The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Bank of the Philippines rolled out on Thursday, Sept. 1, the interim operation of the Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) for urban public transportation.
The AFCS, which allows the use of EMV-compliant contactless credit, debit and prepaid bank cards as cashless payment instruments in public transport modes, will be tested under a real-time operational condition in preparation for its full and commercial implementation.
Government officials including Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairperson Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafil, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Felipe M. Medalla, and Landbank president and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo, together with participating public transport operators, led the launch of the project at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITx) in Parañaque City.
“Landbank fully supports the AFCS project for convenient and safe cashless payments in our PUVs. Through Landbank Contactless Cards, we look forward to making the daily journey and payment experience of commuters as seamless as possible,” said Borromeo.
A total of 150 Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) units in selected pilot sites in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and Metro Cebu will participate in the project.
Only Landbank prepaid and credit contactless cards will be accepted and processed in the 150 participating PUVs during the first month of the AFCS pilot testing period.
Once the necessary regulations or policy has been issued, the Landbank AFCS solution can also accept and process the EMV contactless cards issued by other local banks.
Commuters can pay for fares using Landbank’s Special Edition Transit Cards, Agent Banking Cards (ABC), General Purpose Reloadable (GPR) Cards, Provincial ID e-Cards, and Classic and Gold Credit Cards, among others.
Landbank already distributed more than 4.5 million Landbank contactless EMV cards which can be used in the AFCS solution, with another 1.9 million cards available and ready for claiming by the account owners.
