Ayala-MPIC wins 1-ticket project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has finally awarded the P1.72-billion contract for the common ticket project of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) to the partnership of Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) is the first public private partnership (PPP) project to be successfully awarded by the DOTC.

“We are pleased to announce that a modern ticketing system is on its way for our train riders. This is part of the DOTC’s effort to improve our services at the LRT and the MRT. The AFCS will provide passengers with more comfort, convenience, and efficiency in their daily commute, at no cost to government or to the passengers,” Abaya said.

Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said the agency has awarded the contract to the AF Consortium led by MPIC of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan and the Ayala Group late Thursday.

“Yes, I believe so,” Lotilla replied when asked if the project has finally been awarded to the AF Consortium amid slight delays.

The AF Consortium submitted a negative bid of P1,088,103,900 for the project last Dec. 12, better than the negative P1,088,000,000 offer of the SM Consortium of retail magnate Henry Sy. On the other hand, the Comworks-Berjaya Consortium submitted a bid of P2,050,090,300.

A negative bid means the winning bidder will pay the government instead of getting paid by the operators and riders for the service.

The AFCS, a tap-and-go ticketing scheme for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) rail systems, is envisioned to improve passenger comfort and convenience by cutting queuing time and allowing seamless transfers from one rail line to another.

Abaya said the AF Consortium was awarded the concession after having made the most advantageous offer to the transport agency as it proposed not only to undertake the modernization project but also to make premium payments to government in the amount of P 1.088 billion.

As a result, he added that the DOTC would be able to implement this common ticketing system and generate revenues for government at the same time, without passing any cost on to passengers.

This was made possible by the way the transport department structured the project, which allows the winning concessionaire to expand its business beyond the LRT and MRT lines.

Thus, the AF Consortium would be able to promote the use of the smart card-based technology to other transport modes such as buses, as well as to retail outlets such as mall and convenience stores, among others.

Under the concession agreement, the AFCS ticketing scheme would be fully integrated at the LRT and MRT systems by September 2015.

“This shift to a modern fare collection system is only the beginning of several rail improvement projects in our pipeline.  We are increasing the capacity of MRT-3 and buying out its private owner, extending the rail lines of LRT-1 and LRT-2, and building a new one called MRT-7,” Abaya said.