STANDING in long queues just to pay for bus or railway fares has been the bane of every commuter, particularly during rush hours. But when the stored-value contactless beep card was finally introduced in the country, it immediately modernized the payment method in the transportation sector and became a more convenient option. Since its introduction in October 2015, AF Payments, Inc. (AFPI), the company behind beep, recorded a total of 510 million beep card transactions. This is apart from the 120 million times commuters have loaded their cards.
Determined to further broaden its loading network in order to eliminate more queues in reloading, beep recently teamed up with the app-based, electronic-money issuer and remittance/transfer company Coins.ph. “This is a very important milestone for us today. It’s the first time we’ll have an app-based solution. Nobody leaves their house without their cell phones so we’re really excited about this milestone,” AFPI President and CEO Peter Maher said. Further, as beep card’s first app-based reloading partner, Coins.ph will provide expediency of loading anytime, anywhere.
The partnership established a new function that would enable commuters to easily and quickly reload funds to their beep cards from a Coins.ph digital wallet through a Near Field Communication-enabled Android smartphones. By simply tapping the card on the smartphone, funds are transferred swiftly. “Coins.ph provides beep cardholders the ability to load their cards anytime, anywhere, just by tapping their card on their smartphone. This added convenience means no more falling in line to add load during the busy rush hour,” Maher added.
Licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Coins.ph aims to foster financial inclusion and promote mobile payments in the country. “Each day, nearly 2 million Filipinos are forced to wait in long lines to top up their beep cards with cash,” Coins.ph CEO Ron Hose said. “With this collaboration, beep cardholders can seamlessly use Coins.ph to load their cards with their phones and make payments anywhere beep is accepted. This solution represents a catalytic step forward in a vision that we share with the BSP of forging an advance digital economy by 2020.”
Now with a total of 4 million customers, the electronic-payment provider allows everyone, including those without bank accounts, to store funds in their e-wallet to send money, pay their bills, buy load and make transactions across the country directly from their smartphone. The Coins.ph digital wallet app is available for download at Google Play Store and can be funded in over 33,000 locations nationwide.
The beep card, meantime, is accepted in all three elevated railways (Manila Light Rail Transit System 1 and 2, Manila Metro Rail Transit System 3), selected city buses such as Bonifacio Global City, Citylink Coach Services and the majority of the current Point-to-Point buses. Likewise, the card is accepeted in Manila-Cavite expressway and North Luzon expressway tollgates to pay fees. As for retail and lifestyle outlets, it is also accepted select FamilyMart branches, Robinson’s Movieworld and Wendy’s. Reloading is available at 44 rail stations, 17 beep-accredited bus terminals, 59 FamilyMart branches, Circle K branches in BGC and over 300 Bayad Center outlets, including its affiliates SM Bills Payment Centers and Robinson’s Business Center.
Image credits: Randy S. Peregrino