LRMC boosts safety, convenience in LRT-1

MANILA, Philippines — Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the private operator of the LRT-1, has deployed new e-tap loading kiosks as part of efforts to ensure a safer and more convenient commute for the riding public.

LRMC said 65 e-tap loading kiosks have been deployed to all LRT-1 stations.

The e-tap kiosks will serve as an addition to the existing ticket vending machines, which are used to buy or load stored value cards and purchase single journey tickets.

Through these e-tap kiosks, LRMC said LRT-1 passengers can load their beep cards or stored value cards on their own and enjoy the convenience of hassle-free journey by avoiding queues at teller booths, limited face-to-face contact, and exchange of cash.

Beep cards are currently one of the widely used payment methods today across railway lines.

Many transportation modes such as point-to-point, Metro Manila city buses, and modern PUVs are also accepting beep cards as a payment method.

“We at LRMC remain committed to finding solutions to improve our services every day. We take pride in knowing that what we do contributes to our society, not just through rail infrastructure improvements, but also through our steps towards making our transport sector at par with international standards and achieving integrated mobility. What we aim to create is an efficient and thriving ecosystem and community,” said Jacqueline Gorospe, LRMC head of corporate communications and customer relations.

LRMC has been undertaking various initiatives to ensure quality service for commuters and work environment for employees.

LRT-1 stations also have the beep e-load? machine, which are over-the-air loading machines that allow cardholders to transfer load from a mobile wallet or debit accounts to their beep cards.

The load is reflected when the card is tapped and updated using a beep e-load? machine.

There are also stored value card extender machines used by passengers to extend the validity of their expired beep cards.

LRMC, a consortium composed of MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd, took over the operations and management of the rail system in 2015.

Since then, it has invested P11.6 billion for the rehabilitation, restoration, and upgrade of the existing system.