“Mayroong mga pasahero na P10 ticket lang ang binibili may maipakita lang sa inspektor pero sa dulo ng line bababa,” he said.

 

The PNR Metro Commuter line runs from Tutuban, Manila to Rizal St. in Muntinlupa City. The minimum fare is P10 while the maximum fare from the start to the end of the line is P25.

 

Ideally, passengers need to purchase paper tickets – similar to the ones issued in commuter buses – before boarding the train. But some riders are able to slip unnoticed by taking the train at stations located along the way.

 

PNR deploys ticket inspectors, but this has done little to deter freeloaders, Dilay said.

 

Other mass railway systems such as the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) have an automated ticketing system in place. 
 

Last January, the Transportation Department awarded a new contract to modernize the system.

 

The project, dubbed Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS), involves replacing the LRT lines 1 and 2 and the MRT line 3 ticketing system to a unified tap-and-go technology, much like Hong Kong's Octopus Card.

 

Dilay said he and other PNR officials are in talks with the Transportation Department to find out if the PNR is included in the new AFCS for the MRT and LRT. – VS, GMA News