DOTr, DOST team up to develop automated fare collection system

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are partnering to develop a validation and testing facility for automated fare collection scheme (AFCS) that will improve and benefit mass transport systems nationwide.

In a statement, the DOTr said Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and DOST Secretary Renato Solidum signed an agreement, which seeks to establish a laboratory testing facility located at the DOST-Electronics Product Development Center (EPDC) Bicutan, Taguig City, and govern the roles and responsibilities of the parties regarding the Certification and Validation (C&V) Testing of Fare Media and Transit Readers for the AFCS.

Bautista said the collaboration will provide several cashless payment technologies for the riding public to experience transportation standard similar to the one being used in some countries in the Asian region.

“We believe that we need to conform to global standards in terms of everything that we do. I think this is the only way for us to improve our transportation system," said Bautista.

“The DOTr-DOST partnership, which will be shown through this MOA, is a pure showcase of meaningful collaboration and improving and advancing the welfare of all stakeholders for the AFCS in the country,” added the Transport chief.

Under the memorandum of agreement, the DOTr and the DOST will establish state-of-the-art testing equipment and validation facility for the AFCS National Standards (NS) through the Electronics Product Development Center (EPDC) managed by DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).

The EPDC is the country’s first dedicated government electronics development and one-stop-shop facility that can provide design, prototyping, and testing services for the electronics industry, the MOU further stated.

Bautista is looking at the Automated Guideway Transit (AGT), also developed by the DOST, in connecting the four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

He said the mass transport option will benefit passengers transferring within NAIA Terminals 1 to 4.

The AGT is only one of the alternative mass transport technologies developed by the Metals Industry Research and Development Center of the DOST.

There is also the Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT) which can be an option for buses plying the EDSA Busway and for the ongoing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in the country. —LBG, GMA Integrated News