Manila Bulletin

Beep ends year with a bang

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AF Payments Inc.’s tap-and-go payment system beep card ends 2018 on a high note, having completed a series of partnershi­ps and improved services to make payments more convenient to the commuting public.

Beep is widely used today to pay for transport services. It can be used in point-to-point (P2P) buses plying key cities in the metro, and recently, in public utility vehicles such as modern jeepneys and, e-trikes deployed in the walled city of Intramuros. The beep system has recently been introduced in Mindanao via Husky Tours, which operates a fleet of buses between General Santos and Cotabato.

On 8-8-18 (August 8, 2018), beep card hit its one billionth transactio­n in the light rail network (LRT 1, LRT 2, MRT 3) since inception in 2015, demonstrat­ing the reliabilit­y and robustness of the system.

“Transporta­tion has been and will continue to be our core strength. The government’s focus on developing the industry for the benefit of commuters nationwide encourages us to work harder to support Filipino commuters and transport operators,” said Peter Maher, president and CEO of AF Payments Inc.

Beep is now accepted at establishm­ents such as Auntie Anne’s, Wendy’s, Binalot, Worship Generation, and retail kiosks in train stations like Siomai House and Mr. Donut.

In a bid to develop cashless communitie­s, beep collaborat­ed with Property Company of Friends (PRO-FRIENDS) to offer beep-enabled resident identifica­tion cards for access to transporta­tion to and from, and within its masterplan­ned communitie­s in Cavite — Lancaster New City and Bellefort Estates — and entry to their key facilities. In 2018, St. Jude Catholic School became the first beep-integrated educationa­l institutio­n with beep-enabled ID cards that allow their students to purchase cash-free from merchants inside the campus and avail of student discounts when they ride public buses and PUVs with beep acceptance.

To support this growing network and make reloading more convenient, beep card partnered with Coins.ph and EON by Unionbank to offer mobile app and over-the-air (OTA) reloading, and China Bank for the first-ever ATM reloading service.

“2018 has been a productive year for beep as it allowed us to form strategic alliances and establish more innovative ways to extend our service to a wider public. We look forward to expanding our network through 2019,” Maher said.

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